Projects Prefect / Willys /Kadett Gasser Build.

Mag tested the hard way. Works good.
Oil pressure lines checked. Installed a system 1 so we got it primed. Need to lash valves. Scattered right now. Trying to wrap this year up and get back to retirement and work on our stuff again. Need to wire line lock /fill trans / rear end/ and fuel tank with good juice and fire it.Last will be the final cut and buff. But I am still aways off .

 

Battery charger for the optima dry cell battery came in. It’s smarter than I am. Converter bolts in and starter tested and all seems smooth. Still closer. Magneto clamps came in.
Bet won’t move now

 

Lashed valves today. Filled the tranny. And dropped the mag back in at TDC. Going to re lash later in the week. The stud girdle was used due to aluminum heads.
I just did a quick run through for practice and to make sure all is well. I will adjust /check one more time before fire up. high speed starter will spin the crap out of it.

 

Spare mag showed up. Ronco. Set points gap from 26 down to 15 and blue spark. Thanks Doug.
Probobly will send to be serviced. Just to be safe.
Uncle Marion always did that for us before. Gotta find some one new to do that work. Marion always told me never tear one down if you don’t know what your doing. There is more inside there than one thinks. Lol
Gonna try and get back at it. Retired again full time. Do all we can while we can.

 

Started the line lock wiring and set band in trans.
Getting closer. Established and confirmed tdc. Going to pull mag and pre oil again. Hoping to fire soon.

 

Line lock finished and tested. Kinda.
Touched up a few scratches on the cage. Down to priming oil/pump again. Gapping plugs and fuel /and water. Need to check the ban setting in the glide once more.
Also have to mix up a batch of fuel. Got the 110 base. Closer.

 

Lesson /note to self. Do not assume that 12 point intake bolts are proper length.
Everything looked good until it hit me it shouldn’t take as much water to fill as it did. All of a sudden water starts leaking from the back of of the intake specifically from around the rear most intake bolt heads. Ended the idea that we would fire it today.
Drained everything pulled mag /injectors/ and inspected the threads.
It’s obvious the intake /injectors were never tight enough to even collapse or squeeze the blue prInt lip in the 1206 gasket.
Cure will be a small but thick washer under bolt heads and re seal using either the grey or red unltra seal in tube.
I could be mad but here is the fact. I know better and the fact that these are aftermarket heads could also contribute in fact/ clearance stack or blind holes is on me. I was so happy everything went together with out grinding or fusing I forgot basics. Live and learn.
At least I didn’t fire it or try to. Figure it would have been a bigger mess /lean out /vaccum leaking /pain. Also got one rear bolt hole that needs work the bolt was actually rubbing and could be a pain when reinstalling.Still wasn’t a bad day got to go to the shop and it’s sanctuary

 

Lesson number two. Always check basics.
The spring goes between bullhead for return lines and the flat end of filter. Chased a fuel supply problem to the /pump /injectors.don’t automatically assume pump is toast. Found my data card from Alky diggers. And hasn’t been run since then. No reason think it’s worn out sitting in the box. Basic basics basics.
Will fire and hopefully run longer than 20 seconds at a time

 

Ok up date - it appears the pump is toast. Might as well laugh . Don"t have any more Good Hilborn Pumps.( not going to break up my other two systems to steal parts from them) I have one Enderle 80 A but its a single inlet / outlet and its also not clock able. Apparently no matter how good the DSR unit looks upon further inspection its not.
On a better note the shop air is keeping up even with 113 degree index. Gotta look at the good .LOL Work on the 57 tomorrow/ its outside.

 

I don't know if your in a place where you'll ever be using that Optima in the cold such as I do here in N.Y. winters? If that is the case, the wire insulation gets brittle and will crack off the wire. China Wire who knows, but it happened to me so I returned it. Just a Heads up.

 

Used the Optima for years. And it gets cold here as well. Add the humidity that most never see in most of the country. 98 index at 111 today. Pretty common here.we see large temp ranges year round.

 

Pump sent to DSR for a freshen up. Guess I cant really complain after finding out that it hasnt been touched since 1994. The year it was made .

 

Pump is back. Looks good hoping to get things back together and fired up. Life kinda got in the way a little bit this week but it’s all good

 

What a thread! (Thought I was the only one that built 2 and 3 cars at a time... LOL)
Great to see you are ready to fire William.
Wonderful thread, ups and downs, just like real life.
Kudos and God bless the 'League'.

 

Thanks - and must say in hind site might have done it a different way / But even with a crap load of formal education/ I am not that smart. lol
Also I have another thread / build of the 57 I watched as a kid ( YES ITS STILL POSSIBLE). I refuse to take it to the BIG shop at the river because every car that I have ever taken there ( except the ramp truck) winds up as a race car/ track only car.
Glass Thames Doug( one of my very good friends- we actually meet at the first Reunion at BG/ 03) here on the hamb is the only guy know to successfully field a race car/street car/ towcar- all in one. ( and buy the way he knocked em dead at the tri 5 nationals at Beech Bend this past weekend. ( a wicked / clean little 56 wagon / hook/ and all the right looks. Lots of video on tube
Still living the dream. be safe /live free while you can.

 

Still getting folks healthy. got some more data/ info and parts. Maybe in a week or so things be back to some level of normal. Live free and build all you can while you can guys and girls.

 

Managed some shop time today. Everyone is finally getting well.
Took time to finally analyze the jetting barrel valve settings that always have to be adjusted even upon new set up.
Upon recommendation ( 12% leak down) and .135 pill primary.
Going to .105/and lengthen the link until it idles /as it should.
That was Mikes suggestion. So I get to order another set of jets. Lol I only have 120-155. Lol

 

Jets /pills came in. Let’s hope this is all I need.

 

Got a chance to change pill and adjust barrel valve. Still not where it needs to be. I am fixing to pull secondary and high speed by passes down. I smell a rat. All is new but that don’t mean a thing.

 

Wes came over and a second set of eyes was a wonderful gift.
Got tired of guessing. Unhooked the main fuel line from the barrel valve /kept mag off /and let the starter rip. It pumped fuel so that at least eliminated that guessing point. I had started to wonder.
After that unhooked and capped off the bypass. Installed the leak down /percentage tester and measured as delivered.
10-12 percent was recommendation. (Gas). It was way off. Set it a 11 %.
Put the .130 jet back in. Decided not to fire. Gonna check plugs as well. I feel a lot better at this point. At least I don’t feel totally stupid now. No pics but still a good day.

 

Got a fresh oil change in the cards. Smell a trace of fuel. Gonna put a set of fresh plugs in also. Clean the old one for spares. I have a cleaner and has always done a pretty good job.
Gonna cap off both secondary and high speed by pass and see what’s up. Something still isn’t right. This is the newest nicest set of Hilborns I have. And it at this time is running the worst.
I have a Frankenstein setup that is made out leftover Hilborn units for the spare motor that would stomp this one right now. That’s the plan assuming we don’t flood now that we have had our every two decade deep freeze.

 

Ok. Remember the old saying. Keep It Simple Stupid. Well apparently it’s TRUE.
So I started the day by trying to get fuel to the nozzles. Something that wasn’t happening consistently.
Capped off the secondary by pass. Nope.
Capped of the high speed by pass. Nope.
Capped off the dead head line/return to protect the pump. (And I am still not sure about the 3 way cut off).
Took stacks off so I can see easily and cracked the throttle killed the mag. ( wide open )
Finally got fuel.
Remote switch /spin it /throw the switch. And finally. Without priming it fires. Yes.
Runs and halfway idles. Gapped the throttle and it’s obvious it’s lean, but at least I am not having to prime and throw fuel at it. Shakes harder than my blown motors ever did. But then again I’ve got more money in this one than I ever did in any of my rail engines.
As Happy as I am it’s still got a way to go.
And I have several mysteries to sort out.
The lower curve is still very lean. /and barrel valve is at 12%. Checked twice. The initial setting was 24%. Way to much for GAS.
I have had the earlier systems and they were never this ticky.
We have a small fortune invested in this one. Everything in this system is brand new. And until today I was beginning to wonder.
Now I get to back track one step at a time. And figure out what did the trick. I still think the 3 way is part of it. Time will tell. I really think I will ditch the high speed bypass in the end. But I am going to pull them all down one at a time and /clean/spec them. I know it has a nasty nasty rumble.I also need to remember to spec the number stamped on the barrel valve and double check. Didn't change plugs yet but have two sets. From the sound I’d say isn’t the immediate issue
Was a Good Day. Even with 3 Questions left to answer. It was almost 70 degrees today and sunshine. And it was a welcome sight.
Happy New Year and be Safe

 

Major strides today.
The cut off /3 way valve was the first thing checked and as Mick suspected it was at fault.
We had another Waterman and it checked out. On it went. ( the blue one upon inspection had the spool in upside down or if you prefer the arm was way out.)
I have since put out it back in inventory. Will use it on Prefect. This also would explain why when I capped everything off except main by pass it finally ran and didn’t have to be primed as much. ( it didn’t seal there for not enough fuel pressure. ) The high speed also had a couple of bits of trash in it. ( and everything was new. )
I have only the secondary to do now. And we will give it another go.Wes and Micky both were in the shop with me today. Was a good day.

 

Secondary by pass removed /inspected /reinstalled. Found nothing amiss.
It may be the new way but I don’t like the location of it. It’s a royal pain to get to. I would really like to move it off of the barrel valve and place it closer to the tank. But if it’s right I shouldn’t have to have it off again. Let’s hope.

 

Yesterday Wes and I actually got the system to fire and run/idle with out priming.
I have a seep around the top water line to the radiator that has never sealed off completely. I tapped for the AN fittings. It tightens up but still has a tiny seep /leak.
Got to get it fixed so I can run in and get it to operating temp so butterfly’s /final idle set and fine tuning for Hilborns can be done. I’ve tried every kind of sealant known to man. The threads look great and tighten with no slack. May just weld it in permanent.

 

I use some thread sealant made by permatex tha has Teflon in it and it has never let me down you might try that

 

I’ll look into that. Does it have a specific name /application or just a thread sealant?

 

Permatex part # 80632

 

Thanks. I’ll look into that.

 

Ok decided to proceed and use what has never failed me.
JB weld. The original. Cleaned and prepped the threads / and the neck with acetone. Then applied a liberal coat to threads/fitting and then sealed the outside seam as well after it was tightened. I’ll sand and prep and clean up. Let it sit a few days and fully cure.
Then we can get in with tuning.