I've been tweaking a bit, and getting the car running better, and did extra
flushing of the cooling system. Over the past couple of weeks we've been
taking the CDO out for 5-10 mile evening runs around the neighborhood, and
it's been running quite well, with just a bit of bubbling after a long run.
Things seemed good!
Today I drove the car about 15 miles to a backyard gathering with a 2-3
dozen cars ranging from Bentley and Ferrari, MG & Healey, Datsun & Miata,
and Packard, Overland and the CDO. Ran great until the last 1-2 miles
(uphill), when it began missing like it did last summer, and earlier this
year. Put in a fresh fuel filter, cleaned the commutator, and fettled a
bit, and got it running a tad better, but not great.
Headed towards home, down about 3 miles of hill - made good time, but still
not right - playing hit and miss engine the whole time. Pulled off at the
bottom of the hill and decided to try adjust the commutator a tad. Found
the pins on my commutator block were out of place- removed the commutator
spring and pushed the pins back in place. (but they're loose, need to fix
that) Pulled out my Leatherman, and tried to bend the spring downwards a
hair. SNAP. It broke off at the center of the contact point - weak spot
due to wear. Oh, crap.
Well, being at the *center* of the contact area, It could still hit the
lobe right? I filed the end smooth, and tried a couple adjustments. First
try way too tight, it fired and ran backwards while cranking (too advanced)
. Got it right the next time. VERY right. The car started right up and ran
strong. All the way home. It's currently running the best it has since I
got it running!
OK, that's great - but it's not fixed yet. I need to make or find new
commutator springs. I've looked at the drawing (RG-3-1112) in the Ziegler
book. Yea, I can do that, once I find the right spring steel stock. A jig
would be useful. Does anyone have a jig, or a have springs for sale?
--
Roger Garnett
rwgarnett@gmail.com
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