[TPR] Asa's progress 2015 08 26

[Asa Jay Laughton]

Good night in the garage.  After getting home and some dinner, I spent a 
little time on the Internet looking up spark plug photos and doing more 
reading.  After a careful scrutiny and some soul searching, I decided 
NOT to go with the colder plugs.  I haven't added -that- much horsepower 
and what is there only gets used during this race for the most part.  
The rest of the time is doing high spirited runs between here and work 
and back and the occasional car show.  The plugs had a good coloration 
that indicated they were in the proper temp range.

So, with that in mind I hit the garage.

I was worried about that #5 valve being tight, so I put my 45 degree 
angle mirror on the borescope and peeked at the valve faces.  I suddenly 
had a concern that the valve was sinking into the seat, or stretching or 
something else -bad-.   I didn't see anything bad, in fact the valve 
faces appeared quite clean with only a very light gray layer of carbon.  
With that worry out of the way I hooked up the remote start switch.

I'm glad I checked the rockers while turning over the engine.  That #5 
intake suddenly was really loose.  I have no idea why it seemed tight 
when I did the valve check but now it was obviously loose, so I put the 
crank back in proper position and adjusted it.  Now it all seems fine.  
I'll just thank God right now for his help and grace to make sure I was 
okay.

Compression check on all cylinders showed about 130 on first crank and 
about 180-200 max after five cycles.  This was with the ignition 
disconnected, and both the primary and secondary throttle plates blocked 
open for maximum airflow.  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

With the top end inspected and adjusted, I put the valve covers back on.

DID I Mention!?  When I first built this engine I used Form-A-Gasket 2B 
on the head side of the valve cover gaskets.  On the valve cover side I 
only used Vaseline Petroleum Jelly.  I also used a stud kit which made 
placing both the gasket and the cover sooo much easier.  Having the ARP 
studs really makes getting the nuts on easier too, since they have a 
kind of bullet nose that lets the nut slip on and then engage the 
threads.  Easy-peasy.  All I had to do was wipe down the valve cover 
side of the gasket, wipe down the valve cover, apply a new coat of 
Vaseline and install the cover.  Done.  That was so much easier than 
fighting with gaskets.

I used a crap-load of anti-seize on the spark plug threads.  Well, maybe 
not -that- much but I definitely should remember that I put it on the 
next time I take them out.  Snugged up the plugs and then put the new 
rotor, cap and wires on.  I still need a new coil to cap wire... darn 
thing is kind of long.

After putting the air cleaner back on and reconnecting the ignition, I 
tried her out.  She fired right up so it doesn't appear as though I 
broke anything.  Another quick Thank you God moment.

Next is a tune, carb and timing adjust, warm up the ZF, drain the 
transaxle, refill and then just get the new tires mounted.

Man, I'm almost there.  This nearly nightly work on the car is getting 
old quick.  Hopefully I'll be done this weekend and have a couple of 
weeks to relax... except I need to make sure the truck is ready to tow it.
<sigh>

:)
Asa Jay

-- 
Asa Jay Laughton - W7TSC, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
&  Shelley Marie
Spokane, WA
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