A
Anonymous
Guest
Ok gang. Since I had threads all over the freakin place with issues of all shapes and sizes, I thought I'd bring them all together here:
First off, I had a great day at the Pompano Air Fair Air and Auto Show. Some really amazing planes and cars. One nice red '63 Falcon with a motor everyone was oogling won first in class.
BIG trophy.
Funny thing happend on the way into the show. I stopped at the registration booth to pay my $; left the car idling (since it was running great and sounds good even with the crappy exhaust). About 1 minute later..POP!
an ungood sound. Well, i limped slowly to my spot (everyone heard me coming and NOT in a good way ). Long story short: snapped rocker arm retaining cap bolt. The #2 cylinder rockers were flopping all over! Luckily, I was able to back the broker stub out, run to NAPA and replace it. I gathered up my trophy and made my way home...ran like CRAP all the way.
So, with that all said, I tasked everything out tonight:
1. float level: the float adjustment nut had compeltely lost thread on the adjuster so my float level = 0. I was able to back it up enough to get more bite on it again and viola...Prob#1 fixed.
2. Timing. Hol-e-crap. We built the motor balls-on afterall. TDC on dampner DOES - TDC on pointer. I made the mistake of relying on a helper to help feel were TDC of #1 was last time we set it. He must have waited until the damn piston was half way down the cylinder to say STOP! Long story short, dialed it in RIGHT tonight. WHAT a difference. Ping all gone.
3. cooling. I spent pretty much all of yesterday afternoon staring at my new 3-row radiator and the 1" of space I had between it and my WP pulley. Turns out NOONE makes a 3/4" thick electric fan (yes, I knew that, but I had to try calling around). Long story short: sawzall + time + planning = a little less radiator support, a new 3-row radiator, a my stock fan (for now). A little water wetter to finish it off and she's defintely cooler. I'm not sure how much because my brand new gauge is not reading right. It starts at like 200 with the engine cold. It goes up to like 255. So, if it really does go up about 55 degrees, then that would mean it's running right around 175 because my gauge starts at 120.
4. valve cover leaking: ongoing battle. I put the stock cover back on with a new gasket and it clears the OZ runner better than the chrome one with no grinding or anything. MUCH less leak but not finished yet.
5. tranny pan leak. Damn. I did a really carefull job of flattening the rim, drying everything and dregreasing. RTVing the edge of the pan and bolting it on to a nice dry surface...thought I had it. like the valve cover, MUCH MUCH less leaking, but still not right.
6. oh yeah, ignition wiring. all I can say is DUH! i haven't fixed it yet, but I will shortly.
7. while it was open, i readjusted my valves (all needed it a bit) and everything is peachy.
All in all, I had a very good day. I had a little heart ache when I heard that clanking at the show field, but it was a good learning experience and the car is running much better now. THANKS to all here for all of your help, suggestion, time, etc. I couldn't have done it all without yall's help.
PS: mike, if you read this, what are the torque specs on the Yella Terra cap bolts? There were no torque specs in teh box and I think I probably had that one over torqued
First off, I had a great day at the Pompano Air Fair Air and Auto Show. Some really amazing planes and cars. One nice red '63 Falcon with a motor everyone was oogling won first in class.
BIG trophy.Funny thing happend on the way into the show. I stopped at the registration booth to pay my $; left the car idling (since it was running great and sounds good even with the crappy exhaust). About 1 minute later..POP!
an ungood sound. Well, i limped slowly to my spot (everyone heard me coming and NOT in a good way ). Long story short: snapped rocker arm retaining cap bolt. The #2 cylinder rockers were flopping all over! Luckily, I was able to back the broker stub out, run to NAPA and replace it. I gathered up my trophy and made my way home...ran like CRAP all the way.So, with that all said, I tasked everything out tonight:
1. float level: the float adjustment nut had compeltely lost thread on the adjuster so my float level = 0. I was able to back it up enough to get more bite on it again and viola...Prob#1 fixed.
2. Timing. Hol-e-crap. We built the motor balls-on afterall. TDC on dampner DOES - TDC on pointer. I made the mistake of relying on a helper to help feel were TDC of #1 was last time we set it. He must have waited until the damn piston was half way down the cylinder to say STOP! Long story short, dialed it in RIGHT tonight. WHAT a difference. Ping all gone.
3. cooling. I spent pretty much all of yesterday afternoon staring at my new 3-row radiator and the 1" of space I had between it and my WP pulley. Turns out NOONE makes a 3/4" thick electric fan (yes, I knew that, but I had to try calling around). Long story short: sawzall + time + planning = a little less radiator support, a new 3-row radiator, a my stock fan (for now). A little water wetter to finish it off and she's defintely cooler. I'm not sure how much because my brand new gauge is not reading right. It starts at like 200 with the engine cold. It goes up to like 255. So, if it really does go up about 55 degrees, then that would mean it's running right around 175 because my gauge starts at 120.
4. valve cover leaking: ongoing battle. I put the stock cover back on with a new gasket and it clears the OZ runner better than the chrome one with no grinding or anything. MUCH less leak but not finished yet.
5. tranny pan leak. Damn. I did a really carefull job of flattening the rim, drying everything and dregreasing. RTVing the edge of the pan and bolting it on to a nice dry surface...thought I had it.
like the valve cover, MUCH MUCH less leaking, but still not right.6. oh yeah, ignition wiring.
all I can say is DUH! i haven't fixed it yet, but I will shortly.7. while it was open, i readjusted my valves (all needed it a bit) and everything is peachy.
All in all, I had a very good day. I had a little heart ache when I heard that clanking at the show field, but it was a good learning experience and the car is running much better now. THANKS to all here for all of your help, suggestion, time, etc. I couldn't have done it all without yall's help.
PS: mike, if you read this, what are the torque specs on the Yella Terra cap bolts? There were no torque specs in teh box and I think I probably had that one over torqued
