Dennis :
Re-torqueing the head nuts is supposed to help keep the head gasket from
leaking. Cheap enough insurance, even if it's not absolutely necessary. The
only 'con' I see is that it's yet another chance to get your hands dirty <g>
Do it with the engine cold.
Your plug readings sound to me like mis-adjusted valve clearances (which are
another thing that should be checked after a few hundred miles, preferably just
after retorquing the head nuts). Another possibility would be vacuum leaks
near #2 and #4 intakes, which might also explain your fast idle, or bad
secondary wires.
Lots of things can cause fast idle, including worn throttle shafts, but they
all involve extra air getting into the intake manifold. My experience has been
that worn shafts cause the problem not by the air they let leak, but by letting
the throttle plates hit the bore before they are closed. A good test for worn
shafts is to squirt a little WD40 at each place a shaft enters a body with the
engine idling. If the engine idle changes, you've got a worn shaft. The
shafts are supposed to be lubricated once in awhile anyway ...
A common cause for very rich idle is upper jet seals (the cork O-ring) that
leak. Another is worn jets and needles, caused by excessive wear in the piston
or the DPO not centering the needles properly.
Randall
On Wednesday, October 04, 2000 11:47 AM, Dennis Lambert
[SMTP:DLambert@anaheim.net] wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Well, I've got a little over 200 miles on the TR-3A engine now. I have
> heard that the head nuts are supposed to be re-torqued after about 200
> miles, but can't seem to find that covered anywhere in the book. What are
> the pro's and con's on doing this? Is it supposed to be done cold, or warm?
>
> Also, the engine runs very rich. Haven't gone through the whole carb
> adjusting routine yet, but I did notice a peculiar thing when I changed
> plugs. The plugs from #1 and #3 were very sooty and black (to be expected),
> but the #2 and #4 plugs were light tan (just like the book says they should
> be). I'm confused. I could understand if #1 and #2 were different from #3
> and #4, but why would #1 and #3 be sooty, while #2 and #4 are normal?.
>
> One other thing: I can't seem to get the idle below about 1100. Could this
> be due to worn throttle shafts? How do you check for such a condition?
>
> As always, thanks.
>
> Dennis
>
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