jd52cranbrook

A fellow inliner built this car for his wife to take to the drags. I forget the times she was getting out of it.

I tell ya, I wish I lived across from a field like that. The SF Bay Area lost most of those long long ago.

Flatheads Forever,,,,,,

gone

But that's a whole other topic, sorry,,,,,,,

You may not believe it now, but many things have gone by the wayside since 20 years or more ago. Some of which should never have left.

I'm glad Normspeed is around. I, like others I am sure tried to persuade him not to stop. Always had good info, hope he, and others, decide to start again. We all need input from many sources to come to a sound decision sometimes.

Let's not let this get testy fellas. Everyone has a right to a opinion. In general I find that; Ford guys, Chevy guys, Mopar guys, rice burner guys, and on and on.... are just who they are. But there are not enough, car guys, and gals. who are just about the car, not the brand.

Or you can get one of these,,,, which are also not permanent, and can be portable. Masterlube Unlike mine Comes in handy

You can get grade 8 bolts, washers at any hardware store. Can even get most sizes in studs too for that matter.

Well,,,, I put some colder plugs, 303s in it. And like I said before set the timing back to 4 btdc. Also closed the plug gap to 38. 50 miles, no issue, but I know its the long haul that's the test. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Cool beans,,, fun is just starting.

Very sorry Joe. It was very interesting reading your threads during the put together process. Your taking it well, at least in print. I know it must be frustrating.

Well, something has definitely changed to cause this to happen. I have never seen a electrode do that, now twice. Tomorrow I check the manifold, carb set up. Will try another set of plugs. I would really like to know what is causing it. I don't just want to "shot gun" things for a fix. Tomorrow is another day. Thank you for your help

I appreciate that, but I have run over 30,000 miles on this HEI set up. I don't think I have a stock distributor anymore. I do have another HEI one though. But it's the coil that provides the oomph,, right? On a positive note, at least for my sanity. After talking with my partner in crime, we figured out I did not put back the original bad plug. Those AC plugs, colder?

I am running the stock head. I am using 306's at the moment. 303, 306,and 308 are all 3/8 reach.

Also, Did a compression check with the engine not quite cooled all the way down, a bit warm. 150 to 152 in plugs 1-5, with number 6 reading 156

Driving the car on freeway, about 65, rpms about 2,200. Gave it gas and got a misfire like before. Well, to me it sounds more like the carburetor is coughing, but that's just me. It coughs, momentary lack of power, like a miss. But no backfire that I can hear. Happened maybe a total of five times in about 3 minute period. Then ran fine, or no coughing at least. Drove it home, pulled the plugs, number two plug has a missing electrode. Sorry, cannot get a better focus. But it is the same as the original problem. I did say before it was hole number three I think, but I could be wrong as that time I was not paying enough attention and very well could have been mistaken. Anyway, this time for sure its number two cylinder. This is something I have never seen before. Would really appreciate some direction, or advice. Meanwhile I will go back to plug readings and see what I can dig up. Don, I don't want to rehash the bad choice of words, or even a bad customer service manner with Langdon. He definitely has his own way. But I have read a lot of the early hot roding of inlines. He was definitely in the mix. I will, if I can reach him, find out what I can, but being the holiday he is probably traveling to a show to sell his wares. What is really frustrating now, is I cannot find the original damaged plug. This one burnt looks very much like the first in the pictures. But I cannot fathom making that big of blunder and put it back in. I would like to think I am smarter than that, seriously. As for plugs 5 & 6, 5 looks more like the other four now. I have about 200 miles since i reinstalled the plugs. And really looking at these plugs, they are black, they never were coated with grime or excess carbon like the samples show on the plug web sites. And look for that other dammed plug. I guess it's very hard to compare to pictures. Greg, I did swap them out, and after I would guess 200 miles or so to recheck they would come back the same, and the originally black ones would look ashen like the rest. I have not done the propane test as yet, that is a option. Marty, I realize the back two plugs share the same intake port. But I am reluctant to start taking things apart that have run well for over 10,000 miles at the least. I want to try a bit of logic first, and look at external items first. Although, my logic could be shot if I really did reinstall the damaged plug. So I am back to the original problem of why the electrode burnt up.

I'll see what I can do.

That's a dry compression number. Was getting 10 lbs more with the finned head, but it had been surfaced once. I am running Langdon's HEI distributor. He gaps calls for 60-80. I have tried anywhere from 40-80, with same results. I'm going to start with lowering the gaps to 40, and put the two 308's in 5 and 6 hole, and see whats up after a few drives. All the information I get on the plug web sites is my two rear plugs are they are running rich. Either get a hotter plug, or adjust the carb. Being this is 2 X 2 set up, also from Langdon, and the intakes is not cylinder specific, I would think if the carb is rich it would show on other plugs. This weekend I will check the carb out, even swap it maybe, but I bet it won't change the outcome. I have already set the advance back to 4 a few days ago. The pictures may not show it real well, but plugs 1 through 4 are actually very equal, and actually healthy. 5-6 show carbon build up.

This is my current engine set up. To me, the first four plugs look pretty much the same. I will check for leaks though, I will have more time over the holiday to look. Plus I am still tweaking the friggen fuel level sender to get accuate.

You might be right Tom. But I just picked up these two autolites. Will try them first, plus make sure my choke is shutting down correctly, but I think that part is ok.

Also,,, runing a offy dual carb intake, I would assume it would be uniform throughout the chambers. K&N air filters, due for cleaning, will add to my list too. Compression is 5=150, 6=155

Yes, I have balance carbs, I use the unisom (sp) with plumbing fittings to get a good fit over the carbs. The plug that had the bad tip was out of a different cylinder, these two black ones are 5 and 6. I am running auto lite 306s, The auto lite site says I either need to go to a hotter plug, 308, or my choke could be out of adjustment. But I still feel I would see something close to similar out of the fourth plug if the carb was acting up. Anyway, I have two 308 plugs coming tomorrow, will run them local a few days and see what I find. Interesting read about spark plugs. There is lots of info on the different manufacturer's site.