I recently got my 73 Spit back on the road, and keep running into one
problem after another, but, the latest problem I thought was very odd, and
wanted to see if anyone else had similar experience. The spit started
running really poorly, and was popping at idle, like it was backfiring
thru the carb. I figured this was some sort of ignition problem. So I
checked the points, all was well. I decided to try and take off a plug
wire to see what happened. The first plug wire I took off smoothened the
car right out, it was running like it was on 3 cylinders, but much
smoother, and no popping. This baffled me. I then figured it must either
be in the valve train, or the spark plug, though i doubted the plug would
do that. So, i pulled the valve cover off, and low and behold the pushrod
had slipped off the rocker on the exhaust valve on #1 cylinder. I know the
valves needed adjusting, I could hear a couple of them, but I had no idea
they were that loose, they werent that loud. I checked the pushrod, and it
was still straight, and non-maimed. And in putting it back on, I had to
loosen the valve way up, and compress the valve a bit to get it in, which
was not easy. Just wondering if anyone else had a similiar experience, or
any ideas on what might cause this, besides lack of adjusting? Thanks much
in advance.
Also, sorry for the rambling message. :)
Mike
'73 Spit, slowly making its way back on the road, one step at a time.
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