Listers,
Thanks to all who helped me while I was trying to get my 6 started and back
home from my Mom's house. It is running as good as or better than ever, and I
now have it home in the garage.
This afternoon I discovered that the crankcase was full of gas because the
float valves were letting fuel get buy. Each carb had a pool of gas in it's
throat. With the car parked on an incline and the fuel level above the carbs,
the new float valves (put in when I recently rebuilt the carbs) just didn't
cut it. As I rebuilt the carbs I was reluctant to take out the valves that
had not failed me for the 3 years I have owned the car. I had parked on the
same steep driveway many times before with no problems.
A kind neighbor towed me out of the driveway to level ground. I changed the
oil and filter, then pulled the carbs and changed the float valves back to the
old ones before I attempted to start the car. After that it fired right up.
The valves that have worked well for me have four cavities around the
actuating rod. The ones that failed have solid brass all the way around the
rod. I mention this not because I believe I'm able to critique these design
features, I just wonder if anyone can identify which valves are supposedly
better than others. I bought the ones that failed from Moss.
While trouble shooting my problem I went through my electrical system and
found a weakness there. Right after I bought the car I installed a new coil
and made the mistake of installing the included ballast resistor between the
ballast resistor wire and the coil. I assumed the ballast resistor wire was
just a plain old wire and that I'd get 12V from it. Not only has the voltage
to the coil been low all this time, the wire from the solenoid which bypasses
the ballast resistor wire in order to aid in starting has not been connected
at least since I installed the new coil. With everything properly connected
maybe I won't have the problem of hard starting when the engine is hot.
Oh, and thanks to Dick and I think someone else for pointing out that the carb
mixture test is carried out by raising the air valve 1/16" rather than 1/4".
As soon as the brushes for my starter arrive I'll clean it up and install
them. This is a great time of year!
Gary
'73
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