CHP…..check.

Tuesday 9am
I had an appointment at CHP (California Highway Patrol) to get the VIN checked. Friendly guys & they liked the car. They said they’d prefer not to spoil the bodywork by attaching a visible VIN. So they called somewhere & got approval for the 2 existing VINs under the hood. They gave me the approvel form.

That leaves just the smog exemption to get through. Tried to make an appointment, but they only do a week in advance & next week I’ll be in Beijing. So I’ll have to call back. The inspection is in Sacramento, that about 95 miles, I80 freeway most of the way.

Speedometer sensor setup

Thursday
I took a closer look at the ‘cooked’ alternator cable, the heat insulation was hiding a burnt inner plastic insulator. So I made a new cable and fitted it to the alternator in a direction opposite to the headers and leading between the alternator and the block.

Friday
Went to DMV with the brake & light inspection certificate. They gave me an extended permit through the end of August.
CHP called back – set up appointment for Tuesday morning.
Set up an appointment at Stone’s tires for Monday afternoon to do the wheel alignment.
Took Alex for a ride when it started cooling down (~6pm).

Alex on the way to Cisco Grove

Drove up donner pass on old highway 40. Must say this duratec engine has good low-end torque, 50mph in 4th all the way up. As expected the car sticks to the road like glue through the corners. We drove out to the end of highway 40 at Cisco grove, did a u-turn and came home. During the drive the speedometer started out regstering up to 50mph and being intermittant/failing above that, then got steadily worse until it could not register above 20mph.

Saturday
The speedo sensor was not centered on the toothed wheel (see photo).

Put in one washer, which gave better alignment. Adjusted the gap and tried the speedo, several times with different gaps, best was at 2.3mm where it would go up to 40mph, but started flickering over 50mph. Other gaps gave less performance.

Sunday
While adjusting, with the ignition on, the sensor has an led to help set up. I noticed that with the gap around 2.6mm, that most of the circumference the led blinked as I turned the hub, but about a 1/4 turn it was intermittant. Decided that it was best to exactly center the sensor, so added a second washer & set the gap at 1.8mm.

Took it for a test drive & the speedo was good through 55mph, then intermittant above.

I made static adjustments noting the led, at 1mm the led is on all the time while turning the hub. At 1.5mm, the led is mostly on with it blinking off when rotating. At 2.3mm the led is mostly off with it blinking on when rotating. Tried driving with these gaps:
1.8mm good up to 55 mph, intermittant above.
2.3mm good up to 20mph, intermittant above.
1.5mm good up to 55mph, intermittant above.
1.9mm good up to 58 mph, intermittant above.
I couldn’t get any better results

DMV

Thursday 7:45am
Headed to DMV for the 1st round.
It took 2.5 hours, mainly because they had never done a SPCNS before, and had to read the manual. They took my check for the sales & other taxes & charged me additional penalty fees ($568) because when I had paid for the kit in January I had paid no taxes.
I got a form 124 to visit the CHP.
I got a SPCNS number – they told me it would be 6 to 8 weeks before I hear back, but that I should set up an appointment with BAR and give them the SPCNS number.
I got a one day permit to get the Brake & Light inspection. They also told me that there’s a new inspection station in Tahoe City (which is much closer than Grass Valley/Nevada City).
Next, I’ve got to get some insurance then make appointments.