A Jag-Lover's Tale

VI. Renewed Vigor

At first there is nothing, then a small cough, and then a roar as the engine jumps to 4000RPM seemingly on its way to 8000, we shut it down quickly. Looking at the carbs, it seems that the return spring on the throttle linkage isn't doing its job. I hold the linkage while Ryan punches the starter. VROOM, 4000RPM on its way to 8000. Whoops, I'm holding the throttles wide open. Shut her down.

Mr. Boffo	by Joe Martin

Ryan steps from the cloud of smoke obscuring the back half of the car. Looking down to check the return spring, he notices a pool of liquid accumulating on the garage floor. "I think something's leaking," Ryan understates. A closer investigation shows that there is roughly a quart of oil spreading out on the garage floor, and more joining it from the side of the engine block, the suspension, the side of the engine bay, the oil filter... A gusher!

Mr. Boffo	by Joe Martin

A brand new oil line leading from the top of the oil filter assembly to the oil pressure gauge had sheared off right at the fitting on top of the oil filter. The fitting points straight up, so it got everything.

Ryan's tubing tools were back at his house, and I had nothing which would do the job, so we were done for the day. The following weekend, I re-flared the oil line and took another shot at starting the engine. I closed the idle bypass valves on the HD6 carburettors to 2 and 1/2 turns, where once they were open 5 turns. On the first two attempts the engine roared to life, and promptly died. Subsequent attempts yielded not a cough, and the starter was beginning to slow down. I checked the jumper cables from the trusty Volvo and found that they were quite warm.

I ran down to Sears, plunked down the plastic and came home with a DieHard. The engine roared to life immediately with the addition of the new battery -- 4000RPM again -- in spite of the changes to the carburettor settings. I shut down the bypass valves completely and tried again. VROOM, 4000RPM. Something was seriously wrong. Off came the carbs before I did any more damage.

I was more than a bit surprised (and relieved, because it was something I could fix) when I saw the two throttle plates at 90 degrees to each other. In other words, while the rear carb was closed, the front carb was wide open. I believe that incorrect isolator blocks (my fault) and a stripped clamp bolt (PFO) were to blame. Here is what I think happened. When the carbs were offered up to the manifold, the throttle plates were correctly oriented. I'm certain of this, because I consciously checked it. On the spindle of the front carb was a lobe which had no obvious function (turns out it was supposed to operate the anti-creep switch), but which touched the intake manifold due to the too-thin isolator blocks. This lobe jammed against the manifold as the carbs were installed, and due to the loose clamp, rotated the forward throttle plate into the full-open position. Busy ducking under the newly-installed bonnet and negotiating the various bits around various other bits, I failed to notice the change.

I managed to talk Ryan out of a replacement clamp bolt, and new (correct?) isolator blocks were ordered. By the following Wednesday, I had the idle properly set, and the engine was run-in between 2000 and 2500 RPM.

In the end, my engine rebuilding race with Ryan was declared a tie. My engine started first, though totally out of control. Ryan's engine was run-in first, and his car was nearly driveable, though he nearly burned his car up in the process. I'll let him tell that tale.

So, my car was finally in the condition I had hoped it was when I bought it, maybe even a bit better with all of the new parts. By this time the reader should hear the chorus chanting, "Yeah, right."

One item which has been lacking throughout this entire ordeal is planning. I can blame it, in part, on not really knowing what I was doing. Poor planning bit me again as the brake caliper cylinders were all sitting in a box, untouched since the day they were removed. I opened them up in the hope of replacing the rubber rings and putting them back together, installing them with new pads, and going for a drive. The rust and pitting inside made it quite clear that this was unacceptable. Off they went to Nebraska for sleeving in stainless.

In the mean time, I settled in for another lull, starting the engine from time to time, just to hear it run.

The cylinders arrived in mid-October, and I set about installing them right away. A couple of the bridge pipes which balance the fluid pressure across the calipers were rusted, so I bent up a new set. While not exactly perfect, they seemed to do the job.

With the brakes installed, and bled, there was only one thing left to do; fill up the transmission and go for a drive. Following the instructions, I dumped five units (pints or quarts, I can't remember which) of transmission fluid down the dipstick hole. I started the engine, and with a nervous foot on the brake pedal, I moved the selector to "L." Nothing happened. As I poured the remaining units in, the transmission dropped into gear. No lerch, no jump, just a drop in RPM and a gentle push against the brakes. Hee, hee, hee.

Next, The First Drive

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