New in Washington state

I took a short video but it won’t let me upload it. So you’ll have to be satisfied with my written descriptive powers.

Got the leaking and cooling issues sorted out today. Running 160 to 180. No leaks. Then went on to tuning. Found it near impossible to hold the light and see the marks while turning the distributor I think I’m within a degree or two at idle.  Air screw on the solex does nothing. Stumbles coming off idle. 

Imagine that your watching a short (22 sec) video of a 134 just idleing along at about 600 rpm. Sound pretty sweet. Except for that ticking. Now if the video would have uploaded we could have played what’s that noise. But it wouldn’t. So we can’t. If we had been able to then the one who guessed that’s the bent crankshaft pulley hitting the timing cover would have had it right.

Today I also learned never to use a 30 plus year old clutch disc.  Even though it is new.  Turns out if you do you’ll be pulling either the motor or transmission to change it.

Tried to get the new STA super traxions might have been to dark 

Next issue was the ticking noise. Turns out what I thought was a groove cut in the timing cover was not. It’s really hard to see down there in the dark. The real problem was a small dent in the front of the pan. This was confirmed by removing the pan after the timing cover theory proved to be wrong. Once inside and looking at the scribed arch. It was obvious. The front counterweight on the crank had been whacking the front of the pan. My helper thought it might be a good thing to have a very clear and audible indication of engine speed. He had proven he doesn’t know what he’s doing with the clutch.  So I didn’t listen. I went ahead and took the dent out. Cleaned everything up and put the pan back on. 

The cooling issues came down to a kinked lower radiator hose. It was one of the straight corrugated bend to fit type. Replaced it with a preformed from NAPA. I’m assuming this was the problem. As it was the only thing I changed that was different from what I took off.

I should have know something was wrong when the engine practically just fell in last time. The clutch fork. The clutch. The noise in the pan. By the same logic this time around everything should be ok. No matter what I tried the last 3/4 inch wasn’t going together. Even backed out and rechecked the clutch plate. Looked ok the little plastic alignment tool slipped right in.  I did put a new pilot in. It was a little tighter but not much. I went ahead and reset the plate and tried again. Same thing but now it’s 1/2 inch. So I took the guide bolts out and put some just slightly long bolts in. One turn of the nut on each side and it fell together.

Ended the day with motor sitting in the mounts and the right side reassembled. With any luck at all I should be able to run down and watch the sunrise with Dennis next Sunday. 

Purrs like a kitten