ZZ4 is Alive And Well!

[Bill75]

We fired up the motor for the first time the other night without a hitch, aside from a couple of vacuum leaks at the carb that were easy to solve, the thing runs like a clock!
We pulled the dist. ran the oil pump with an old dist adapted to an electric drill for 10 minutes and checked for good oil flow and pressure, brought the engine to TDC, filled the carb bowels and gave it a little squirt of gas down the intake. Turned the key and the thing fired in less than a revolution ! Couldn't believe it, no tequela bottles in the oil pan!! Haven't had a chance to road test it yet, maybe this weekend if the darn rain stops.

Many thanks to everyone here for all the help and advise I received on this project, it was very much appreciated. I couldn't have done it without the help.

Forgot to mention that Lars rebuilt the Q-Jet over the winter also and so far it appears to be perfect. I sure wish the weather would coorporate a little!

Best Regards,

Bill

 

[68Roadster]

Cool Bill.....I'm jealous....one day I will be there....posting for your help, that is...

 

[LT4man]

I have started hundred's of engines. Still nothing like the excitement of hearing the engine start for the first time.

Congratulations on the project. You deserve to be proud of yourself!

Save The Wave!

 

[Jack]

 

[Bill75]

Thanks for the kind words, it sure was a thrill to hear it fire off for the first time!
Here's a then and now picture of the "WE" part of the project. My son spends the day sleeping until noon while my daughter and I work on the car! We had a great time. Hope I can figure out how to post these:confused

 

[rgtrough]

zz4 success

Hey Bill, congratulations. That's a great looking pit crew you have there. In the last picture are those herringbone racing stripes? peace Bud

 

[JJS]

I think you need to use a little more care protecting the paint!:L

Congrats!

 

[Bill75]

I think you need to use a little more care protecting the paint!:L

Congrats!

Hey, I took those shirts right off my back . I'm too cheap to buy fender covers!!!!

 

[fine69]

Lookin' Gr8.. congrats Bill!

 

[Bill75]

Finally got to take a ride this weekend, no problems just went easy.

This engine is quite noisy to me but maybe I'm being too critical on a new motor that's tight yet. Sounds like allot of metal gears turning against each other, kind of hard to describe, just a lot of suttle noise nothing sharp or having any rythm but noisy. It's equal listening to both sides of the engine mostly noticable with my ear closest to the intake area.

It starts immediately, idles smooth and performs well on acceleration, throttle response is crisp but I haven't run it over 3500 rpm yet.

 

[Jack]

Bill:
Got your PM re noise ... prefer email ... feel free anytime.

As always, drivetrain noise can be difficult to diagnose ... really hard to do without hearing it.

Seems as though you did all the right stuff for initial run. If ... If oil pressure is good ... I wouldn't sweat noise too much. Once everything is sorted ... I would quickly get a hundred miles on it (monitoring o pressure) ... change the oil & filter (monitoring o pressure) ... then wring (just below redline) the bejeezus out of it (monitoring o pressure) ... do this while warranty in force. Chances are the noise is nominal; but amplified by "new install trepidation".
JACK:gap

 

[Bill75]

Hey Jack, OK on email and everything. Yeah I know it's tough to say without actually hearing something, sometimes it sounds like the whine of a blower at idle from 20 ft away but up close much different. Oil pressure was almost 80 psi cold and settled in a little over 60 at idle when warm, raises with revs.

I'll keep a close watch on it, and proceed as you said. Probably just the newness of the whole thing. I'll let you know.
Best Regards, Bill