I jumped under the valve cover today, adjusting the valves with the help of
the old 1/2" open ended wrench that I my grandfather used to use. The same
one I used to adjust the valves on my original '67 Spitfire 24 years ago.
Interesting, nice thoughts ran through my head while I was working with a
tool that's older than my car. Life goes on.
I adjusted the valves with the plugs out (glad to see that they were clean,
but a couple were a little oily on the threads) and found that it was
easiest to use the solenoid button to to goose the engine in small amounts
in order to adjust the valves. Anything wrong with this technique? It
seemed much easier to me than trying to turn the engine by hand, roll the
car while in gear, etc. This is how I used to do it years ago. I also use
the solenoid button to open the points for adjustment.
A couple of the valves were pretty tight. I adjusted all to .010, replaced
the valve cover, replaced all the ignition wires, threw on a new rotor and
distributor cap (keeping my old ones for spares in the trunk tool box) and
put in all new plugs. I also readjusted the gap on the points to .015. Not
surprisingly, the car ran much better than it ever has -- it's also running
much better cold now than when before. Huge difference there, actually.
One thing that surprised me was that my idle jumped up by about 700 RPM
after the tune-up! Is this standard behavior for a freshly tuned engine?
BTW, I did measure 1/4 to 1/2 more resistance in my old plug and coil wires
than the new ones showed. TIA
Best wishes,
Jeff in San Diego
'67 RHD Spitfire Mk3 aka "Mrs. Jones"
Jeff's Classic '67 Spitfire Mk3 site & Vintage Spitfire Webring
http://www.ohms.com/spitfire/spitfire.shtml
home of the NEW Totally Triumph Auction
"By Triumph enthusiasts, for Triumph enthusiasts"
http://www.ohms.com/cgi-bin/TRauction.cgi
and... The Triumph Autos/Parts Wanted Listings
http://www.ohms.com/cgi-bin/TRwanted.cgi
...plus a few other surprises!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|