Ever have a day where you shouldn't allow yourself to pop the hood on
your car? I had one today. Took my '72 B to the auto hobby shop on
base for some tinkering. Lubed the appropriate points, tightened a
loose shock and a few bolts on the spring pan, replaced the speedometer
cable, and decided to adjust the valve lash. Adjusted all eight,
wondering the whole time why I was having to loosen them all. After I
locked down the last nut, I realized that I had some oil on my
swiss-army-knife-style flat feelers, and the .015 gauge had gotten stuck
to the .014 gauge. I had just adjusted all of the valves to about twice
what they should have been! Anyway, corrected all of that, and then put
the plugs and wires back (I had removed them to make the engine easier
to crank by hand.). started it up, and was greeted by backfiring,
pinging and all manner of unpleasantness. After a much-needed cigarette
break, I realized that I had gotten it into my head that the distributor
rotated clockwise instead of anticlockwise, and so I had the plug wires
for #2 and #3 backwards. Decided to take it off the lift and go home at
that point. If this keeps up, I'll need a glass belly-button to see
where I'm going!
Scott
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