After my "71 142 stalled, apparently because of a fuel supply problem -- it started right up after I towed it home, wouldn't you know it -- I read up on the fuel sytem in Haynes, and found a reference to the thermal timer. So, I checked the block and found no thermal timer, just a nice clean, threaded hole, plugged at the end, where the TT is supposed to go. Haynes says that to remove the TT you have to partially drain the block, which contradicts George Downs who at some point, I believe, said that the TT is not in direct contact with the coolant. (?)
Haynes explains the function of the TT in relation to the cold start injector very nicely and then says: "When the engine is running and the starter has shut off the valve (CSI) ceases injecting regardless of the state of the thermal timer." Does that mean that my CSI has been non-functional all along and that, although I have had no starting problems so far, I might get them when the weather turns colder? I have found no loose wires hanging around in the area. That, and the fact that the hole is plugged, unless George is right and Haynes wrong, indicates that the car was running well enough without the TT before and after I got it. I don't believe that car is tuned too rich so as to compensate for a non-functional CSI, because the plugs show a normal color.
Last year, Uniberp mentioned that he had dispensed with his TT and had wired his CSI to a switch on the dash. Michael, could you give me a bit more detail about the wiring? That would be an easier solution than having to drill out that plug in the TT hole -- that is, if Haynes is right and George wrong.
Bob S.