My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[gadget73]

Thats what I use to set the idle on the diesel. Initially did it by ear, photo tach told me I was right in the middle of factory spec.

[DerekTheGreat]

..An exhaust that doesn't sound like an angry vacuum cleaner would probably help the impression of rpm. And a quieter clutch fan.

Heh, reminds me of that scene from The Lincoln Lawyer where that Lincoln comes screamin' on the scene. ..Only it was the smog pump doing 85% of the screaming. "Angry vacuum cleaner" is very accurate.

[gadget73]

I remember that scene, and noticing that it was all the fury that a smog pump had to offer LOL

[Arquemann]

Did a ~250km trip yesterday, went flawlessly. Exhaust patch job had blown out by midway of course. Fuel gauge reading is looking pretty positive, but as if that's trustworthy at all.
And now I've decided I'm going to disable the electric choke, it's annoying more often than useful.

Over the years my right indicator has gotten dim, the reflector surface has deteriorated heavily. Bottom half is pretty much bare plastic and the top is heavily hazed and oxidized.
I tried if I could separate the lens and housing, but nopety nope nope. Creaky, crackling plastic noises even if I look at it wrong.
For now, I ordered an LED bulb to compensate the lack of a proper reflector and I did put out a WTB for spare turn signal housings. They are pretty pricey on ebay and all in the US. All used of course, so it's totally hit or miss if they'd be any better than mine.

[Arquemann]

Looked into the dim front indicator / park housing a bit more today. There's no way to open the housing without damage, whatever sealant was used to glue the lens and backing together is rock hard and the gaps too small to scrape it out.

Ended up covering most of the reflector surfaces with aluminium foil tape in hopes of recovering some sort of reflectivity inside there. Could've done a better job, but 30 minutes of fishing sticky bits of foil tape through a thumb-sized hole was enough for me.
I think we have some ECE R104 reflector tape somewhere, which might perform better, but it probably wouldn't play nice with the concave of the reflector housing.


I remember someone in this thread commenting how nice the indicator housings look, they're good from afar and far from good. Lens on the pass. side is the better one, but as mentioned above, the reflector is gone. Driver lens is ugly, but atleast the reflector does reflector things.

[gadget73]

did they use butyl? thats the tar-like crap holding assorted things together. if it is, that will soften with heat but so will the plastic around it.

[Arquemann]

Equal-ish front parking light / indicator light output has been achieved, mission complete!
Got the LEDs and a new flasher relay today. Didn't end up using the LEDs, but I did put in the new flasher and I checked that the leds do work with that flasher.
Ended up slapping in a new halogen bulb, and with the foil tape the parking lights look about the same when on.

New flasher has a pleasant tone, it blinks at a reasonable pace, but it is awfully quiet. Will have to see if I'll keep it. Old one is really slow, inconveniently so. It adds character though

did they use butyl? thats the tar-like crap holding assorted things together. if it is, that will soften with heat but so will the plastic around it.

Nope, it seems like a similar sort of seam sealer like the rest of the car has. And like everywhere else, it's rock hard and cracking after 40 years.

[Arquemann]

Disabling the electric choke made more of a difference than I expected. Yes, I have to keep my foot on the pedal for a little white after starting cold or cold-ish, but the engine behaviour is now 100% consistent, which is lovely! It doesn't even run that lean when cold, in gear the idle drops a bit more when cold and it leans out. If I'm in a hurry I can just two-foot it for the first 2 intersections and I'm good. I might raise the curb idle a bit which'll help that a bit too.

I might be upgrading the exhaust this summer, the single 2" feels and sounds like it's quite restrictive. So, I've been pondering on the cheapest and easiest way to do so. Currently it's looking like I'll be ordering a left side tailpipe and a muffler from RA, which will be like 4x the part cost to ship, but I should still get a properly fitting over-axle and tailpipe for around 200-250€. Connecting the dots from the cats to muffs shouldn't be too much to weld, or cheap out and go with flex tubing.
I like the idea of a single 3" exhaust, but I can't weld for shit and the over-axle area seems pretty tight. Not doing a bum-ass side exit either.


kishy was talking about ball joint boots in his LTC thread and took these measurements of the replacement boots he received. I'm still in need of new boots and the Moogs he got aren't available here, so I went googling with the measurements.
In my search I found Energy Suspension 13025, which seem like an exact match. Sadly, they're not readily available over on this side of the pond, unless in a 50€ kit that has 2 right ones and 2 wrong ones. Accidentally I came across K772 ball joints, which are often used on Mustang II front ends. They have a replacement boot, Speedway 91034006, which is a close match dimensionally. Conveniently, those Speedway boots are available in our US-parts store, for "only" 10€ a piece.

[gadget73]

choke shouldn't be causing that much trouble unless it was adjusted wrong or something. If it was on the stock wiring, thats 9v or so off the alternator stator so it will open a whole lot slower if the choke heater is expecting 12v.

[Arquemann]

choke shouldn't be causing that much trouble unless it was adjusted wrong or something. If it was on the stock wiring, thats 9v or so off the alternator stator so it will open a whole lot slower if the choke heater is expecting 12v.

Problem is that the choke isn't engaging consistently, it doesn't engage nearly every time I need it, and engages too often when I don't need it. I have the choke high idle set a bit lower, because I don't need or want 1500rpm roaring cold starts, and so it wouldn't engage with a warm-ish engine. Also having the choke cap turned to engage pretty lightly, so the choke wouldn't stay on long, which I don't need it to.
I could adjust the choke cap so the choke would stay on longer, which means it'd also engage better and most likely be more consistent. But I don't want to, because I don't need the choke to stay on any longer, and it would also mean the choke would come one even more often with a slightly cooled engine, which I hate.

I disabled the choke because I couldn't get it to work like how I wanted it to, not because it doesn't work.
Also the 9v stator post works just fine with a 12v Holley choke.

[DerekTheGreat]

Unless your boots are gone and you don't regularly grease 'em, I wouldn't worry about said boots. My ball joint and tie-rod boots on my K1500 have been trashed since I got it. I lube stuff every 10k miles and it's all still tight some seven years and 60 or 70k miles later.

[Arquemann]

Unless your boots are gone and you don't regularly grease 'em, I wouldn't worry about said boots. My ball joint and tie-rod boots on my K1500 have been trashed since I got it. I lube stuff every 10k miles and it's all still tight some seven years and 60 or 70k miles later.

All the boots are torn and splitting, there's old dirty grease covering absolutely everything within a foot of each ball joint. It's unsightly, super messy to work even close by and mr. inspector doesn't like it at all. The ball joints are all original and still tight and I'd like to keep them that way. I grease them every year, which might be a bit overkill but it doesn't hurt.

I plan on lowering the car a bit at some point, so throwing on new boots while front end is apart seems like a good idea. It's a lot of work to replace them so I'm not going out of my way to just do them.

[gadget73]

9v will work, but it will cause it to stay on too long. Quite possibly why you couldn't find a happy spot in the adjustment.

[DerekTheGreat]

^^^That.

The undersides of all my cars with the exception of the Camaro & Firebird are greased heavily. Makes a man feel good, just like a guarantee on a box.

[Arquemann]

9v will work, but it will cause it to stay on too long. Quite possibly why you couldn't find a happy spot in the adjustment.

I don't think it's staying on for "too long". As it was it would drop off the fast idle cam after like 30 seconds of running when I had to get moving on a cooler day. Now in the summer temps its wishywashy if it even engages. If it does, it'll drop off the moment I touch the pedal.
And I don't think having 12 volts to it would stop it from engaging on a warm-ish engine.

I am fine without the choke, and I don't need to hear answers that I already know to a question that I didn't ask. Not trying to be a dick.