I've got two stories and two questions, most of this will make
me sound like a dumb f---.
STORY 1: I was 18 and had my first car in England (not all brits
are as stupid as me only ones which work for LUCAS) which was a MK1 Ford
Escort. I wanted to put an inline fuel filter on so cut the tube from
petrol pump to carb and started to push the filter ends in, but it was
too hard as the tube was too narrow for the filter. So I thought
that I should soften the tube to make it more flexible so the filter would
push in. So off i trot into the kitchen to get a match to heat the tube
to make it soft. I get to the car, stand looking under the bonnet, remove
a match, put it on the stricker and suddenly realize what a complete wanker
(translation for yanks, wanker=idiot (but not really)) I was about to be.
STORY 2: Two years ago I went on a road trip in my Midget, from
Eugene OREGON to Island of Vancouver to Vancouver to accross BC to Calgary
down to Glacier Park Montanna then home. About 2500 miles trip in 9 days
and I got 40 mpg!! Anyway driving through Montana we hit a horrible set of
road works (for yanks "construction") which must have been 9
iles long.
Of course there were huge bolders and craters which the pick ups had no probs
with but being only 10 inches from the ground I had problems with. After we
got past them I took a look under the car only to see a drip drip from my
fuel tank. A rock had punctured it. So I removed a screw from a non-essential
place and screwed it into a piece of card then into the hole. To this day it
is still fine.
QUESTION 1: Is this bad?: I reused the rod and main bolts when
rebuilding the engine.
QUESTION 2: IS this bad?: I was told not to reuse the spring washers
on the rod and main bolts and not to use any washers, just torque then down
and use a semi-permanent thread locker.
By the way to those of you envious at my 40 mpg: The car pinked
(pinged to a yank) I tried everything to cure it and finally took it
to a place here. They said it must be that it had high compression pistons
or a carbon build up. I deciede to take off the head and clean up the carbon.
this turned into a rebuild. The pinking was caused by a vacuum leak where
a previous owner had removed an emissions pipe from the inlet manifold
and not sealed it properly so I was running very lean, hence the pinking and
hence the 40 mpg. Now I get 27 mpg on the freeway at 60 mph. How does that
sound?
Cheers Dennis
PS I use the term "yank" with affection and not contempt.
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