Two other details I just remembered.
There was another electrical issue. When I went to start it maybe the third or fourth time before this, when I turned the key I heard the solenoid move and then nothing at all. And the interior lights weren’t on if I remember right. I hit the solenoid a couple times not too hard with a rubber mallet and it started right up and didn’t have that issue since.
The solenoid is new as of last fall, I was having the same sort of issue where a hit from a mallet fixed it. But I figured it’s a mechanical device, and old, so wear and tear.
Now I’m thinking it was probably a grounding issue that the shock from the mallet would temporarily resolve, probably nothing to do with the solenoid. I should’ve had DC supply rails set up, but it wasn’t really possible at the time. With the new garage, I can do all kinda great stuff, but right now it’d be fixing a brick wall problem like this, or unpacking boxes and figuring out what goes where.
The second thing, where do I find the top-notch write up of how to correctly wire an electronic choke to a fused, switched outlet? I just had this problem with the Bronco I bought, and there resolved it by disconnecting the power to the stereo and running a wire through the firewall to the choke. That thing starts like a champ now, I even reconnected the linkage for setting the high idle. Starts spot on.
I already want to run a feed through the firewall, to send manifold vacuum to the old Sun gauge I bought that fits perfectly where I took the rally clock out. The fuse box is not so user friendly here, right? Where’s the best place in the fuse box to connect up a feed for the electronic choke? And please don’t say the stator post because from what I’ve read of the voltage that puts out and the voltage requirements of the choke, it’s explicitly not okay. Maybe I got it wrong and it’s not Edelbrock just Holley that says it explicitly, they say “do not use the stator feed from the alternator” in so many words.
The right way is a fused feed from a run-position-on circuit, or even better, using that fused feed to switch a relay that either gives a direct connection to battery red or doesn’t, right? So I need a wire through the firewall there?
Also maybe related but probably not due to distance from the impact of the mallet… I got a new wire for the tach and temperature sender, got it with a bunch of other parts for stuff I’m gonna be doing ASAP, new fuel tank, PCV valve and valve covers too. No more tin with a cork gasket and some yahoo cranking down the wingnut-tipped bolts. Aluminum and normal freakin bolts.
I got the tach wire cause the one that’s there is, I suspect, the original, and it’s pretty ratty looking. So is the wire to the coil, really.
But the coil wire, how could it cause the lights to pulsate? Short in and out, ok, but follow a really specific interval of growing brighter then going dim? I could see the startup problem being related to the coil having an intermittent shorting thing goin on, but the pulsating lights are for sure a separate issue.
New fuel tank and lines. Got em. Just waiting to get this tank down a little more. It’s at about 1/4 tank, on the gauge anyway. Lowest I let it get so far. I don’t think I ever got it much below 1/2 full. And gotta deal with other stuff first, I guess. But restricted fuel flow or dirty carb, are those the two main culprits for the hesitation from a stop I had mentioned? I think a weak spark is another, and there the electronic choke thing could be a problem, right?
I’m stumped. I gotta get back to work too, made some promises to the boss about what I’d have done for Monday, and tomorrow being Easter and all…
