It could also be a styrofoam coffee cup in the gas tank (I tore down a few motors after that trick. Only cure was to fix the engine, change the fuel tank AND the lines to ensure it didn't recur. That and put the filler where %$#@&* punkass kids couldn't mess with it! From: Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx> Subject: Re: [Amc-list] little american again To: "AMC/Rambler owners, drivers and fans." <amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Message-ID: <1180843153.5896.31.camel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Content-Type: text/plain 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/ _________________________________________________________________ Like puzzles? Play free games & earn great prizes. Play Clink now. http://club.live.com/clink.aspx?icid=clink_hotmailtextlink2 _______________________________________________ Amc-list mailing list Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.amc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/amc-list