Recent content by Rustedwrench

A while back I bought a Harbor Freight 3-ton long reach steel jack. I bought it to replace a 30+ year old Harbor Freight jack that started leaking down and for which I could not find seals. Got my money's worth in any case. I recommend if you get a Harbor Freight jack before you use it remove...

I have one out of a 1968 Valiant non-ac car with 68000 miles on it. It has a replacement heater core as well. I can try to get photos tomorrow if you are interested. Let me know.

The short answer is nobody knows. If one looks at the oil maker's web site for the specs the centiStoke ratings indicate that a thick 5W-20 is about the same viscosity and a thin 5W-30. As if it were not confusing enough. A thinner oil will build oil pressure quicker at start-up and the...

If hood clearance is an issue you can use a shorter car intake, such as for an LS1. Dorman makes an aftermarket one, I think. It does mount the throttle body lower so you may have clearance issues with the upper radiator hose connection on the water pump interfering with the throttle body. If...

First, I did not say a condenser was not required. Nor did I say the most important job of the condenser was to protect the points. I said that was one of the effects. The most important thing the condenser does is provide for an instant cut-off of the primary coil current. The magnetic field...

If I may make a suggestion. Instead of continually replacing fuses, remove the fuse and connect a headlight bulb with jumper wires where the fuse link or now fuse is located. The bulb connects in place of the fuse link, not to ground. When the short to ground is present the headlight bulb will...

That little plastic pin broke on my sister's 68 Valiant and I could not find one either. I bent a flat washer to match the curve of the shift tube and welded that on the tube. Then I welded a metal pin to the washer and that works fine. The first time I (almost) fixed it I welded the pin...

Spark plug gap is conditional on how much total energy the ignition coil puts out. Energy, not voltage. The wider the spark plug gap the higher voltage needs to build up to ionize the fuel-air mixture in the spark plug gap. Once the mixture is ionized current can flow across the plug gap. The...

Perfect Fit must be taken loosely, as it may not be such. Mine is only a sample of one but I will tell you about my install on my sister's 1968 Valiant. Out of the box one of the micro-switches on the hvac housing was physically broken. I think whoever packed the box dropped the condenser on...

You are obviously a very smart guy and I am not going to debate with you. I would encourage anyone who wishes to know more on the subject to go to the link I posted above. On the page that displays scroll to the bottom and click on the link to download the pdf of the article, which contains...

The answer is kind of both. The condenser prevents or limits arcing of the ignition points when the points open and it allows the current oscillations in the primary circuit that occur when the points open to dissipate faster, which allows a faster collapse of the magnetic field. The current...

If you have no continuity on any of the terminals when the switch is off and you do have continuity between all terminals when the switch is on I think you are good. If you have a volt-meter then just test each of the four wires that will go to the switch while the brake pedal is depressed. The...

Yes, it matters which way the wires go. You can see on what is apparently the old switch connector one terminal is offset. That ensures the connector will only go one way. The feed wire terminal from the hazard flasher, probably the black wire, must be isolated from two of the other terminals...

Blurp? Yikes! You should never get a blurp. A dink or doink is okay. Not blurp. Think about what is happening here. Both battery cables were hot. Hot means excessive current flow. What is the highest load between the battery positive and battery negative cables? Answer: starter motor. I would...