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Here it is November, 2015 and a not much has happened since we picked up the Ghia from the shop back in 2013, but a few things to report.
First, the engine runs really well. After the initial run in, I adjusted the valves as it is typically recommended to do so after a few hundred miles or so. When it warms up (takes a minute or two) it really runs well, hits the sweet spot around 55 mph (the 'power band' such as it is for a 58 bhp motor). It does take a moment or two to warm up even in this Florida weather.
I've tried changing the thermostat back to the original one (I'd installed a new replacement during the carb rebuild) but this does not seem to help, so that requires a bit more trouble shooting. The engine starts fine (more on that later) and goes into high rev but never does seem to bring itself down to low RPM's once the engineer is warm and the thermostat coil has back off.
I've changed the engine oil after the running-in period. When I did this, I had a couple of problems.
I had trouble getting the oil sump gasket seals back on. Instead of using the silicone ones - the ones I put on the car when I originally rebuilt the engine - I used paper gaskets, and lubed them with Vaseline to make then easier to remove. In any case I had trouble getting the sump plate nuts back on fully tight - the last one would not seem to thread on as it had when I rebuilt the enginer, it just kept slipping. So as a result the sump leaked and I had to keep a oil drain pan under the car whenever it was parked.
I change the oil again after a few hundred miles and this time I did the following:
1) Cleaned the sump gasket mating surface and the captive sump bolts thoroughly with electronic parts cleaner. You don't need much of this and it cleans better than mineral spirits or pet distillates; since it is a chlorinated solvent you need to be careful on what polymeric things you let it come into contact with, but since I'm just cleaning metal surfaces, it's ok. And it dries fast so you can quickly see how effective it has been.
2) Used a new silicone gasket between the sump screen and the engine body. This is because the engine itself, the mating surface, has a perceptible bit of pitting which would tend to leak. The silicone seals are recommended because they will deform into those pits better than a paper gasket.
3) Used a (new) (German) paper gasket between the sump screen and the sump plate, for reasons of thickness.
4) Used Loctite Blue gel thread locker on the sump bolts.
5) Reused my original sump plate. This one I'd had powder coated long ago, but I took a disk sander with a mild grit to the mating surface to ensure it was smooth, clean and most of all, flat.
After all that, when replacing the sump bolt nuts, they were able to get a good grip on the threads all around and I was able to hand torque them and get them quite tight - probably more than the torque spec, but when tightening by hand, you really get a good feel of what is tight enough and what is on the verge of too tight (for these nuts, anyway).
At the moment, all looks well from an oil leak perspective.
Now as to the engine running. We'd experienced some problems restarting after driving for a period, especially in the hot weather here in Florida which gets into the 90s (deg. F) during the summer.
After a bit of trial and error, I'd determined that the metal fuel line running across the engine to the carb inlet was actually lying on the equalizing manifold, which gets very hot when running. This led to a vapor lock situation - likely the very same one that we'd encountered when we first picked up the car from the shop in Virginia. So to rememdy this I took a 3" long piece of rubber fuel hose - the kind with th cloth outer covering - and slit it lengthwise, then wrapped around the metal fuel line where it was touching off on the manifold. This cured the problem immediately - no more restarting issues.
You know that's what makes these cars so enjoyable, after all. You use a little bit of common sense and with a little grit and gumption (and perhaps redneck engineering) and you find a way to make the car work just a little better, longer, more reliably. Each one has it's own personality and you've gotta spend some time with it to understand the car and what makes it tick. Now having rebuilt this darn thing from scratch I know where all the 'bodies are buried' so to speak - but not all of them, clearly, so we can see that I'm still getting to know the car on a 'personal level'.
Right now one other problem I've got - the adjustment for the shift shaft electronic auto-stick switch - it's not right and the car doesn't drop out of gear as easily as I'd like when I place my hand on the stick. From what I recall, even a very slight hand pressure should be enough to take the car out of gear, and that is enough to allow for easy shifting. Just another little tweak I've got to make....
First, the engine runs really well. After the initial run in, I adjusted the valves as it is typically recommended to do so after a few hundred miles or so. When it warms up (takes a minute or two) it really runs well, hits the sweet spot around 55 mph (the 'power band' such as it is for a 58 bhp motor). It does take a moment or two to warm up even in this Florida weather.
I've tried changing the thermostat back to the original one (I'd installed a new replacement during the carb rebuild) but this does not seem to help, so that requires a bit more trouble shooting. The engine starts fine (more on that later) and goes into high rev but never does seem to bring itself down to low RPM's once the engineer is warm and the thermostat coil has back off.
I've changed the engine oil after the running-in period. When I did this, I had a couple of problems.
I had trouble getting the oil sump gasket seals back on. Instead of using the silicone ones - the ones I put on the car when I originally rebuilt the engine - I used paper gaskets, and lubed them with Vaseline to make then easier to remove. In any case I had trouble getting the sump plate nuts back on fully tight - the last one would not seem to thread on as it had when I rebuilt the enginer, it just kept slipping. So as a result the sump leaked and I had to keep a oil drain pan under the car whenever it was parked.
I change the oil again after a few hundred miles and this time I did the following:
1) Cleaned the sump gasket mating surface and the captive sump bolts thoroughly with electronic parts cleaner. You don't need much of this and it cleans better than mineral spirits or pet distillates; since it is a chlorinated solvent you need to be careful on what polymeric things you let it come into contact with, but since I'm just cleaning metal surfaces, it's ok. And it dries fast so you can quickly see how effective it has been.
2) Used a new silicone gasket between the sump screen and the engine body. This is because the engine itself, the mating surface, has a perceptible bit of pitting which would tend to leak. The silicone seals are recommended because they will deform into those pits better than a paper gasket.
3) Used a (new) (German) paper gasket between the sump screen and the sump plate, for reasons of thickness.
4) Used Loctite Blue gel thread locker on the sump bolts.
5) Reused my original sump plate. This one I'd had powder coated long ago, but I took a disk sander with a mild grit to the mating surface to ensure it was smooth, clean and most of all, flat.
After all that, when replacing the sump bolt nuts, they were able to get a good grip on the threads all around and I was able to hand torque them and get them quite tight - probably more than the torque spec, but when tightening by hand, you really get a good feel of what is tight enough and what is on the verge of too tight (for these nuts, anyway).
At the moment, all looks well from an oil leak perspective.
Now as to the engine running. We'd experienced some problems restarting after driving for a period, especially in the hot weather here in Florida which gets into the 90s (deg. F) during the summer.
After a bit of trial and error, I'd determined that the metal fuel line running across the engine to the carb inlet was actually lying on the equalizing manifold, which gets very hot when running. This led to a vapor lock situation - likely the very same one that we'd encountered when we first picked up the car from the shop in Virginia. So to rememdy this I took a 3" long piece of rubber fuel hose - the kind with th cloth outer covering - and slit it lengthwise, then wrapped around the metal fuel line where it was touching off on the manifold. This cured the problem immediately - no more restarting issues.
You know that's what makes these cars so enjoyable, after all. You use a little bit of common sense and with a little grit and gumption (and perhaps redneck engineering) and you find a way to make the car work just a little better, longer, more reliably. Each one has it's own personality and you've gotta spend some time with it to understand the car and what makes it tick. Now having rebuilt this darn thing from scratch I know where all the 'bodies are buried' so to speak - but not all of them, clearly, so we can see that I'm still getting to know the car on a 'personal level'.
Right now one other problem I've got - the adjustment for the shift shaft electronic auto-stick switch - it's not right and the car doesn't drop out of gear as easily as I'd like when I place my hand on the stick. From what I recall, even a very slight hand pressure should be enough to take the car out of gear, and that is enough to allow for easy shifting. Just another little tweak I've got to make....
posted by Larry V. @ 9:16 AM
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