Is there supposed to be any sort of cover for the clutch cable pulley? Apparently mine is collecting filth at a prodigious rate, with said filth contributing to some less-than-stellar clutch performance. Was there a stock cover that I might find a replacement for somewhere, or should I just consider fabricating something?

As far as I know there is no cover for the pulley at least I have never seen one.
Just clean it up and put it back together. If you want a cover you will have to fabricate one yourself

Is your car running again?

Not quite yet. It's just about ready to be reassembled. Final touches to be done on Saturday, engine installation on Sunday. Then it's just a matter of waiting for my wiring harnesses to come back from Jeff (bowlsby), which we anticipate seeing on Tuesday. Install the harnesses on either late Tuesday or early Wednesday and then cross our fingers & hope the darn thing starts up!

Did your ex replace the pistons and cylinders like you planned or did he just install the rebuilt heads and try to fix the oil leaks? Hope it works out well for you.

The best thing to make your car *&^@^% whole again (in my experience) is *!%#*& to cuss at it constantly, until (!@^*%$!*$ it rocks, and then don't let up, keep cussing, it's only a matter !@#^*&* of time 'til you have to start cussing (&^*@% again anyhow.

I have had no (*&@#^()@#& car trouble anymore, since I *!)&@%!@* got Tourette's.

M&*@&^!

We decided, for better or worse, to leave the heads alone this go-round. They allegedly had less than 20K on them when I bought the car, and compression was good when I smogged it a year ago.

The major source of the leaks appeared to be the completely worn-out pushrod tube seals, and the source of the burning oil seems to be more related to all the oil in the air intake than to valve guides. The source of the poor running right before we tore it down (the poor running being a very recent development) appears to have been caused by my #1 fuel injector being unseated and badly sealed to start with.

So: several seals, a couple of wiring harnesses and a lot of cleaning up later, it looks like it's going to be good to go. The clutch thing is just a side note, and is a good example of why I'm so pleased to have Pancho working on the car: he tends to as many details as he can, whether they were on the original to-do list or not. ('Course, he also tends to drink all my beer... )

It may very well still need the head work, but I am comfortable with risking not doing it at this juncture. We've discussed it extensively and based on the PO's receipts, the overall health of the engine, and what it looked like when we got it out, I think it's going to be ok...at least for the short term. If it really needs valve guides, that will reveal itself pretty quickly and I'll know what I need to do.

The X (onespeedboy on this BBS) will be back in the country in six months or so, and I can take advantage of his low, low rates again at that point if I need to.

There is a boot that goes on the end of the clutch cable where it mounts to the pulley bracket. It is there to keep water & crud from getting inside the cable.

this is one of those places where you have to be careful what you lubricate it with - most sticky grease lubricants hold onto every bit of grit in the area. wash the area down pretty well and if a lubricant is required, consider a 100% silicone spray or some TriFlo or something. no grease.

Thanks, Rich. There's plenty of Tri-Flow on hand around here.