ivoryjohn
Senior Member
Today I cranked up my new engine for the first time in the car but not after dealing with a vexing lack of spark to the points. After I nervously did the few things I knew to do to check it out I called two friends whining and complaining.
Thank the Good Lord for patient and understanding friends in the hobby. It was because of them I checked the ignition cable to see if it was screwed in too far and shorting out the distributor. I have bitten by this mistake and was sure this wasn't the problem because I had only screwed it in a turn and a half. It was not enough turns to make contact as it happened and I fixed it.
I am a pretty laid back fellow and don't get alarmed over the day to day problems in life. Nor did I get upset in rough seas in my profession as a boat captain. When my child was playing with the chainsaw or climbing high enough the fall would likely kill her, rather than stop her or panic I would only yell out the warning, "Don't get any blood on anything!" But today when I started up my new engine for the first time and there was a fast solid loud knock like someone hitting the engine with a monkey wrench I panicked like the barnyard animals in the "Chicken Little" story..."Oh Lordy The Sky IS Falling!" Time to call a friend Regis!
I tore up the telephone wires dragging one friend away from lunch with the Preacher and the other from what may have been a sure thing customer on the sales floor. "Oh me The Sky is Falling...my four thousand dollar engine with the high compression head is making a terrible racket!", I blubbered.
Okay maybe I am exaggerating a little but I have had two wives leave me with less emotion than what I experienced hearing this engine clatter like it did. I was scared to run it to see if it got any better. It had plenty of time when I ran it before to get up oil pressure, how is running it now going to help?
I called my buddy 60 miles away to arrange a fix and time to trailer it north. I hate Model A's on trailers and won't own one of my own. I have to borrow one. "But before you come check and see if anything is hitting anything on the front pulley." He says.
There was just a trace of evidence that the spokes of the new one piece crank pulley was hitting the front motor mount yoke. This little touch was making all that noise? Cautiously I cranked it up and cried at the sound but I sped it up and slowly it got better. By the time I got to the street down my driveway you could hardly hear it. I called my friend and told him not to expect me I wore it in. The sky wasn't falling after all. It was just a little rain.
Thank the Good Lord for patient and understanding friends in the hobby. It was because of them I checked the ignition cable to see if it was screwed in too far and shorting out the distributor. I have bitten by this mistake and was sure this wasn't the problem because I had only screwed it in a turn and a half. It was not enough turns to make contact as it happened and I fixed it.
I am a pretty laid back fellow and don't get alarmed over the day to day problems in life. Nor did I get upset in rough seas in my profession as a boat captain. When my child was playing with the chainsaw or climbing high enough the fall would likely kill her, rather than stop her or panic I would only yell out the warning, "Don't get any blood on anything!" But today when I started up my new engine for the first time and there was a fast solid loud knock like someone hitting the engine with a monkey wrench I panicked like the barnyard animals in the "Chicken Little" story..."Oh Lordy The Sky IS Falling!" Time to call a friend Regis!
I tore up the telephone wires dragging one friend away from lunch with the Preacher and the other from what may have been a sure thing customer on the sales floor. "Oh me The Sky is Falling...my four thousand dollar engine with the high compression head is making a terrible racket!", I blubbered.
Okay maybe I am exaggerating a little but I have had two wives leave me with less emotion than what I experienced hearing this engine clatter like it did. I was scared to run it to see if it got any better. It had plenty of time when I ran it before to get up oil pressure, how is running it now going to help?
I called my buddy 60 miles away to arrange a fix and time to trailer it north. I hate Model A's on trailers and won't own one of my own. I have to borrow one. "But before you come check and see if anything is hitting anything on the front pulley." He says.
There was just a trace of evidence that the spokes of the new one piece crank pulley was hitting the front motor mount yoke. This little touch was making all that noise? Cautiously I cranked it up and cried at the sound but I sped it up and slowly it got better. By the time I got to the street down my driveway you could hardly hear it. I called my friend and told him not to expect me I wore it in. The sky wasn't falling after all. It was just a little rain.
