engine temp

[ctjackster]

man, all you guys going out and buying a "special" distributor wrench - I just took a spare 9/16" and put it in the vice and bent it to order . . . didn't even know they sold a specially made job - probably would have bought it if I did see it (tool addiction).

 

[IH2LOSE]

Barry

I am real proud your digging into the car.

see how you do and any questions just ask

Some thing I learned the Long way.

Always check for vacum leaks fist before trying to get a car to run correct.

Spray a little starting fluid around intake manifold and base of carb.

Make sure the choke is not half way open. or acting funny

Look for kinked or crushed,or disconected vacum hoses.

Does you car have a pvc valve? it should be plugged when testing vacum

Make sure all plug wires are connected.

Lastley after you have set the timing and have tightened the hold down nut,Double check the timeing to assure you did not move it when tightened the clamp.

best of luck and always remember the fan will take you fingers off if you let it.Its real easy after a while of working under the hood to forget its there.

the owners manuals from the diagnostic tools have excellent sep by step instructions on how to properly tune a car.

 

[IH2LOSE]

PS

From working on performance snow mobiles I learned one of the tools you cant do with out is an infared thermometer to measure the temputure of the exchaust pipes.

Its also a great tool for diagnoising problems with a car. if one of the manifold ports is ice cold you know you have a pronlem with that cylender

 

[BarryK]

Jack
thanks for the reminder of Lars' article - I think I have it around and need to dig it out.

Terry,
tep, will get that special wrench while i'm at Sears. We already reset the dwell yesterday from 35 down to 30. My neighbor also showed me the two screws and how to remove and put back on the distributor cap. i'm not messing with any weights yet and don't have any weights to replaces the ones in there so hopefully they are the right ones and will work properly. We will find out I guess. I hope to have good news for your return also. Have a safe trip!

 

[BarryK]

Mailman, I really hate bothering my neighbor more than I need to. He's a nice guy and I GREATLY appreciate his help but I try not to bother him too much but decided yesterday was a bit of an emergency.
I DO have a problem with the fact that the mechanic deliberately plugged my vacuum line. This was NOT the first time a mechanic tried this bubba fix on my car and it ****es me off.

 

[BarryK]

Larry

thanks for the tips on using the starting fluid to checks for vacuum leaks - i'll get a can of it while I'm out today.
My '65 doesn't have a "real" PCV valve - just a small brass 90* fitting that connects to the carb with a tiny hole in it. It's been removed, cleaned, and reinstalled so that should be fine.
The choke does concern me though as I noticed it's NOT coming on when starting cold since I got the car last week from the mechanic when it always worked perfectly previous to that. Not sure what to do about it yet - If I have to I'll wait until next month when I go take the car to Lars for his tune-up session on it.
I've been thinking about one of those IR guns anyway. If I find a decent one that's not too expensive I want to get one.
Thanks for the advice and tips!

Hope your car is coming along fine.........

 

[IH2LOSE]

Barry


Dont forget ,starting fluid is highley flamable and dangerous,

You dont have to soak it just spray a bit by the seams and if you have a leak it raise's the engine as if your gave the throttle some gas,

Its an excellent diagnostic tool if used properly.

As for the infared gun I am sure the tools vendors at carlilse will have them.

 

[paul67]

Barry,
You are making very significant progress. Congratulations! And yes, dump that mechanic. Find one with grey hair.

 

[BarryK]

Larry
yep, i'm well aware of the famability of starter fluid but thanks for the reminder.
If sears doesn't have an IR gun I'll probably wait until Carlisle.

Heading out in just a little bit to find the timing light
unfortunately it's pouring rain here today so unless it clears up I'm not going to be able to get much done. I'd like to make a few test drives after I change the timing to make sure it's running fine before I put all the shielding back in place. I have a nasty burn from yesterday from removing one of the sparkplug shields so we could hook up the timing light - those exhaust manifolds get a bit warm..........

 

[BarryK]

Barry,
You are making very significant progress. Congratulations! And yes, dump that mechanic. Find one with grey hair.

oh..... he is dumped!!!
but go figure - he came highly recommended (same as the previous two mechanics did also) and when I was at his shop he had a '66 Vette, a 55? Dodge, a '71 Nova and something else old that I can't remember AND he just recently sold his '69 Camaro. You would think with all the old cars he works on he would know what's he doing but I guess unless it's his own car he doesn't care - customers are only there to take money from, not to actually do proper work on their cars!

 

[66 Red Rocket]

An Easy Check 4 Dead Cylinders

Take a spray bottle, fill with water and spray on exaust mainfold ports (works great with headers) with the engine running. If there is steam, the cylinder is fireing, no steam = dead cylinder. This is a great, almost fool proof way of checking for dead (not fireing) cylinders and the best part it is it's free. John

 

[BarryK]

hi 66
I don't feel I'm having any problems with dead cylinders, the car runs too well for that overall but that's a good tip and I'll keep it for future use

 

[BarryK]

oh my..what do we see here?
NAH, can't be!
Barry now owns a timing light!
now I just have to learn to use it! Time to start reading the owners manual and Lars timing article.

 

[youwish2bme]

Congrats Barry, That's exactly the one I have works great and lasts a long time. Dave..

 

[BarryK]

Dave, I'm sure it only works as good as the operator.......... which in my case at this moment means it's not working at all
I'm just in the middle of reading the manual (brief as it is) and will go out to see if I can figure it out on the car next

 

[youwish2bme]

It's real easy to use. Hook the clamp around the #1 plug wire, You can get power and ground from either the battery or the alternator. I usually choose the alt as it doesn't require the wires to be across the engine bay. Then start the car, to read the timing if you set it at 10 and it reads 0 on the balancer you have 10 degrees. If you want to find total put it on 36 and rev the engine until it stops advancing and it will read 0 on the balancer. If it keeps moving you have more than 36 degrees of advance.. Just how I do it.. Not that it's the only way... Dave..

 

[ctjackster]

Dave - Barry has a 65 without AC, his alt is on his p-side, he'd be better off powering off of the battery

 

[BarryK]

Dave, I'll try it your way but the timing light manual says differently.
According to the manual it says for initial timing leave the dial on the light at 0 than just read where the line is falling on the index scale of the balancer.
Now, this is where I ran into my first problem........... are there actual numbers on that index tab thingy?. I see index marks, but no numbers so have no clue what the reading is. From what I can see, I think I'm seeing the white line hit towards the top of the index plate (?) at either the 1st or 2nd mark - it's hard to see. This is the top part of the index plate towards the top or center of the motor where the plate taperes off to a point. What reading would that be if it's the ist or 2nd mark?

Aren't there supposed to be numbers on that plate by the lines?

Yep, Jack is right, my alternator is on the passenger side so I've got it hooked up with the red clip on the battery + and the black clip on the alternator bracket than just have the wires carefully routed across the motor to avoid any moving parts and the hot exhaust manifolds

 

[BarryK]

ok, since i'm now working on timing, and not engine temp, I'm going to start a new thread with my question from above.

 

[youwish2bme]

Dave - Barry has a 65 without AC, his alt is on his p-side, he'd be better off powering off of the battery

Ah forgot about that.. Barry just go directly off the battery as Jack said. In you next post you mentioned hooking ground to the alternator bracket.. No need just hook both to the battery + to + and - to - on the battery. I then will place them under one of the wipers so it doesn't fall onto any parts of the engine bay. As for why I use the dial back even at initial is because you can tell exactly what you have, no guessing if the light is set at 10 and you read 0 you know you have 10 so forth and so on. You can leave it on 0 it won't matter. I just always set the timing light to what ever I want and always read 0 on the balancer once I've adjusted the distributor.... Just how I do it. There is no wrong way.