Long time since I've been able to address the Austin's new engine and tuning. Been very busy with the new kitchen, but we're down to the end there, and I got a two week break while I wait for the granite counter tops to be built!
Decided it was time to dive back into the new engine, and determine if I'd screwed something up. In reality the time away from it has been spent worrying about all sorts of scenarios like flat camshafts, or bad valves, etc. I pulled the valve covers on Sunday and put my dial indicator on each rocker to check lift. All were perfect, but popped the filter off and dumped the oil in a pan, just to look for metallic sparkles. It also looked perfect.
I decided to watch things while I had the valve covers off, so prepared for a messy situation, and fired her up. I noticed right away that there was very little oiling going on at the top end, and checking pressure showed 50 lbs. at idle. I got my tools and while it idled I began loosening rockers until I heard the familiar click, then tightened them down until they were quiet. As I backed each rocker off, the oil began to really flow, and the engine idled better. Once I finished all 16 I had oil flowing freely, and engine rpm was up 300 rpm's! I let it cool and added another 1/4 turn of preload. Reinstalled the valve covers and took it for a spin. Had a minor miss that turned out to be a bad plug, so checked and gapped them all, and replaced the one bad plug. Runs perfect now, and I put quite a few miles on it Sunday with good results! Looks like it's ready for the big weekly cruise on Wed. night at PIR!
Decided it was time to dive back into the new engine, and determine if I'd screwed something up. In reality the time away from it has been spent worrying about all sorts of scenarios like flat camshafts, or bad valves, etc. I pulled the valve covers on Sunday and put my dial indicator on each rocker to check lift. All were perfect, but popped the filter off and dumped the oil in a pan, just to look for metallic sparkles. It also looked perfect.
I decided to watch things while I had the valve covers off, so prepared for a messy situation, and fired her up. I noticed right away that there was very little oiling going on at the top end, and checking pressure showed 50 lbs. at idle. I got my tools and while it idled I began loosening rockers until I heard the familiar click, then tightened them down until they were quiet. As I backed each rocker off, the oil began to really flow, and the engine idled better. Once I finished all 16 I had oil flowing freely, and engine rpm was up 300 rpm's! I let it cool and added another 1/4 turn of preload. Reinstalled the valve covers and took it for a spin. Had a minor miss that turned out to be a bad plug, so checked and gapped them all, and replaced the one bad plug. Runs perfect now, and I put quite a few miles on it Sunday with good results! Looks like it's ready for the big weekly cruise on Wed. night at PIR!
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