Re: [Amc-list] little american again

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

Well I got back in time today to pick up the head from the machine shop
(#4 intake stuck AGAIN! 20 miles after a valve job). It was again
VARNISH or gunk on the stems. The combustion chambers did not look very
clean when I pulled it, and it was *spotless* when I put it on. I had
soaked the cylinders in Marvel Mystery Oil over the last few weeks, and
originally attributed it to that. (I cranked the motor over for about 10
seconds with the plugs out before I fired it up though.)

Well Jim Blair said he 'hadn't seen anything like those valves except
sugar in the tank', and at this point, I suspect something like that may
be the case.

It ain't oil -- there was plenty of oil to the top (I even took a video
of it). I'd changed it TWICE in 40 miles (not unreasonable since it sat
for so long) the first time with Sea Foam. The oil is clean and yellow
and transparent.

It ran exactly at thermostat temerature for it's one hour of operation.
I measure it with an IR thermometer (because the dash gauge ran about
2/3rds to the H mark so I got curious).

There was an oily residue in the bottom of the intake after only an hour
of driving. That's odd. New-old-stock carb.

So tonight I just drained the carb into a pyrex beaker, and it's way too
dark orange, and slightly cloudy. I will evaporate the 100mL or so and
see what's left behind. I assume that no more than maybe a microscopic
film shold be left in the beaker.

(When Joe dropped the car off here, the tank was empty, so there was no
need to dispose of old gas. I put a fresh two gallons in and drove it to
a gas station and filled up.)

Tomorrow I'll siphon a bit from my Hornet and compare colors. I think at
this point I need to examine what's in the tank. 

Needless to say I'm a bit paranoid at this point. Nothing like this has
happened to me before. Oh well, that's old unknown cars for you!

These pictures here are from BEFORE the valve job, and I didn't see them
out and dirty this last time, but they were apparently really varniushed
like this:

http://wps.com/AMC/1963-Rambler-American/Rebuilt-head/


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