Well I finally got my engine started after several miscues. I got my friend
Steve to come over and stand there with a fire extinguisher just in case.
The best part was it started up almost immediately after my electric fuel
pump primed the carbs. I was amazed that it started so easily although it
didn't run too smoothly.
HOWEVER, as we were looking around to make sure nothing was exploding the
car got hot real fast. Real fast. I noticed that after about 3 minutes the
temp gauge shot to over 250. The FU**IN new Stanton thermostat never opened
and the rad was cold. To say the least I was pissed. I hope the head wasn't
damaged. My electric fan and an additional fan cooled it down fairly
quickly.
I had to empty the cooling system again to get the thermostat out. I dropped
it into water in a pan over my stove and slowly brought up the temperature
of the water. The damn thing didn't open until the water was boiling!
So, from what others tell me and from my own experience, there are defective
thermostats out there, be careful.
After replacing the thermo with a used one all went well but this time I
only used colored water as I'm tired of draining antifreeze but I did want
to spot leaks while the system is under pressure. Fortunately nothing leaked
but I did have a fuel leak and one float was too high or the needle valve
stuck. I fixed those problems.
Now for the fun of tuning it up, retorquing the head and adjusting the
valves correctly.
BTW, the Bob Sharp manual suggests a cold setting of .20 for the valves and
an article in an old DRA suggested .15. Which is it? I went with .20 as I'd
rather have too much clearance than not enough.
It's great to hear the Beast startup after a year of silence. Now for a loud
exhaust. Vroom, vroom.
Thanks for your patience.
Mike
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