Okay, I've gotten Emma home... she's still on the car carrier because,
conveniently enough, there are no boards on the center of the carrier...
that means it is also a "portable pit". So, I drained the oil, the gas,
and the radiator... Put in new antifreeze, and rinsed the gas tank. I
haven't put in new oil yet, since I want to pressure inject the oil to
force it into the bearings. I plan to take off the oil pressure line, and
force at least 1 quart through the line using 50 PSI air... My tame
machinist is making me a 1 quart pressure vessel with appropriate air and
oil connectors, and a fill cap. This week I pulled the top off of the
float chambers* on the SUs and looked. "Oooooooh, so that's what gasoline
looks like after 5 years.." There is a 1/2 teaspoon of honey like "stuff"
in the bottom of each float chamber with a hard brown coating on the
surfaces... Well, I sucked out the gunk with a pipette, rinsed off the
brown with acetone, denatured alcohol, and gasoline until it was all clean,
and then went to purge the line...
No power.... no surprise, the batteries need charging... oh wait, no,
look at those batteries... they need CHANGING. The tops look like a
fault map of California... I replace the two 6V with one group 26 12 V
battery... I never did like the fact that there was a hole behind me all
the way to the road, so I buy one of these Moss plastic battery compartment
liners. I cut holes for the cables, thread those in, and slide the group
26 battery into the liner. My, thats a TIGHT fit !!!!!
Okay, we have power... headlights work, hazard flashers work, fan works,
brake lights work, turn signals - DOA. Radio - DOA. A little
investigation under the hood discovers at least one interesting "feature".
BIL has put the spare fuses loose in the fuse block, and they are kind of
making new pathways... so I pull out the fuses, and give the flasher unit
a solid tap with a mallet. The flashers now work! Radio is still DOA,
but that can wait.
Okay, time to purge the fuel line with fresh fuel... ooops, no fuel pump.
Wiggle under the car, and test the power... yup, there's 11.76 V going to
the pump. DARN. I guess I'll have to pull out the pump and work on it.
Wish I had discovered that before I had refilled the tank with gas.
Meanwhile, I pull the air filters to see how they look. Nice.... But
before I reassemble them, I put my finger on the plunger of the SU carb and
lift... UNGH... They move, but I don't remember it requiring Atlas-like
strength to lift these things. I check the dampers... pulling the damper
out is like pulling a post hole out of a swamp. "unghhh, urk, grunt
*SCHHLLLLLLLORK - pop*" I guess the oil in the dampers has polymerized or
oxidized or turned-to-crap-ized. Okay, take off the vacuum covers, and
pull out the carb pistons. Everything looks "okay", so I drain out the oil
and stuff in the dampers, wash it out with kerosine, and dry. Reassemble,
polish the outside of the vacuum covers (not the inside!). Just TRY to find
Castol 20W... I finally find 20W at an old gas station run by some geezer
with 3 teeth (I live in the edges of Appalachia, which will be fun driving
but frustrating finding car parts). The manual says fill the damper to 1/2
inch ABOVE the top - according to my understanding, this looks like the
extra 1/2" will drain out the bottom and into the carbs... am I missing
something????
NOTE that I have mentioned float chambers on my SU carbs (* above). When
I fist owned Emma she had HIF-4s... I know, I disassembled them and put em
back together, and have tick marks next to each step in the Haynes SU carb
book.... HIF-4s don't have external float chambers! But Emma has float
chambers! My brain is confuzzled. So, I haul a chair over, sit down, and
take a long look through the Haynes... Emma now has HS-4's! WHY? Can
anybody suggest why BIL got rid of the HIF's and had HS's installed? So,
now I have on order a "gasket kit" for HS's so I can replace the gaskets
before reassembling the float chambers.
Next part - suspension!
---
I used to say the only constants in my life were stress, my loving wife,
and the weekly hairball the cat leaves on the carpet. After some medical
problems I am trying to reduce the stress... Other than that little has
changed - my wife still loves me, and the cat still vomits up an offering
every week. A man needs some tradition in his life!
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