I was stymied last weekend because I could not adjust the distributor enough to line up the pointer on the flywheel housing with the timing mark on the flywheel. I thought I would have to remove the distributor and rotate it one tooth - a tricky operation.
I posted my problem on the Stovebolt.com forums and it turns out all I needed to do was loosen the clamp that holds the adjustment scale and recenter it. I did that this afternoon and timing took about 10 seconds.
I reconnected the vacuum advance, made sure everything was returned to its operating condition and took her out for a maiden voyage.
With Sharon and the kids watching, I took her around the block and back into the garage. She ran like a dream.
Then, even though she doesn't have seat belts, we loaded the whole family inside and took another swing around the block.
It was awesome.
We have a running truck and I have a permanent grin on my face.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Close but no cigar
Last weekend I ordered a new fuel filter, distributor cap and a full engine's worth of new gaskets. I was worried after last week that part of the problem with having to run with the choke closed was due to a lack of gas getting to the carburetor. I replaced the old filter with a new paper filter unit and the difference was immediately noticeable. Gas was SHOOTING into the filter.
After using full choke to start the cold engine, I noticed that it started running rough and was threatening to die. I was confused at first, until I realized I might have been right :-) I pushed in the choke valve, and the engine smoothed out and roared to life. After adjusting the the idle valve and the throttle set screw the truck idled well with no choke at all. Mystery solved.
* Note: It is at this point that I should point out that Carter warned me that he thought the carb was not getting enough gas weeks ago. He thought it might have been the fuel pump, but I have to give him credit. It looks like it was the old degraded gasket on the fuel filter limiting fuel flow into the carb. *
Then I got realy excited to finish the timing. I pulled the Subaru's battery again, and clipped on the timing light. The first thing I saw was the Triangle that I had cleaned and painted last weekend. Yay! I figured I was golden.
But when I tried to adjust the distributor to line up the pointer on the flywheel housing with the ball in the flywheel I ran out of adjustment before I could get there. Argh! I could see the "C" and part of the "U" of the "IUC" mark, but could not get to the ball.
I'm not sure if the problem is with the distributor or something else, but I will have to do some research this week to see if I can figure out what the problem is, and try to solve it next weekend.
After using full choke to start the cold engine, I noticed that it started running rough and was threatening to die. I was confused at first, until I realized I might have been right :-) I pushed in the choke valve, and the engine smoothed out and roared to life. After adjusting the the idle valve and the throttle set screw the truck idled well with no choke at all. Mystery solved.
* Note: It is at this point that I should point out that Carter warned me that he thought the carb was not getting enough gas weeks ago. He thought it might have been the fuel pump, but I have to give him credit. It looks like it was the old degraded gasket on the fuel filter limiting fuel flow into the carb. *
Then I got realy excited to finish the timing. I pulled the Subaru's battery again, and clipped on the timing light. The first thing I saw was the Triangle that I had cleaned and painted last weekend. Yay! I figured I was golden.
But when I tried to adjust the distributor to line up the pointer on the flywheel housing with the ball in the flywheel I ran out of adjustment before I could get there. Argh! I could see the "C" and part of the "U" of the "IUC" mark, but could not get to the ball.
I'm not sure if the problem is with the distributor or something else, but I will have to do some research this week to see if I can figure out what the problem is, and try to solve it next weekend.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Small amount of progress
This weekend I got about 3 hours of work in on the truck. I tried to fix the doors so that they shut and latch, but was only partially successful. I adjusted the door hinges and was able to get the driver's door to partially latch, but could not get the full latch. Oh well, at least now it will not swing open on a right hand turn.
I also pulled the flywheel cover and cleaned the fly wheel. I found the timing mark and the letters that I couldn't find the last time I tried to time the truck. I am a little confused though because the timing mark has the number "2" next to it and the letters "IUC". I'm not sure if the number 2 means that I am supposed to time the engine off the number two spark plug wire? And I'm not sure what IUC stands for? You can see what I'm talking about in this picture:
Nice camera work from under the truck huh?
The triangle is the timing mark for Top Dead Center. The ball embedded in the wheel is the timing mark for the correct advance of the spark. You can see someone put some orange paint on the ball at one point. I put white paint in the lettering and white on the ball. I will hopefully get a chance to try to time the engine again next weekend.
It also looks like most of the engine was once blue. Currently everything under the truck is black, but when I cleaned years of accumulated grime off the flywheel cover a blue matching the engine was revealed:
Who knows what the rest of the engine and drive train will look like once I clean it!
I also pulled the flywheel cover and cleaned the fly wheel. I found the timing mark and the letters that I couldn't find the last time I tried to time the truck. I am a little confused though because the timing mark has the number "2" next to it and the letters "IUC". I'm not sure if the number 2 means that I am supposed to time the engine off the number two spark plug wire? And I'm not sure what IUC stands for? You can see what I'm talking about in this picture:
Nice camera work from under the truck huh?
The triangle is the timing mark for Top Dead Center. The ball embedded in the wheel is the timing mark for the correct advance of the spark. You can see someone put some orange paint on the ball at one point. I put white paint in the lettering and white on the ball. I will hopefully get a chance to try to time the engine again next weekend.
It also looks like most of the engine was once blue. Currently everything under the truck is black, but when I cleaned years of accumulated grime off the flywheel cover a blue matching the engine was revealed:
Who knows what the rest of the engine and drive train will look like once I clean it!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Ugh .. frustration
In order to time the engine I pulled the 12V battery from my Subaru to power the timing light.
After finally getting the engine to start, I tried to find the timing mark on the flywheel with no success. After reading some more about it, I should be able to see a triangle and the letters UDC stamped into the flywheel and then as I advance the distributor, I should see a small ball embedded into the flywheel. I'm supposed to time the engine so the pointer on my bell housing lines up with the ball.
I searched a number of times, for about 1/2 hour each time trying to find anything that looked like a triangle, letters, or a small metal ball without success.
The good news is that the engine ran (poorly) the whole time I was searching.
It still will only run if it is almost completely choked. I will probably need to pull the spark plugs and clean them before I try again.
I plan to pull the inspection cover off of the flywheel so that I can clean it, and try to locate the timing marks to at least confirm that they actually exist.
I had high hopes for this weekend. Failing to even locate a timing mark is pretty frustrating.
Only working 4-5 hours per week on the truck is also frustrating, but I got to ski with my kids all day today, which I would not trade, even for a perfectly tuned engine :-)
After finally getting the engine to start, I tried to find the timing mark on the flywheel with no success. After reading some more about it, I should be able to see a triangle and the letters UDC stamped into the flywheel and then as I advance the distributor, I should see a small ball embedded into the flywheel. I'm supposed to time the engine so the pointer on my bell housing lines up with the ball.
I searched a number of times, for about 1/2 hour each time trying to find anything that looked like a triangle, letters, or a small metal ball without success.
The good news is that the engine ran (poorly) the whole time I was searching.
It still will only run if it is almost completely choked. I will probably need to pull the spark plugs and clean them before I try again.
I plan to pull the inspection cover off of the flywheel so that I can clean it, and try to locate the timing marks to at least confirm that they actually exist.
I had high hopes for this weekend. Failing to even locate a timing mark is pretty frustrating.
Only working 4-5 hours per week on the truck is also frustrating, but I got to ski with my kids all day today, which I would not trade, even for a perfectly tuned engine :-)
Sunday, January 24, 2010
More progress
So I pretty much made it through the list of things that I wanted to get through, with one major exception. This weekend I completed the following: I vacummed the accumulated dirt and rust that was hidden underneath and behind the gas tank
While the tank was out I also decided to take out the seat rails for the bench seat and clean them, with the intent of getting them moving easily again. When I pulled them out and tried to move them about a pound of sand fell out. It was like coming home from the beach after walking around with tennis shoes on
After blowing out the rails with the air compressor and some liberal use of WD-40, the rails were moving again.
I also cleaned out the gas tank, installed a new flexible gas line, installed the new sending unit, and put the entire fuel line back into the truck
I recharged the battery and after turning the engine over for a while, re-established fuel flow to the carburetor. Once we had fuel, Sharon helped me get the truck started and running. With the choke most of the way closed the engine idled consistently, if a little roughly. I let the truck warm up and was excited to try out my timing light and get the truck well-timed, but either my 6V battery won't run the light, or the timing light is broken (burned out bulb, etc).
I will have to wait until my next free moment to try the timing light on my car to see if it will run off of a 12V battery.
While the tank was out I also decided to take out the seat rails for the bench seat and clean them, with the intent of getting them moving easily again. When I pulled them out and tried to move them about a pound of sand fell out. It was like coming home from the beach after walking around with tennis shoes on
After blowing out the rails with the air compressor and some liberal use of WD-40, the rails were moving again.
I also cleaned out the gas tank, installed a new flexible gas line, installed the new sending unit, and put the entire fuel line back into the truck
I recharged the battery and after turning the engine over for a while, re-established fuel flow to the carburetor. Once we had fuel, Sharon helped me get the truck started and running. With the choke most of the way closed the engine idled consistently, if a little roughly. I let the truck warm up and was excited to try out my timing light and get the truck well-timed, but either my 6V battery won't run the light, or the timing light is broken (burned out bulb, etc).
I will have to wait until my next free moment to try the timing light on my car to see if it will run off of a 12V battery.
How old is that nut?!
While shop vac-ing the truck I found a number of interesting items, but the best was this walnut:
It was behind the gas tank on the passenger side. I have no idea how long that nut has been back there. Walnuts are pretty tough, so I'm going claim that it made it's way back there in the 60's or 70's and has been waiting all this time for me to find it.
It's probably not that old, but its fun to imagine.
It was behind the gas tank on the passenger side. I have no idea how long that nut has been back there. Walnuts are pretty tough, so I'm going claim that it made it's way back there in the 60's or 70's and has been waiting all this time for me to find it.
It's probably not that old, but its fun to imagine.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back
Ben Carter came over on Saturday to help me on the truck. It turns out that the distributor was so loose that the only reason that the truck would run at all was because the spark plug wires kept the distributor in roughly the right location.
Once we started messing with it, we kind of lost the recipe. We think we got the distributor back close enough to correct timing but by then the battery was drained from trying to start it.
Ben also noticed a small fuel leak from the carb. We pulled that off again and put some RTV on the gasket to try to cut down on the leaking.
He also thought that not enough fuel was getting to the filter. He was concerned that the pump was not working well enough.
We called it a day and I got ready for the FD banquet.
Today I decided to check the entire fuel delivery system. I pulled and cleaned the fuel pump:
Shiny! Again when I worked the lever manually it seemed to deliver a pretty powerful stream of fuel from the discharge.
I started to remove the gas tank, but it was too heavy with all the gas, so I started siphoning it out. Then I got under the truck because I was worried that there was a gas tank hold-down bolt and I should probably unscrew it. I found a bolt underneath just as I suspected and unscrewed it. It turns out that it was the gas tank drain. Gas poured out all over me, my work light, and the garage floor! It was a mess.
With the help of my newly discovered tank drain, I got the gas drained and the tank removed:
The space behind the gas tank really needs a shop vac:
I had to call it a day as we were hosting some business associates visiting Colorado from Switzerland. Turns out one of the guys has an old Jag so he was interested in seeing the truck :-)
So the next order of business for the fuel system is:
1) Clean the gas tank inside and out (I'll use carb cleaner in the tank to remove the gunk)
2) Replace the sending unit
3) Replace the flexible line that connects the tank to the main fuel line
4) Reassemble the fuel pump to the engine
5) Vacuum out the cab, especially behind the gas tank
6) Recharge the battery
7) Try to start it and back to square one with timing.
Hopefully I can get the timing close enough to allow the truck to run long enough to warm it up so I can see if my timing light will work.
Once we started messing with it, we kind of lost the recipe. We think we got the distributor back close enough to correct timing but by then the battery was drained from trying to start it.
Ben also noticed a small fuel leak from the carb. We pulled that off again and put some RTV on the gasket to try to cut down on the leaking.
He also thought that not enough fuel was getting to the filter. He was concerned that the pump was not working well enough.
We called it a day and I got ready for the FD banquet.
Today I decided to check the entire fuel delivery system. I pulled and cleaned the fuel pump:
Shiny! Again when I worked the lever manually it seemed to deliver a pretty powerful stream of fuel from the discharge.
I started to remove the gas tank, but it was too heavy with all the gas, so I started siphoning it out. Then I got under the truck because I was worried that there was a gas tank hold-down bolt and I should probably unscrew it. I found a bolt underneath just as I suspected and unscrewed it. It turns out that it was the gas tank drain. Gas poured out all over me, my work light, and the garage floor! It was a mess.
With the help of my newly discovered tank drain, I got the gas drained and the tank removed:
The space behind the gas tank really needs a shop vac:
I had to call it a day as we were hosting some business associates visiting Colorado from Switzerland. Turns out one of the guys has an old Jag so he was interested in seeing the truck :-)
So the next order of business for the fuel system is:
1) Clean the gas tank inside and out (I'll use carb cleaner in the tank to remove the gunk)
2) Replace the sending unit
3) Replace the flexible line that connects the tank to the main fuel line
4) Reassemble the fuel pump to the engine
5) Vacuum out the cab, especially behind the gas tank
6) Recharge the battery
7) Try to start it and back to square one with timing.
Hopefully I can get the timing close enough to allow the truck to run long enough to warm it up so I can see if my timing light will work.
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