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Re: More help please. But I'm getting closer (long)

To: spitfires@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: More help please. But I'm getting closer (long)
From: Terry Thompson <firespiter@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 13:50:18 -0700 (PDT)
Okay, It's hotter than a dry griddle out today, but I
decided to go ahead and hazard heat stroke to check
the valve clearances. 

First I wanted to make sure that #2 was sparking (It
was sparking when I laid the plug on the block while I
cranked the engine, so I assumed it was.) But maybe
there was something strange about having the plug
installed that wouldn't make it spark? Gary Hutton
suggested I put  my timing light on the number 2 wire,
and sure enough I was getting good flicker from the
inductive timing light. Also, I checked the dizzy
shaft for "wobble" and it seems pretty rigid. No
lateral movement that I can detect.

On to the valves:
I'm not sure that this has fixed any issues, but I did
notice that #3 valve only had .008" of clearance,
which I assume would have made the valve open even
larger on the intake side. So it doesn't really seem
that fuel going in should be a problem, but I adjusted
it to .010". But I decided to check the rest of the
rocker clearances and found that #4 never lifted off
of the valve. I couldn't even cleanly fit a .005"
blade between the valve stem and rocker arm with #5
under full compression (#5 valve fully open) It was
very tight. I couldn't wedge a .010" or .080" in at
all. The #4 valve is the exhaust valve for the #2
cylinder, of course. But, I'm not sure if its always
being under compression/open would keep the plug from
firing, but I'll let you know if anything changes when
I get the valve cover reinstalled. 

Also, even though I couldn't get a .005" blade between
the valve and the rocker on #4 valve. Is it possible
that the valve closed enough during compression tests
to be able to give me that 120 psi test reading?

-Terry "SO CLOSE! UGH!" Thompson
P.S. Let me add that EVERYONE on this list makes
everything sound so damned simple! "Oh, to extract the
brain tumor, just cut open the skull and use a spoon."
And I'm not saying that this was difficult, but you
instill so much confidence that I find myself jumping
into stuff I would never picture myself screwing with
in several life times. Even my girlfriend that loves
me with every cell in her body and thinks I'm a
motor-head is like "Um...should you be screwing with
that?"

P.P.S. Also, if this fixes my problem "Thank you all!"
if it doesn't...I hope you all burn in hell for
deluding me into thinking I was competant enough to
tackle this. 
Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger
http://phonecard.yahoo.com/

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