BSCC- Rick's Engine Saga Update

[Rick MacDonald]

This could be like a soap opera, couldn't it?

In the latest episode, I decided to try switching one little part at a time,
seeing if there was any difference thru trial and error.

To Wes J. and the Raia's: I put a new fuel pump on, and it was no
different...nice idea but no cigar!

Anyway, Friday nite when I parked it (after a new rotor and dist. point cam)
which by the way enabled me to get the dwell WAYY better than it was, with a
proper gap even!!
it was actually running worse than ever when I parked in disgust.

I purposely didn't talk about it at Volksvair, I wanted to keep a positive
outlook on such a nice day!

So, Sunday as I was mowing the lawn I let the car idle in D for 10 minutes,
and sure enough it started to stumble and skip right on cue when fully
warmed up.
I had a spare condensor, and with that it seemed a "little" better..no
longer threatening to stall but still had the occasional miss.
 I had one new coil in my parts collection, so I threw it on there.

No stalling! It did seem to idle better so I took it for a spin, and went
all over town..Not once did it almost stall at a stop light, or hesitate
under acceleration. There was one hil l that it did skip a few times on,
just as the PG was about to shift.

But I drove it for nearly an hour all around EB with no problems.
Performance wise I'd give it a B- since I'm too cautious to call it "fixed"
but it was driving more steadily than ever before.

I'm fairly certain there is still something electrical causing that
occasional skip, but we'll narrow it down soon!

1 random thought: The valve springs in there are just "frankensteined" from
other motors...there is an occasional tapping that comes and goes, seeming
to be from 1 area each time. Does anybody think those springs are too weak,
and when they start tapping they are not closing the valves tight enough to
support combustion?  How about "installed valve spring height"? I have never
understood that concept, but I MAY remember some different thicknesses of
shims being in there, but it was so long ago I can't tell you exactly how I
installed them, shimmed up or not.

I do plan on a good hot valve adjustment in the near future!

Rick MacDonald
The Smith Print, Inc.
90 Longwater Drive
Norwell, MA 02061
781-878-5555 tel
781-878-2040 fax
rickm at smithprint.com