SleeperZ

Sounds like your wedge didn't work. I don't know of another way to recover but to remove the timing cover. The crank pulley has normal threads, the easiest way to remove it is with an impact wrench. If the engine is in the car, to reinstall you will have to set your brake and put it in gear; then you can apply enough torque. If the engine is out, build a wedge to engage the flywheel teeth and torque away.

That's good to hear.

It must be nice to not have a budget. Can you lend a hand brother?

That's all that matters in the end. If Tim can keep sufficient oil pressure, this mod will keep piston temps down and make them more reliable. And of course additional oil cooling will help shed that heat load as well.

As far as I could tell all the cores were the same thickness. I got a 2 row because I thought it might be thinner and give more clearance for my electric fans, but it was the same as the 4 row copper radiator I pulled out. It cools great; I doubt the number of rows has much bearing on cooling ability, that is the amount of coolant and thickness/surface area of the core are the main factors. Edit: I am going to correct myself a little bit. The core thickness may in fact be thinner for the 2 row over the 3 row, it's the tank thickness that is the same. There may not be any reason at all to get a 2 row, unless you have restricted airflow, like a full size intercooler in front.

Pressurized it, seems to be holding! I'll keep my fingers crossed, but so far so good.

Checked it all again at TDC. With the distributor at the most advanced adjustment, there is perhaps 1/8" worth of rotor contact to the trailing edge of cylinder #1 post. I rotated it to 20 degrees BTDC and have some rotor contact to spare, so I should get plenty of spark advance to at least run the engine. Have not re-tried to time MS, very short on time and attention, but perhaps tonight if my fuel rail holds pressure.

Looks great, always love to see what is done to get the most out of this most excellent engine....

I appreciate that. It sounds like it is one of yours, but I bought it from another member here. It was in new condition, but since I did not get it from you directly, I didn't think it was appropriate to come to you for support. I hope you do not take my public posting of this as a slight on you, I do not intend any disrespect although I feel I have been a bit inappropriate. The leak has never been severe. It just gets moist with fuel after a couple of pump pressurization cycles when I was attempting to time my MegaSquirt; I'm not sure if I could photograph it. Anyway, my original configuration was a hex-ended brass bushing with a 1/2" NPT makle thread into the rail, which came close to bottoming out. Presuming TonyD is correct, I may have over-tightened it; perhaps the deeply cut threads made the assembly more sensitive to over-tightening. After thoroughly over-tightening the original bushing, I replaced the bushing with a new one, same type, and went through the same routine and had the same results. Now I have replaced the bushing with a 4" long brass pipe nipple; the threads have a steeper taper on them compared to both bushings. Perhaps that is the root of the problem... I do not feel I over-tightened it at first, at least no tighter than the bushing (at first), but I tightened it to a ridiculous level after that falsely thinking it would seal eventually. I got some Permatex thread sealant last night, disassembled the joint and dried it, and reassembled the pipe nipple into the rail firmly, and not particularly tight. It is now sitting, I have not yet pressurized it. I hope it will seal when I test it tonight. I welcome any additional input; if it does not seal I am afraid I may have to remove the rail and install helicoils. I am getting really sick of the smell of gasoline.

I'm not one to overtighten anything at first. And I do not believe I did in this case, but it leaked from the get-go. I'm thinking thread sealant may not fix this, but I have to try as I have no time to get this PITA on the track. I really don't want to do anything that will make repair impossible, so JB Weld is out, but this really sucks. Honestly, I've assembled lots of threaded fittings before, on this fuel system and other projects that never leaked. I still think the rail threads were cut too deep as the bushings threaded in a ways before they tightened.

I'd be all over it, except the AC isn't working very well.

Yes, 10 degrees.

No, the mounts are not welded. I got zero time on the car this weekend. I am going to hit the parts stores this week, and pick up a good sealant as well as a new cap and rotor for my other issue.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Make sure your car insurance is paid up.

LOL! At least low riders are on hydraulics and can be raised to drive on rougher streets.

I certainly appreciate the technical explanations. Aside from my ignorance of over-tightening NPT threads, I started with normal assembly techniques, and only increased the torque after my original installation leaked from the get-go. And it's only one end.

That's the issue, I cannot line up the trailing edge. I am at the limit of my distributor adjustment, and the rotor is only centered to the #1 wire in the cap. I hope it's ok to keep posting in this thread, at least I am mostly on topic of the DIY wheel settings. As soon as I try to crank it over to time number 1 to the TDC mark, it's 10-20 degrees advanced. I reduced the Tooth #1 angle setting to 325, and the advance increased. So I increased the 345 to 365, and I couldn't get a spark. That's why I think the distributor timing is off. You folks make it sound easy, and I've been wrenching on this car for over 20 years; what the heck am I missing?

Thanks Sam, I have so little time to get this going, 30-60 minutes a night is getting me frustrated with lack of progress. I am getting clearer on how this has to happen, and it sounds like I have to drop the oil pump and get that rotor more room to advance, despite it being lined up with the factory guidelines.

Yeah, 1/2" NPT is large. It's the standard 11mm O-ring rail, it's basically threaded to the ID of the extrusion, much larger than the 3/8" (6 AN)I originally plumbed from my fuel filter and regulator.

That is encouraging. I don't have much to lose at this point, except if the rail is damaged it will make it harder to repair. I doubt it is cracked though, I would think the torque I am applying to the threads would split it, and not hold like it does.

Only reason I have not is I bought it from a third party, not directly from him.

I am extremely frustrated with the 1/2" threads on my fuel rail. I was originally using a brass reducer bushing to adapt my 3/8"NPT fittings to the rail. I think the rail threads are cut too deeply, as I nearly bottomed the bushing (hex head) into the rail using 2 layers of yellow teflon tape. It was quite tight, I may have applied 30-40 ft-lbs, as much as I dared, and this thing still leaks. I switched out the bushing for a 1/2" brass pipe nipple (no hex head to bottom out), and cranked that down as tight as I could, and it still friggin' LEAKS! What's next, JB Weld? I've been plumbing biodiesel processors for years and yellow teflon is the best stuff I have found. Yes, way better than liquid thread sealants.

That is the page I read. I have the MS3 with V3.0 PCB. My ignition capture is now rising edge (MS2 V3.0 wants falling edge), and I set it to 345. I did not set it to dual wheel because I do not have the cam signal wired, just the 12-1, and I am not running sequential or COP. My distributor was barely on cylinder 1 at TDC, so I advanced the distributor to the stop, and the rotor is centered on number 1 tower. The distributor slot is exactly where the service manual describes, at 11 o'clock at TDC, but from what I can tell that may not give me all the ignition advance I will need. At any rate, I tried to time MS3 to this configuration, with 0 degrees trigger offset, but TunerStudio trigger wizard keeps telling me to set the TDC mark on the pulley to 10 degrees on the pointer. With my baseline, and 345 degrees reference, I get the TDC mark timing at 20 degrees or so BTDC on the pointer. I think I confused myself, and added 20 degrees to the 345, and then my light would not fire, so I presume the rotor is too far away from the tower. So my question is, I should subtract my timing pointer offset from the 345 to get the timing mark aligned to TDC?

Weber big throat is 60mm.

Did you fit an intercooler? Regarding your fuel pressure regulator, I'm a bit surprised you use a RRFPR in concert with the Jim Wolf Z31 ECU; with 420cc injectors and the custom ECU you should not have to play boost tricks on the pressure regulation.