Baffling engine problem - looking for advice

OC - I have 3 rubber shock mounts I have been saving for mounting the pump. I did a frame mount once years ago and it was like driving down a gravel road all the time... I have been trying to locate a glass bell marine fuel filter to trap water and misc junk but I may just for a simple glass filter. I was planning on measuring the fuel pressure at the T point just before the carbs so line losses will be accounted for. I guess I'll give 3.5psi a shot.
 
OC - I have 3 rubber shock mounts I have been saving for mounting the pump. I did a frame mount once years ago and it was like driving down a gravel road all the time... I have been trying to locate a glass bell marine fuel filter to trap water and misc junk but I may just for a simple glass filter. I was planning on measuring the fuel pressure at the T point just before the carbs so line losses will be accounted for. I guess I'll give 3.5psi a shot.
 
one more thing

jj: you have checked the idle solenoids for clicking but that does not ensure they are not leaking.

In my own experience, 3.0's get balky after a couple days, but will often start on first crank if run daily.

To leak test the solenoids, take em out, connect a hot wire to the terminal and have a means of grounding. Then (and this is the trick) find and fit some tubing snugly around the business end of the solenoid. Blow in the other end of the tubing while you power/depower the idle solenoid. Note that if you're careless you can curl your moustache or get a tingle from this. You may like it and form a habit ;) but having been there I wouldn't recommend it.

Anyway, this is the old timer's method to check idle solenoids. I've posted it a time or twice in the long past, and seen it posted from another person (Mario L?) once. It doesn't absolutely prove that the solenoid doesn't have a slow leak, but it beats hell outa the click test. I thought too that some early solenoids had a little screw on them, can only speculate what that might have been for. Anyway given the above, a little imagination can prove the solenoids might or not have a slow leak.
 
one more thing

jj: you have checked the idle solenoids for clicking but that does not ensure they are not leaking.

In my own experience, 3.0's get balky after a couple days, but will often start on first crank if run daily.

To leak test the solenoids, take em out, connect a hot wire to the terminal and have a means of grounding. Then (and this is the trick) find and fit some tubing snugly around the business end of the solenoid. Blow in the other end of the tubing while you power/depower the idle solenoid. Note that if you're careless you can curl your moustache or get a tingle from this. You may like it and form a habit ;) but having been there I wouldn't recommend it.

Anyway, this is the old timer's method to check idle solenoids. I've posted it a time or twice in the long past, and seen it posted from another person (Mario L?) once. It doesn't absolutely prove that the solenoid doesn't have a slow leak, but it beats hell outa the click test. I thought too that some early solenoids had a little screw on them, can only speculate what that might have been for. Anyway given the above, a little imagination can prove the solenoids might or not have a slow leak.
 
I think I have resolved the smoke problem. I pulled the valve cover and there was a layer of what appeared to be mucus on the right side (near passenger wheel. I also checked the PCV hose and it was also full of mucus too. At I first thought it was sludge from oil break down but after changing the oil and filter there appeared to be no problem (still golden). After looking very carefully at the mucus I determined it was made up of pure water and oil, no coolant. This pretty much means condensate. If I had to guess the reason, I changed the thermostat last fall because my old one was not letting the engine get warm. As such, it probably developed a fair bit of crankcase condensation over the period of time when it was running cold. Basically my engine was hocking a lugey from the PCV line each time it started. I have decided that I am going to cap off the PCV feed into the air cleaner and route the PCV to the ground. I am searching for a one-way valve that I can put in the line to prevent reverse air flow (humidity intake) when the engine cools; not environmentally friendly but oh well.

I'm still working on the starting issue. I am planning to get the electric fuel pump in and change back to Zeniths ASAP. I don't care what everyone says about Zeniths, I personally prefer them. :oops:
 
I think I have resolved the smoke problem. I pulled the valve cover and there was a layer of what appeared to be mucus on the right side (near passenger wheel. I also checked the PCV hose and it was also full of mucus too. At I first thought it was sludge from oil break down but after changing the oil and filter there appeared to be no problem (still golden). After looking very carefully at the mucus I determined it was made up of pure water and oil, no coolant. This pretty much means condensate. If I had to guess the reason, I changed the thermostat last fall because my old one was not letting the engine get warm. As such, it probably developed a fair bit of crankcase condensation over the period of time when it was running cold. Basically my engine was hocking a lugey from the PCV line each time it started. I have decided that I am going to cap off the PCV feed into the air cleaner and route the PCV to the ground. I am searching for a one-way valve that I can put in the line to prevent reverse air flow (humidity intake) when the engine cools; not environmentally friendly but oh well.

I'm still working on the starting issue. I am planning to get the electric fuel pump in and change back to Zeniths ASAP. I don't care what everyone says about Zeniths, I personally prefer them. :oops:
 
jhjacobs said:
I'm still working on the starting issue. I am planning to get the electric fuel pump in and change back to Zeniths ASAP. I don't care what everyone says about Zeniths, I personally prefer them. :oops:
Click to expand...

Tony (Velocewest as you knew him) swore by the Zenith's. I purchased his car last fall (Oct 08 )
I have to agree - based on my limited experience - the engine is performing great.

I am chasing an ignition problem (as was he before) but he had the carbs gone-through a few years earlier and works great.
 
jhjacobs said:
I'm still working on the starting issue. I am planning to get the electric fuel pump in and change back to Zeniths ASAP. I don't care what everyone says about Zeniths, I personally prefer them. :oops:
Click to expand...

Tony (Velocewest as you knew him) swore by the Zenith's. I purchased his car last fall (Oct 08 )
I have to agree - based on my limited experience - the engine is performing great.

I am chasing an ignition problem (as was he before) but he had the carbs gone-through a few years earlier and works great.
 
Kevin,

I purchased a simple Crane electronic ignition kit with and optical pick-up to replace the points. For about $100 it can't be beat! No more misses, no more erratic idle due to distributor wobble, and best of all no f^&king points! I was about ready to put my car down with a 45 and then use the next round on myself when fighting my last ignition problem. I turns our I had a defective set of points. The condenser lead was shorting out to the distributor body intermittently due to a manufacturing defect - nearly impossible to find since it worked when you were looking at it and if you took your eyes off it would fail.
 
Kevin,

I purchased a simple Crane electronic ignition kit with and optical pick-up to replace the points. For about $100 it can't be beat! No more misses, no more erratic idle due to distributor wobble, and best of all no f^&king points! I was about ready to put my car down with a 45 and then use the next round on myself when fighting my last ignition problem. I turns our I had a defective set of points. The condenser lead was shorting out to the distributor body intermittently due to a manufacturing defect - nearly impossible to find since it worked when you were looking at it and if you took your eyes off it would fail.
 
My issue is the vac advance/retard. The diaphram won't hold. Tony had installed a Pertronix already (as I had done years earlier in my 2002). So- that end is already done.

I will be replacing the distributor in a short time - and will advise on how that goes (keeping the Pertonix of course).
 
My issue is the vac advance/retard. The diaphram won't hold. Tony had installed a Pertronix already (as I had done years earlier in my 2002). So- that end is already done.

I will be replacing the distributor in a short time - and will advise on how that goes (keeping the Pertonix of course).
 
I recall back in 1981 I purchased a vacuum-less centrifugal-only Bosch distributor as a performance upgrade for my E3. It seemed to make the engine throttle response a bit more aggressive without any undue low speed issues. I also installed similar units in VW's when I worked on them. Does anyone know if these things still exist (or if they ever existed because I could have been living in a different reality dimension in those days).?
 
I recall back in 1981 I purchased a vacuum-less centrifugal-only Bosch distributor as a performance upgrade for my E3. It seemed to make the engine throttle response a bit more aggressive without any undue low speed issues. I also installed similar units in VW's when I worked on them. Does anyone know if these things still exist (or if they ever existed because I could have been living in a different reality dimension in those days).?
 
IIRC

the mechanical advance diz may still be available for BMW and VW but lord only knows how to get one.

The mechanical-only advance curve was shorter and steeper, intended for higher compression motors which with as much advance as a stocker, would ping at full advance.

IIRC the stock VW setting was 8 or 10 degrees BTDC. Was that the 008 diz? It has been so long...
 
IIRC

the mechanical advance diz may still be available for BMW and VW but lord only knows how to get one.

The mechanical-only advance curve was shorter and steeper, intended for higher compression motors which with as much advance as a stocker, would ping at full advance.

IIRC the stock VW setting was 8 or 10 degrees BTDC. Was that the 008 diz? It has been so long...
 
IRC the stock VW setting was 8 or 10 degrees BTDC
Click to expand...

I remember the VW setting as 1 beer can pull tab BTDC. 008 sounds familiar - too many brain cells ago to be sure. I spent two summers working at Perry's Bug Shop in East Tennessee. We did lot's of crazy stuff : roller cranks, dual down draft webers, Anza headers, etc.with them.
 
IRC the stock VW setting was 8 or 10 degrees BTDC
Click to expand...

I remember the VW setting as 1 beer can pull tab BTDC. 008 sounds familiar - too many brain cells ago to be sure. I spent two summers working at Perry's Bug Shop in East Tennessee. We did lot's of crazy stuff : roller cranks, dual down draft webers, Anza headers, etc.with them.
 
I just completed conversion back to Zeniths from the Weber 34/38's that were on my coupe when I first got it. I did a complete tear down and rebuild of a pair of Zeniths using parts from 6 different carbs. I did a bench turn before installing them and only needed to do a minor idle adjustment and mixture tune after installing. The chokes performed perfectly in balance and the idle adjsuted to a rock solid 960. To me the Zeniths sound much nicer than the Webers and they have nice smooth response. I will admit that rebuilding a pair took me almost 20 hours but I did work from 6 sets to form an perfect pair.

For cleaning I used Chem-Dip from Berryman. It comes with a nice little metal basket in the 1 gal can (AdvancedAuto Past carries it). I had to pour it into a plastic tray for the large pieces. Overall if performed pretty well for the money (about $19). Not as good as the professional systems I've used or ultrasonic cleaners but still totally acceptable.

This has most likely cured my slow start up problem and possibly some of the white smoke at start up. When I pulled the Webers the forward intake manifold had a small puddle of fuel in it and the carb to manifold gasket was soaked with fuel. This carb was definitely leaking while sitting; the float only had a teaspoon or so of fuel in it. The rear intake was dry and the carb was full of fuel as expected. I haven't done a post Weberectory analysis to determine the cause of leaking, if I do I'll post my finding and photos if appropriate.
 
I just completed conversion back to Zeniths from the Weber 34/38's that were on my coupe when I first got it. I did a complete tear down and rebuild of a pair of Zeniths using parts from 6 different carbs. I did a bench turn before installing them and only needed to do a minor idle adjustment and mixture tune after installing. The chokes performed perfectly in balance and the idle adjsuted to a rock solid 960. To me the Zeniths sound much nicer than the Webers and they have nice smooth response. I will admit that rebuilding a pair took me almost 20 hours but I did work from 6 sets to form an perfect pair.

For cleaning I used Chem-Dip from Berryman. It comes with a nice little metal basket in the 1 gal can (AdvancedAuto Past carries it). I had to pour it into a plastic tray for the large pieces. Overall if performed pretty well for the money (about $19). Not as good as the professional systems I've used or ultrasonic cleaners but still totally acceptable.

This has most likely cured my slow start up problem and possibly some of the white smoke at start up. When I pulled the Webers the forward intake manifold had a small puddle of fuel in it and the carb to manifold gasket was soaked with fuel. This carb was definitely leaking while sitting; the float only had a teaspoon or so of fuel in it. The rear intake was dry and the carb was full of fuel as expected. I haven't done a post Weberectory analysis to determine the cause of leaking, if I do I'll post my finding and photos if appropriate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top