To all who have been following the saga of a simple engine replacement,
I offer the (almost) final chapter.
The car now has 1000 miles on it, has had the oil & filter changed.
Except for the Jacobs ignition failing, & a suddenly unreliable oil
pressure gauge, the 1st 1000 miles has been all smiles. The idle is
creeping up a little & needs to be re-set back to about 800 rpms, so I
can hear the cam lope I love. I had a small opportunity to open it up
just a little, yesterday. Even though the temps got up to low 50's, many
streets are wet & a little icy after the severe ice storm of Friday.
Well, that's Washington (DC) weather for you, 20's 1 day & ice storm,
400,000 without power, low 50's the next & sunny- got to wash the car.
Anyway, I found a deserted street in an industrial area that was dry.
Rolling start, up to about 15 mph, then nailed it hard, & stayed on it
to 5000 rpm. It broke the tires loose almost as soon as I hit it, with
slight fishtailing, grabbed, & took off. Got off at 5000 rpm, but it
was still pulling hard in first. Punched it in second, it just flew. Had
to stop, not enough road, but plenty for what I wanted to know. LOTS
more power than a good 215/3500. Don't plan on doing much of this, drag
racing was done for me 30 years ago, but really needed to know what it
would do. On the way home from our co-op shop today, I realized the hood
was not latched, so I quickly pulled onto the left hand shoulder of the
beltway. By the way, lubing the safety catch can save you a hood,
windshield, or much more. After a firm latch, I had to re-enter the
traffic in the fast lane, with only a little shoulder ahead of me.
Needless to say, I ripped the 1st 3 gears, slowed to 70 mph, & went
safely into 5th, blending nicely with traffic, much to the delight of a
mini van full of kids, probably telling Dad to go faster. Didn't really
see how fast I was going in 3rd, but I had to slow quite a bit.
Don't know exactly what cam Woody put in the engine, he sent me the
specs, but they didn't mean much to me. It is much "bigger" than the
Crane I had in the 215. The Crane was mild, 260/268 degrees advertised
duration @500 rpm. The new Erison (sp ?) is way over that, but is very
streetable. Idle is smooth over 900 rpm, nice & lumpy at 800, really
wild at 700. It looks like it will still be pulling hard until the
valves start to float around 6800 rpm. The cam in combination with the
Mallory magnetic dizzy that Woody curved for me, makes a very strong
engine. I have a Mallory ignition box & coil coming to replace the
Jacobs, so I will provide an update after that is installed, next
weekend.
We have survived our first long parking lot/ beltway tie-up. 7 miles in
45 minutes without problems. We have made daily runs of 45-60 minutes at
60-70 mph, no sweat, no overheating in traffic. Every bit as smooth as
the 215, with a lot more on tap.
An aside, while looking through the various web sites I have book marked
for tech articles for the Club Newsletter, I went to the site for
Champion spark plugs. A very interesting site, with info pertaining
directly to us & the aluminum heads we use. Major points are, never
change plugs in a hot engine. With aluminum heads, it is very important
that they be cool to reduce stress on the threads. 2nd point, Champion
has a new coating on all their plugs, specifically designed with
aluminum heads in mind, to prevent seizing. They do not recommend the
use of anti-seize with their plugs. I know this, after anti-seizing &
installing new plugs. Oh well.....
No interest in Cooper Industries, Champion, etc.
Jim (Smiley) Stuart
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