Whew, what a weekend! Lots of work done on the car (and two computers).
For those who were following my progress on the '74 Midget before my
vacation to Poland, a quick progress report follows. After the progress
report I've come up with some questions based on my work over the past few
days.
Progress:
Got my rebuilt Lucas alternator from Kar Parts and got my local garage to
switch over the pulley when I took the Honda in for inspection. Installed
alternator.
After putting in new bushings on the rear springs, I got the leaning tower
of Pisa - severe lean to the driver's side. Got a new pair Saturday from a
list member and installed today. No lean (well, maybe just a hair, but it
could just be uneven tire pressure it's that slight.
Pulled out the distributor, oiled it with 2 or 3 drops of oil, installed
new points, condensor and rotor. Reinstalled and tried to time with a
timing light - no go. Experimented around until "it sounded right".
Tried to use the Unisync to get the air flow even, gave up and used a piece
of hose and listened. Not as hard as I thought to tell the difference and
get even air flow. Adjusted idle and air/fuel mixture. Mixture adjusted
by the Motorhead tape method. They suggest lifting the piston just
slightly (about 1/32") and listening. Drop in revs means too weak. Rise
and steady running higher means to rich. Slight rise about right.
Before this weekend, I did a real good cleaning of the grose jets on my
float bowls and put in new float bowl gaskets and that seems to have taken
care of the overflow problem.
Took the car for a very short spin of about 10 minutes. Car is running
pretty smooth with plenty of power through the gear changes and no
backfire. Idles pretty smoothly at 1000 or a touch higher. I can work
with that.
Thanks to all for getting me this far!!! It was so much fun driving again
- even if for only a few short blocks as a test.
Questions
When I first was messing with the tuning I checked the exhaust by placing
my hand a few inches away from the tail pipe. My hand got spotted with
oil. I made some adjustments and let the car run a while and the spotting
never returned. Ideas?
How tight to tighten the u-bolt nuts on the rear springs? Seems that since
they are being tightened against poly, one could just keep tightening for
quite a while compressing the poly bushings. Should I do so? Is there a
correct torque for these bolts?
When replacing the rotor on the distributor I forgot to take note of which
direction it was facing. Haynes says if you put it on wrong the timing
will be off 180 degrees. Did I get lucky and guess right if the car is
running ok? Does timing being off by 180 mean it wouldn't start or run
anywhere near smooth?
As part of the distributor service I tried to check the vacuum unit. The
Motorhead tape says to put a hose on it and suck air through it. You are
supposed to get a very slight movement of the plate and not be able to draw
air through freely. Well, I can't draw air through freely, but I saw no
movement. Does this indicate a problem?
In a related issue, seems like when I turned the little fine tuning knob I
got no real change in timing. When Rob Medynski the wizard mechanic tuned
me up in April I could hear the difference when he turned the knob. Can
anyone think of something I might have done to make this inoperable, i.e.,
put the rotor in backwards? :)
When I tried to use the Unisync, I couldn't get the little plastic float to
move at all. I screwed the air flow gadget in the center of the Unisync up
and down but no joy at any setting. Anyone have an idea what I'm doing wrong?
Why didn't the timing light work? I bought a direct connect light. I
detached number one spark plug wire and attached the spark lead from the
light. Then I attached the positive lead to the positive battery terminal
and the negative lead to battery negative. Started the car and squeezed
the trigger. No light. My mistake(s)? I can see now that using a light
on these cars is a bear considering where the timing marks are located, but
I bought the light already, doubt I can find the receipt and I might as
well learn how it is =supposed= to work. :)
Enough for now, eh? :) Sorry to write such a long post, but all this
tinkering brought on lots of questions. I appreciate the patience of
anyone who got this far and thank everyone for past help to get me to this
point.
Philip
1974 Damask Midget - Arioch, Lord of Chaos
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