SUMMER SUMMARY, part 1
So, I mentioned in an earlier post that my vacation started rather intense. I think it was the longest period of intense wrenching I've experienced so far in my wrenching life. It lasted almost one and a half week, and the parole was “wrench-eat-sleep-repeat”. With my other car already on vacation, I was left (self-inflected I might add) with the bus and my bicycle to get to the garage and do part runs.
In fact it started already on the two work-week weekends leading up to the vacation. I did excavate the tank and while I was re-threading the holes (because broken screws) in the tank for the sender unit, I also was trying to dry out all the water in it, that couldn't be poured out, with a heater. Then an idea sparked and when the tank was dry inside I brought out the heavy duty vacuum cleaner and was able to suck all the remaining lose rust out of the tank. The conclusion was; water flushing isn't the greatest method for getting lose rust out the fuel tank, drying and vacuuming is far superior.
So now the tank could get in, and I even managed to unstuck the float arm of the sender unit. Some home-made gasket for the later, new sealing between the tank and floor and some McGyver-ing/Roadkill-ing of the filler neck gasket later I started re-attaching the boot floor, carpet and bright works. On to the fuel lines; where hose bulges were added at every joint and a transparent unbraided hose joining the two pieces of steel pipe with no hose clamps were replaced with a proper rubber hose and hose clamps, because who-ever put in new lines apparently didn't believe in these things.
IN THE ENGINE BAY AGAIN
Now the renovated carburetor and fuel pump, and the alternator with newly painted brackets, that just been waiting for the final install, could be installed.
But wait, there was some while-I'm-in-there moments before: Firstly the smashed up rear door latch holder/bracket in the boot floor needed some, or much, hammering, riveting, reinforcing and grinding to be near straight and to be able to latch the door without using body-panel-buckling force. Then all the screws holding the boot carpet and bright work to the car was a mismatch of different heads, screw sizes and lengths, so naturally I had to replace them all with uniform screws. Then the “carpet” inserts on the inside of the rear door was held on with a few wood screws, so I replaced the nut inserts with new ones (there was some drilling involved too) and new screws, proper for the job, were fitted.
It doesn't end there, the back seat back rest is held on at the top end by two rubber pins. The left one had split between the rubber its metal base. I channeled my wood working skills and made a new one. So the back rest is now more securely attached in the upright position. Lastly I had to take the choke cable out to repair it from chafing damage (no rubber grommet in the fire wall was used previously) and mend a split between the outer plastic cover and metal sleeve holding it the instrument panel.
Back to the main task of getting the car running again. With the fuel and charging systems together again I gave the carburetor a splash of petrol down the throat and the engine started after a couple of tries. Then I went on to changing the spark plug leads, setting the spark plug and breaker point gaps. Generic ready-made leads could be used between the distributor and the spark plugs, but for the one from the coil to the distributor I had to buy two and butcher one of one of its terminal, cut the other lead and put the butchered terminal on the cut end. To finish it of, the leads were organized in a Roadkill-fashion.
DEFEATING TEST DRIVE
The first test drive begun cautiously on the gravel roads around the farm where my garage is situated. After not more than 1 km the car stalled, and wouldn't start back up again. Adding to that a coolant hose had sprung a leak. Of course I had no tools, petrol, hose or coolant with me, because the garage was close. There was just one thing to do – walk the 1 km back to the garage and collect the things I thought I would need, and then walk back.
With splashes of petrol down the carburetor throat the engine would start, but not run for long. I tried putting some more petrol in the tank with no luck. The cracked coolant hose was replaced and the radiator topped up with coolant. Then I made a last attempt starting the car, and it started and stayed running enough so that I could close the bonnet and get in the driver's seat before it would stall again. I got maybe 500 m and it stalled again. Same story. I ran back to the garage getting a hand pump to use for priming the fuel pump, if it was struggling to get fuel from the tank. No luck, the hand pump bladder was just sucked in, rendering it useless.
At this point I was fed up with the car and also very hungry so I left it in the fields and went back to the garage to eat dinner. After the break I got it started again and managed to drive it back into to garage. I was ready to give it up and continue after the vacation.
Since the engine was somewhat warm I proceeded to drain the oil and then check and adjust the valve clearances. Some of the valve clearances were to tight, some too lose, but the lifter ticking I've been hearing is still there, and I've checked and adjusted the clearances twice since this first time.
In the drained oil were some bits of string and metal fragments, that's just normal, isn't it? New oil filter was fitted and new era-correct-specification oil (Rektol classic) went in.
To be continued...