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| Joined: | 09-10-2012 |
| Location: | Little Chute, Wisconsin USA |
| Posts: | 435 |
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End result: got Ms. J fired up tonight. Running a little lumpy but she is running. Can't do a whole lot more till my new radiator arrives... with the radiator leak I don't want to run her more than a few minutes. But I'm calling tonight a success (actually 2 successes, one having nothing to do with Jensen Healeys but I'll take my victories where I can).
Now, what was I doing wrong last night? Well, regarding the fuel pump: I just needed to be more patient. After pulling the Pertronix wiring off the coil so it didn't get wrecked, I pulled the fuel line off the T and stuck a hose on it into a bucket. Turned the key to "on" and just let it click away... after about 40 seconds the clicking quieted and sure enough fuel flowed into the bucket. After having the system basically dry, apparently it takes a while to prime things back up. Connected the fuel line back to the T, turned the key on again and within seconds had fuel in the carbs. Good.
So, now that I knew I had fuel: let's try timing again. I printed out Tim Engel's very comprehensive explanation of how to static time, which I ended up not using (you'll see why shortly). Just for fun, I went back and tried starting her again, and she caught a couple of times. Ooo! Very cool. So, I hooked up the timing light and had Mrs. Answerman turn the key while I watched... and the timing mark wasn't even visible. Huh? Ok, let's try the static again. I set the engine to TDC with a wrench, and pulled the distributor cap to see where the rotor was. Looked close, but retarded a bit. So I loosened it up and gave it a little twist to see if it made a difference. Tried starting her up and success! Barely running, but running. OK... let's hook up the timing light again. The mark is now visible, but about 30 degrees ATDC (obviously a guess, since the marks are BTDC but you get the idea). Headscratcher.
I loosened the distributor up and gave it another twist, and started her up again. Better. Not perfect, but better. At least she was idling. Now I can take another look with the timing light...
(this is where I admit to my not learning from previous experience)
and the mark is right at 0 TDC. That can't be right... oh. Did I mention I hate my timing light? It has a knob on the back to set your advance and I always forget it's there. It is very loose, it turns if you just look at it, and of course that's cranked to something crazy like 40 degrees BTDC. So... turn the knob down to 0, try it again, and now things make more sense. It's idling at about 30 degrees BTDC. So, I gave the distributor a little more adjustment and now it's somewhere around 10 degrees BTDC which is in the ballpark of where I usually run it. Good enough for now till the radiator gets here and then I'll fine tune.
Bonus (the unrelated thing): we have a couple of the Chinese 150cc scooters and they have been getting progressively harder and harder to start over the last year. Finally hit on a potential reason while Googling today (after cleaning the carbs, replacing the air filters, running Seafoam through them, etc): apparently, they are notorious for the valves requiring frequent adjustment. Nobody told me that. So, the reason I bring this up tonight is that if you want the polar opposite of valve adjustment on a Lotus 907, try it on a Chinese 150cc GY6 engine. Whole process took about 20 minutes per bike (and a good part of that was getting the plastic body bits off to get at the motor). 4 bolts and the valve cover comes off, loosen the locknut for the intake valve, back the adjustment screw out a few turns, stick a .005 feeler gauge in there, tighten the adjustment screw till you get a drag, tighten the locknut, pull the gauge out, and repeat for the exhaust valve. Easiest thing I've ever done, and they both start and idle instantly now. On both scooters the exhaust valve clearance was so tight that I don't know if it was ever closing. It's now on my scheduled maintenance list for the scooters.