{FORGED?} Re: File this one under

[AMC74Hornet@xxxxxxxxx]

On September 19, 2004 Matt Haas wrote:

> One of the nagging problems that I've had with my American almost the
> entire time I've had it is a rough, hot idle. I've done a bunch over the
> years that has sneaked up on solving the problem but since I got back from
> Kenosha, the problem has gotten much worse and at times, it's been more
> like riding a mechanical bull than sitting in a Rambler with a stockish six
> cylinder.
> 
> Anyway, outside of rebuilding the motor, I've done the following to the car
> to try and fix it:
> - Removed the heat riser valve (was stuck half open) and had the faces of
> the manifolds machined flat, double checked the seal by spraying with WD-40.
> - Cursed at it
> - Noticed that the dwell angle was all over the place at idle so I shoved a
> Pertronix Ignitor in it
> - Cursed at it
> - Put the correct carb back on it (it had an Economizer with a bad choke
> coil when I got it). Checked for leaks again with WD-40 -- made no
> difference in idle quality.
> - Cursed at it
> - Fiddled with carb jetting, idle mixture, and timing. Checked for leaks
> again with WD-40 -- made no difference.
> - Cursed at it
> - Put a rebuilt distributor on it (or more correctly, put the rebuilt
> distributor's guts in my housing since the housing I got was messed up)
> - Cursed at it
> - Fiddled with idle mixture and timing
> - Cursed at it
> - Replaced the plugs, wires, and cap
> - Cursed at it
> 
> None of these things really fixed the problem (the distributor sure helped
> with acceleration and high speed operation) but my cursing skills have
> improved quite a bit so it wasn't all for nothing.
> 
> I had actually tried spraying WD-40 at the joints between the carburetor,
> manifolds, and engine a few more times than what I mentioned above and it
> never made a difference until today so I had pretty much written off
> "vacuum leak" as a problem. What I did different was drive the car first
> until it started idling rough. I then popped the hood and first thing I
> checked was the choke. It was wide open so I started looking around and it
> looked like there was a gap between the manifold and the gasket at the #3
> cylinder. I got out the WD-40 again and gave it a good spray and sure
> enough, the engine smoothed out quite a bit for a few seconds. I sprayed
> WD-40 at a few other places and saw improvements in idle quality again so I
> got out my torque wrench and started tightening bolts. It seems what I did
> when I had the manifolds off almost 5 years ago was to fully tighten the
> bolts that only go into the exhaust manifold and just snug up the rest of
> them. The bolts that attach the intake manifold were a full half turn
> loose! I torqued them to 25 ft. lbs and reset the idle mixture and took it
> for a test drive. I'll need to go recheck them after the engines had a
> chance to cool down and I'll probably have to replace the gaskets to get a
> totally smooth idle but man, what a difference a tight intake manifold made!
> 
> Matt
> 
> mhaas@xxxxxxx
> Cincinnati, OH
> http://www.mattsoldcars.com
> 1966 Rambler Rebel
> 1968 Rambler American sedan
> ===============================================================
> According to a February survey of Internet holdouts released by
> UCLA's Center for Communication Policy, people cite
> not having a computer as the No. 1 reason they won't go online.

Don't feel bad Matt we have all done things like this at one time or another in our life, amature or professional alike. The thing is we don't like to admit it.
Doc" 













=============================================================
Posted by wixList Archiver -- http://www.amxfiles.com/wixlist