Dave's 1971 1302 Not-So-Secret, Secret Project Build

[owdlvr]

Missing the adapter you need? Fire up the lathe!



Annoyingly, the hex portion wasn't cast/machined centred, so it looks like I mounted it off in the lathe. Ah well, pretty sure no one is going to be under my engine inspecting for center!



Engine in, brakes bled, clutch bled. I use a Motive power bleeder, to do it solo, and love that I can pressurize the system while doing other work and then use the pressure to confirm I have no leaks. If there is a leak, glass cleaner makes a perfect detection tool...





Snugging up the fitting before actually putting fluid through the system ensures there are no leaks onto the floor.

From here, with the spark plugs out I spun up the engine to build oil pressure. At this point, not bench-testing the whole electrical system/harness identified some issues. The pressure senders on the Accusump and engine block weren't working. The oil temperature sender was giving me a freezing-level temperature. What the heck?! One step forward, two steps back as I tore in to try and find the problem...



Turns out that I have a bad channel input to the PDM (likely just the connector on the end) and I mislabeled two sensor extension leads after running them from the quarter panel to the engine bay. In the end, they were simple and easy fixes, but it took a couple of hours to diagnose it all. Frustrating, but simple. I also worked on calibrating the fuel level sender, and I'm getting some odd behaviour here as well. The method is to essentially fill the tank 2L at a time, and record the live sensor reading in millivolts on a piece of paper. Then, you build a custom sensor in the PDM using those values. After setting it up, I use the facet lift pump to remove fuel 2L at a time to confirm that I'm getting essentially the same readings on the chart. In my case, it appears that I might have a "dead center" in the sender around the 1/3 of a tank level. I pulled three other senders from parts-car tanks, but they were all rotten. New fuel sender will arrive tomorrow and we'll try this all over again.





Getting closer...but was hoping to have it fired up in the shop last night...so a little frustrated on a Monday morning! Oh well...it could be worse. I've got to spend some of my afternoon working on the 1974 Bricklin project. Why oh why did I ever buy a Bricklin!?! (answer: I'm Canadian. Also answer: Gull Wing Doors)



-Dave