Peter Zimmermann

Update. Got the ECU and AFM back, both were pronounced to be OK. Darn! Anyway, replaced a blown out gasket on the throttle body side of the AFM "door," which was probably a fairly good air leak, and now the car actually idles (that's a first). It still refuses to accept any level of throttle so I've gone back to thinking mode.

I have jumped the fuel pump wire directly to the battery - no change. I noticed some buzzing from the dual, aka double, relay for the FI, so I have one of those on order. Pictured below, the blown gasket (sorry about the horrible picture), the AFM's snout with the new, home made gasket (untrimmed, white paper), and the inside of the AFM. If any of you have spent time tinkering with an early AFM, and see something suspicious inside mine, well...

Matt Romanowski

Have you checked with Perry Keihl (sp?) and Brad Mayuer?

Peter Zimmermann

Yes, Matt, thank you. I'm actually only a couple days away from putting the seats and carpets back in the car. It doesn't run worth a darn yet, but I have a known good injector resistor pack on the way to me, and I just did a complete cleaning of the ignition distributor (found nothing remarkable but one of the advance weights seemed to stick).

But, get this, I took the throttle body off to remove the throttle switch. It seems to measure OK, and its points are nice, but...I discovered that the vacuum bib on the throttle body was blocked closed with crud. This model has a single line connector (that goes to the ignition distributor vacuum box), and I can't remember if I ever pulled that line loose and stuck my fingertip on it to see if it had vacuum.

One more thing, but will it make a difference? I'll let you know!

And, I also have found one more thing. While talking with someone about the car, I discovered that the spring in the AFM (the one that turns with the flapper door) can be wound too tight, which creates a lean condition by affecting how much air flow is required to open the flapper door. I never really understood the adjustment process for that spring/gear, but have discovered that, by loosening its captive bolt, mine had a lot of tension against it, I moved it three teeth and locked it down.

The bolt I'm talking about is in the upper left corner of the picture. Is this discovery the light at the end of the tunnel, or just another train coming at me?

Peter Zimmermann

Well, my brain is in FL, so, while waiting, I put most of the interior together. I sat down in the driver's seat and looked around, and glanced at the sun visors. They were in pretty good condition, so I never paid much attention to them. For some reason...well, let's just say I discovered something else touched by the car's brilliant PO.

You're probably saying, no way. Can't be. Nobody can screw up sun visors, right? Right? Well, I just stumbled on something else that I've never before seen.

The first picture shows home made visor bearing posts. Yep, home made...
The second picture shows some of the precision grinding...
The third picture shows a proper visor bearing...
The fourth picture shows the visors up (now working)...
The fifth picture shows the visors down. And, yes, when they're put back up, they stay up.

Hey, they were a lot easier to fix than the w/wiper system. And I had enough good visor bearing parts in my spare parts cabinet to fix them. Hmmmm, does that mean that I'm getting closer to the end...?

Peter Zimmermann

HOT DAMN!!!

ALL HAIL SPECIALIZED ECU. I got my computer back from them, started the car, set the idle speed and CO, and...drum roll, please...drove the car!!! It didn't break down, and it didn't catch on fire.

Something burned off the engine (smoke only after car was up to running temp, then shut off) at cyl #3, probably where I missed the spark plug hole with PB Blaster, but I guess it could have been a mouse nest.

Specialized was shy about saying that my ECU was fixed, but they fixed a bunch of cold solder joints, and that must have fixed my running issues - all of them!

Yee-haw!!! Oh, and it pulls pretty good (only used 4500 rpm so far), the clutch doesn't chatter or slip, and the trans is quiet and shifts acceptably well.

Matt Romanowski

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now finish the hood and start driving that car!

Peter Zimmermann

Drove the car over the weekend; it's running perfect, starts at the touch of the key, and idles very well.

Still need to do Pertronix to avoid plug fouling issues; didn't want to do that in the middle of all of the bad running issues!

Matt Romanowski

Cool. Are you talking about Pertronix point replacement? That won't help with plug fouling.

Jay Gratton

Peter congrats!!!!!!!! You deserve this sir, you put a lot of work into that ride.

whalebird

Very nice. As for ignition, isn't there a "DIS-4" set up kinda like the electromotive twin ignition for 911s? Perhaps it uses a distributor type of pick up, but might be a step up in reliability and possibly tuning.
What a pretty car Peter.

whalebird

Here is what I'm thinking
http://forums.kombiclub.com/showthread.php?t=8107

Peter Zimmermann

Thank you, Whale! I wish that the car was as pretty in real life as it is in pictures, but it's not too far off of what you can see. I'm going to have to look into your linked system, they say that it's designed for an "009" distributor w/o vacuum box. My car is not set up that way, so I'll investigate.

My supplier lists the Pertronix that I want to use as "changes a std. point distributor to high output hall effect triggered electronic ignition." I made the assumption that it would also increase voltage at the plug and correct any fouling issues the car might have. I'll check with the supplier for a model number, and check that on some web sites.

Thanks, all!

Matt Romanowski

I'm guessing the supplier is wrong and it's a regular Pertronix that just replaces the points. All it does is take it from lobster claw points to a hall effect sensor. Still just collapses the field in the coil.

Peter Zimmermann

OK, but then I add a Pertronix 40,000 volt coil to the system, which allows a wider plug gap, and, I assume, much longer plug life?

And how does a new Bosch Blue coil (on the car) stack up to a 40,000 volt Pertronix coil (I'm pretty sure the Blue Coil isn't nearly as potent)? Check out the link below...

Matt Romanowski

I don't think a Pertronix and a new coil is going to give you much more plug gap. Plus, with the FI you shouldn't have to worry about fouling the plugs. I've never heard of anyone having trouble with that. I'm not sure on how much better a Pertronix coil is over a Blue Coil, but I would guess they're pretty similar. If you want more spark, you have to go with a MSD box or similar.