Getting it running!
This plumber's nightmare took a while to get back together. There is only
one way that everything will work, I kept telling myself. Of course I had to take
it all apart again as soon as I tried to start the engine. I had a number of small
fuel leaks and vacuum problems, as well as having the linkages in wrong.
After getting the radiator, belts, wiring harness, and regulator installed,
I was ready to give it try. The first thing I found was that the key wouldn't
turn over the starter. I had broken the Neutral Safety switch. Fortunately they
are pretty easy to come by at the junkyard, then I found I had a bad fuel pump,
I rebuilt it myself, Oh well I had another one. Next I found that I had at least
five serious leaks in the fuel system. This required buying some new fittings,
and allot of tightening. I then discovered that I had the Distributor installed
incorrectly. This took a weekend of tinkering to figure out. If anyone needs the
full scoop on how to avoid this problem, send me a mail. After the timing was
fixed, it started right up! Unfortunately, it would only run at 3000 RPM or greater,
This took a while to figure out, but I eventually found that I had damaged the
floats in the front and rear carbs. The floats sank, causing extra gas to be forced
into the bowls. As the bowl overflowed extra gas was forced out of the gets into
the engine. This caused the engine to run fast and sloppy rich since the air mixture
was set for idle. I hope this situation made for a quick and well lubricated cam
break in, at least I know it had good oil pressure. A number of other leaks showed
up as the engine ran, which were simple to fix.
It is hard to tell, but that is a running engine! Next I get to put the
wheel well and bumper parts together! But first I have to get the electrical system
tested. Before installing the exhaust manifolds, I bead blasted
them, and then painted them with Eastwood's exhaust manifold paint. This paint
must be burned on by running the engine, within 1 week of painting. So I had to
get all of the other things ready or installed before I painted them. Setting
the timing and dwell was simple, but required a bit of experimentation. The timing
was so far out that I couldn't see the marks at first. Boy did the performance
improve once I got the distributor installed on the right tooth!
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Author: Bill McKenna
email bill@mckennasgarage.com