Itinerant Air-Cooled KY to OH
Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2019 7:47 am
It has been very hot and relatively humid. It, thankfully, has not rained appreciably since the dousing in Saint Louis. My repaired new rear window seal has not leaked through the occasional car washes, yay for 22ga red wire!
Drove to Paducah KY to help Paducah Frank assemble his engine, the engine that ran so well but smoked worse than I do. Frank and Lydia have a system on Itinerant Air-Cooled Day. She is the stenographer and Frank is the explosively enthusiastic performer. I arrived to find an engine very much in pieces. Then it went downhill. Poor Frank had no idea that I would be peppering him with endless rapid-fire questions, then not accepting the answers without more rapid-fire questions still, then criticisms, endless criticisms regarding organization and hygiene. We piled into NaranjaWesty and tooled over to pick up his new cylinder heads and camshaft from Smiley(?) the local VW guru who was able to share some time-tested tips for testing connecting rods (they failed). Nice little drive, however, in the broiling afternoon heat. Back at the garage, we test-fitted the camshaft and, of course, found ourselves at the very margin of acceptable, this time a little clicky at the mesh. We did perform a little forensics on Old Smokey. #3 piston and cylinder had gotten into some hot argument and the cylinder wall was wretchedly scored, there's the oil consumption right there. I finally declined to go any further with the build, because there was a missing prior step to my arrival, namely cleaning all of the parts and bolts and nuts and organizing them into a cohesive sequential manner so you HAVE what you need when doing time-critical procedures like assembling the case. Frank and Lydia were the models of polite restraint throughout my ten hour diatribe against most-everything, "these case bolts, too gummy for accurate torque!" "we need a clean operating table!"
I hope it was informative if nothing else, Frank!
Assured that Frank and Lydia would persevere (you better believe it, too), I took off for Louisville to enjoy another vexing appointment punctuated with a fine fine cup of coffee. 1979 catalytic converter/ox sensor-equipped Hall Effect Ignition 2.0 engines really do have a tough time with heat. True the day they are sold new, it can get worse from there as valve guides wear, carbon builds up, dirt slowly clogs the fins, distributors get sloppy and over-advance the timing, and of course vacuum hoses split.
But what if it is a fresh Adrian Headflow Masters engine under all of that 1979 technology? We had a day the likes of which I have never seen and hope never to see. 437* at IDLE?? Pretty much no matter what we did, that poor engine heated up horribly. Valve adjustment, hydraulic, done. Timing, 28* @ 3,400 rpm with no hoses, vacuum retard functional, done. Disconnected O2 sensor, adjusted AFM to "happy place", still horrific heat. Plugged O2 sensor back in hoping that lean lean may have so little fuel in it that it cools because there is hardly any flame in the first place. Ah nope. Checked compression. 100/105/95/90. OK, sucky but that should only help it run cool. But it did not. Cooling fan blows air and stuff. We compared the airflow under the car to NaranjaWesty's engine. Seriously similar. Synchronized the cooling flaps to ensure that one or the other was not hanging down by a 1/4" or something, no change. Swapped Dakota Digital gauges to see if there was some anomaly there, ahhh no. Did I mention it was hot outside? Did I mention that yours truly delivered a fine valve cover leak that necessitated removal at branding temperature? Somehow, we got it to *run better* but it is still Hapless in Hades. We are both going to research this ridiculousness, and I hope we track it down. It runs well! Just before we passed out from dehydration, I shot this:
Drove off into the sunset, it sure was hot and muggy. Pulled up to 65 mph with windows down, got into a race with a semi (I was trying to get ahead of him so I could tuck out of the passing lane), looked down at the Dakota Digital gauge ... 399* Yes, there are mysteries yet with internal combustion engines. Hahaa wouldn't it be funny if the camshaft was retarded by a tooth on SamW's engine, trapping combustion pressure and heat halfway up the exhaust stroke? See? I am still mulling.
Drove into Ohio under the duress of increasing human population density and damaged roads once more. It is all closing in, houses, cars, cities, houses cars cities, spoken-for land, regimented spaces:
"Ohio. Find it here." Find WHAT here?? The longest traffic jam ever? 30 miles of stop and go? Can't wait:
After an hour and a half, I saw the overhead sign warning of an "accident at Union/mile marker (toofarwhateveritwas)". Bailed off the interstate and dang, everybody had the same idea as me at the same exit. The exit ramp was a traffic jam. Finally pulled into a closed factory parking lot and pulled down to the back lot where I could see the traffic jam on the exit ramp above me. What to do for an hour or so? Spied a leaking fire hydrant flush plug. Yes, I will remove my wheels and wash them under running water, and try to settle down my squeaky front brakes with some sanding and washing under the parade of cars slowly creeping by:
Buttoned up at sundown, made it back onto the interstate now flowing, and made it to Columbus OH.
Here is your shot of Columbus, OH:
Awoke to a tapestry of nature with the din of truck traffic just bizarrely emanating from over the hillock:
(continues here)
viewtopic.php?f=78&t=13919&p=233879#p233879
Drove to Paducah KY to help Paducah Frank assemble his engine, the engine that ran so well but smoked worse than I do. Frank and Lydia have a system on Itinerant Air-Cooled Day. She is the stenographer and Frank is the explosively enthusiastic performer. I arrived to find an engine very much in pieces. Then it went downhill. Poor Frank had no idea that I would be peppering him with endless rapid-fire questions, then not accepting the answers without more rapid-fire questions still, then criticisms, endless criticisms regarding organization and hygiene. We piled into NaranjaWesty and tooled over to pick up his new cylinder heads and camshaft from Smiley(?) the local VW guru who was able to share some time-tested tips for testing connecting rods (they failed). Nice little drive, however, in the broiling afternoon heat. Back at the garage, we test-fitted the camshaft and, of course, found ourselves at the very margin of acceptable, this time a little clicky at the mesh. We did perform a little forensics on Old Smokey. #3 piston and cylinder had gotten into some hot argument and the cylinder wall was wretchedly scored, there's the oil consumption right there. I finally declined to go any further with the build, because there was a missing prior step to my arrival, namely cleaning all of the parts and bolts and nuts and organizing them into a cohesive sequential manner so you HAVE what you need when doing time-critical procedures like assembling the case. Frank and Lydia were the models of polite restraint throughout my ten hour diatribe against most-everything, "these case bolts, too gummy for accurate torque!" "we need a clean operating table!"
I hope it was informative if nothing else, Frank!
Assured that Frank and Lydia would persevere (you better believe it, too), I took off for Louisville to enjoy another vexing appointment punctuated with a fine fine cup of coffee. 1979 catalytic converter/ox sensor-equipped Hall Effect Ignition 2.0 engines really do have a tough time with heat. True the day they are sold new, it can get worse from there as valve guides wear, carbon builds up, dirt slowly clogs the fins, distributors get sloppy and over-advance the timing, and of course vacuum hoses split.
But what if it is a fresh Adrian Headflow Masters engine under all of that 1979 technology? We had a day the likes of which I have never seen and hope never to see. 437* at IDLE?? Pretty much no matter what we did, that poor engine heated up horribly. Valve adjustment, hydraulic, done. Timing, 28* @ 3,400 rpm with no hoses, vacuum retard functional, done. Disconnected O2 sensor, adjusted AFM to "happy place", still horrific heat. Plugged O2 sensor back in hoping that lean lean may have so little fuel in it that it cools because there is hardly any flame in the first place. Ah nope. Checked compression. 100/105/95/90. OK, sucky but that should only help it run cool. But it did not. Cooling fan blows air and stuff. We compared the airflow under the car to NaranjaWesty's engine. Seriously similar. Synchronized the cooling flaps to ensure that one or the other was not hanging down by a 1/4" or something, no change. Swapped Dakota Digital gauges to see if there was some anomaly there, ahhh no. Did I mention it was hot outside? Did I mention that yours truly delivered a fine valve cover leak that necessitated removal at branding temperature? Somehow, we got it to *run better* but it is still Hapless in Hades. We are both going to research this ridiculousness, and I hope we track it down. It runs well! Just before we passed out from dehydration, I shot this:
Drove off into the sunset, it sure was hot and muggy. Pulled up to 65 mph with windows down, got into a race with a semi (I was trying to get ahead of him so I could tuck out of the passing lane), looked down at the Dakota Digital gauge ... 399* Yes, there are mysteries yet with internal combustion engines. Hahaa wouldn't it be funny if the camshaft was retarded by a tooth on SamW's engine, trapping combustion pressure and heat halfway up the exhaust stroke? See? I am still mulling.
Drove into Ohio under the duress of increasing human population density and damaged roads once more. It is all closing in, houses, cars, cities, houses cars cities, spoken-for land, regimented spaces:
"Ohio. Find it here." Find WHAT here?? The longest traffic jam ever? 30 miles of stop and go? Can't wait:
After an hour and a half, I saw the overhead sign warning of an "accident at Union/mile marker (toofarwhateveritwas)". Bailed off the interstate and dang, everybody had the same idea as me at the same exit. The exit ramp was a traffic jam. Finally pulled into a closed factory parking lot and pulled down to the back lot where I could see the traffic jam on the exit ramp above me. What to do for an hour or so? Spied a leaking fire hydrant flush plug. Yes, I will remove my wheels and wash them under running water, and try to settle down my squeaky front brakes with some sanding and washing under the parade of cars slowly creeping by:
Buttoned up at sundown, made it back onto the interstate now flowing, and made it to Columbus OH.
Here is your shot of Columbus, OH:
Awoke to a tapestry of nature with the din of truck traffic just bizarrely emanating from over the hillock:
(continues here)
viewtopic.php?f=78&t=13919&p=233879#p233879