THE STEERING COLUMN

About 3 weeks ago, I started having a problem with the engine idling rough, hard starting and a little loss of horsepower.  When ascending a hill, it was not pulling smoothly and when descending, the engine didn't hold the car back as well, and would occasionally cough. 

Whenever I am trying to troubleshoot an issue, I get back to basics and start reasoning it out.  You need 3 basic things to make an engine run - gas, spark and compression, and of course each of these things need to be operating properly. 

I had recently removed the carburetor, taken it apart and found no problem - the intake manifold was in good shape - I could find no vacuum leaks and I had good fuel flow to the carburetor.  I had already replaced spark plugs, wires, and the magneto. The spark timing couldn't be off because the magneto coupling is pinned. That pretty much eliminated a spark issue.

Now I am focusing on compression or lack thereof.  I remembered hearing a low, muffled tone from the exhaust pipe which was different   It just sounded like there was a lack of compression.  About 10,000 miles ago, number 4 exhaust value was stuck open.  I had removed that valve, cleaned it up and replaced it and that was all that was needed.  I was pretty certain that I was having the same problem again so for the last week or so I had been putting more lubricating additives in the fuel tank and squirting penetrating lubricants onto the lower end of the valve stems, hoping that the oil would find its way up into the valve guides.  I had been doing this during the time we were in Alaska and didn't have an opportunity to work on the car.

When we returned from Alaska last Sunday, the car seemed to run a little better but was still not right.  I went back to Mike Yeakle's shop and took that opportunity to start taking the valves out one at a time.  I started with number 4, thinking that maybe that was all I would have to do.  I was surprised to find that number 4 exhaust was well lubricated and moving freely, so I continued down the line removing each valve and found that all the valve stems were well lubricated and moving freely.  

Closer inspection revealed that none of the valves were seating very well.  Mike reground the 4 intakes, just enough to clean them up, (a recessed groove had been worn into the seating surface), then I did some serious lapping on each one, number 4 being the worst.  I spent 2 hours lapping that one valve to a point where it looked like it was making a good seal.  Once that was done, I inspected the tappets.  Bingo, I found a definite problem.  The tappet's adjusting bolts have a non-metallic insert on the top.  The purpose of these is to deaden the "clicking" noise that valves make. Two of those inserts had fallen out on number 1 intake and number 2 exhaust.  This causes a wild gap of at least 1/4 inch.  When this happens, the valves won't fully open and they won't  open and close at the right time.   I could have replaced those inserts, but after discussing it with Mike, I decided it was best to eliminate all of those adjusting bolts with the inserts and replace them with plain grade 8 bolts, with their heads ground smooth.  I figured this would make the "clicking" noise a little louder, but on the other hand, they would never cause me any problems.  

This job is awkward and time consuming to do but it was necessary.  It wasn't this trip that caused the problem, it was just time to do it.  I spent 2 days working on it in Mike's shop.  I found that additional "clicking" noise to be so slight that it is not bothersome at all.  If anybody else has this problem, I would recommend this minor modification.  

The car runs like new again and we are back on the road.  As I write this, we have moved on to Port Townsend, WA, and this morning we will head west to Sequim, then Port Angeles and over to Rt 101 on the Pacific coast and from there, we will stay on the coast down to southern CA.  

For those people along our route who are south of us who are expecting a visit, continue following this blog for updates.

---------AND THAT'S ALL PART OF MOTORING-------