Oh, *that* wire

[Scott Fisher <sefisher@cisco.com>]

The gradual return to original function continues with my '83 Coupe GT.

When I took possession of the car in June, the previous owner had
mentioned something about the oxygen sensor being disconnected; I
thought nothing of it as there were other more pressing (if fortunately
little and niggling) things to take care of (cooling system, brake fluid
flush & new pads, fuel pump relay).

After going through all those, I noticed a minor, but annoyingly
intermittent, pinging/knocking on occasion.  The list's collective
wisdom pointed to the oxygen sensor, so I asked the P.O.  He said the
shop that worked on the car had left it disconnected as "it passed smog"
and didn't seem to make any difference with the wire connected or not.

I found out why.  

About an inch in from where the OXS wire had been ripped out of the
connector, there was a break in the wire.  I pulled it off by hand (only
the insulation needed to be ripped), stripped the insulation back to
reveal shiny silver wires, and crimped on a new spade lug.  Clipped it
into place, fiddled all my intake-air path connections as previously
described, let it warm up thoroughly, and took a test drive.

One of the responses I'd got on the list (Eric Fluhr, I think this was
you) mentioned that the Coupe engines were incredible in their ability
to function even in "limp home" mode, which is what I was in with the
OXS disconnected.  As the car had been dead reliable, reasonably
powerful and actually fun to drive (apart from the annoying knock), I
didn't believe that it really WAS in limp-home mode.

I do now.

I also see why various Coupe owners on the list have described how their
engines would zing up to the redline, at least in the lower gears; mine
used to run out of steam around 5000 RPM.  Not any more.  In short, it
feels like the car is up about 10% or more in performance -- obviously,
the truth is I used to be *down* that much, but the net result to the
connection between the right foot and the seat of the pants is the same.

This is fun!  What else can I put back to the way the factory intended
it?

Oh, and a question on those lines: since some of the other conjecture
about my pinging related to the WOT switch.  I stuck a test light on
each terminal (in turn) of the switch in turn, and got no light. 
Reading the Bentley manual is no help -- the WOT wire disappears into a
grey box with the transistor icon on it, so I can't simply trace 12V
back to the battery.  I've got a DMM *somewhere*, guess I'll have to
find it, but my question is ('83 N/A I5 here now) -- is it expected that
the WOT switch would have no juice at either terminal at idle?

--Scott Fisher
  '83 Coupe GT
  Sunnyvale, CA