martybose

Oh, it can indeed. My first car was an old Volvo, and unbeknownst to me, the last owner used non-detergent oil. I immediately changed the oil for some fresh detergent oil, and within 3 days the oil pressure dropped due to a clogged filter (no bypass). For about a month I had to change the filter every 3-5 days and top off the oil, until enough of the crud had been captured and disposed of. Marty

Okay, here's what I did. I took a a scrap piece of aluminum, bored the center hole a couple of thousandths bigger than the OD of the distributor, cut the OD to leave enough depth for the threads of a couple of setscrews at 90 degrees from each other. A word to the wise: the OD should be about the diameter of the adjustor arm mentioned below (Didn't think of that until I was done!) Then I took the adjuster off of one of my extra distributors that I have and cut off the section that had bolted to the distributor housing, leaving just the arm that bolted to the block. I figured out what angle I wanted the arm at, then drilled a small hole through both the adjuster and the aluminum piece, then drove in a split pin to anchor the two pieces togeter. (You can just see the hole in the second picture on the left side where I pulled the O-ring down a bit. With the O-ring installed I locked the setscrews when I had the endplay that I wanted, then can adjust timing by loosening the block bolt just like an OEM distributor. Sorry about the large pictures, but it was kind of hard to see the detail on black painted parts! Marty

Blueskies, When I had my engine running I had no movement at all in my Langdon HEI. Marty

Isn't it generally true that you want to match the 4 vs 8 bolt flywheel with the crank, and keep them together? Marty

I didn't like the fact the the only way to change the timing with the Langdon bracket was to loosen it, which would lose the height adjustment, so I made up something to separate the two adjustments. Not to mention that the bracket I received wouldn't tighten down on the distributor shaft anyway! Pictures to follow! Marty

That was me. No pictures right now, but the distributor is out of the engine, so I'll take one tonight and post it. Marty

A lot of people don't believe it, but there actually is a difference in additive packages in different brands of gasoline. I've always used Chevron, and felt very vindicated when they were the only gasoline that didn't have to be reformulated to meet the newest European gasoline standard, which was all about having sufficient detergents to keep fuel injectors clean. If it will keep my commute car's injectors clean, should be pretty good in my Carter-Webers as well! The El Cheapo stuff will burn as well as Chevron, but they will be buying injector cleanings before I ever consider it. Marty

Everything worked except the gas gauge. I checked the sender, seemed bad, so had it rebuilt. No joy. Replaced the wiring harness, still didn't work. Replaced the gauge, STILL didn't work. Replaced the gas tank, changed to an aftermarket sender and gauge using original wiring, works fine. So the OEM gas gauge remains my one real failure! Marty

When I was debugging my HEI issues, it turned out that I had too much centrifugal advance, which was causing pinging under high load going up hills and was heating up at low load highway cruising speeds. At lower speeds the performance was excellent. I temporarily disabled the centrifugal advance, and the problems went away. I'll eventually work on reducing and delaying the centrifugal advance to see if I can make a compromise solution. Marty

The only thing that I can think of that might blow up an Optima would be massive overcharging, causing it to outgas. I would check the voltage at the battery when the engine is running, should be in the 14-15V range. If it is higher than that, it could be a problem with the regulator. Is it external, or are you using a one-wire alternator? Marty

I buy most of my stainless hardware from Totally Stainless. No web site, phone (717) 677-8811. They list Jackson #8x3/4" at $0.16 each, and list lengths from 1/2" to 2". Marty

My car, with 215/60-15 front tires is 10.5" to the bottom of the bumper. It used to be a little lower, but I was scraping speedbumps with the front crossmember, so I added a 1/4" spacer to my front springs to bring it up a little. The front springs are original, so they may have sagged a little over time. Marty PS Come to think of it, my car might be a little lower than that, since at the moment the entire cooling system, the head, the intake system and the alternator are all removed.

I'd say the best thing is patience! I polished mine on the car by hand using Mother's billet polish, other folks remove the trim and polish them using polishing wheels. Marty

If you're thinking about upgrading to disk brakes, the best way to lower that much is by using Fatman dropped spindles. I'm running 215/60-15 tires with stock springs and dropped spindles, and I'm happy with the result. Look in my profile for a picture. Marty

Interesting; both of you guys put your So-Cal swans farther forward than I did on my car. I used existing holes in my door, then had to turn the mirrors inward to see them. Next time I have the doors apart I may have to think about moving them! I'm getting a little rust on mine too; disappointing considering the price. Marty

Unfortunately I don't remember where I saw the ad, but someone is making a modern day flamethrower kit that uses propane as the fuel source so you don't have to mess with the carb. Marty

Norm,I am curious about two things. 1. Where is the switch located that I'm assuming you must have pushed to disengage the OD when going from 2nd OD to 3rd direct? 2. Does your tranny have the standard or the "high speed" second gear? Marty

I checked my 47 when I got home, and got exactly the same results. I was surprised; I had always assumed that the same alloy was used for the grill and the side trim. You learn something new every day! Marty

Interesting; I thought that the side trim was stainless just like the grill. I'll check mine when I get home tonight. Marty

Great news, I hope that Tony Urwin's test fit works as well, as that's the one that I placed on order with Todd last week! Marty

Hey, if they said that they would guarantee that the extra taxes would go straight to fixing our roads, I'd happily spend more for gasoline! Marty

My P15 has well-adjusted stock brakes on it now, but I plan to install front disks by the time I get it running again. I'm too used to my commute car (a Honda with upgraded 4 wheel disk brakes), so that even though I leave a lot of extra space when driving the 47, I've still had some moments when I was trying to put my foot through the floor trying to get the old girl to stop! Marty

Did you close off the bottom of the oil filler cap? If not, you just introduced a rather large air leak into your intake manifold. Marty

This thread has me curious. When I get my engine back together I'll have to jury rig a vacuum gauge and find out if a hopped up flathead exhibits the same dropping off of vacuum at highway speeds. Mr first thought is that it won't, since it is making more horsepower at a given speed, but who knows? Marty

Actually it shows that from 25-50 MPH you have maximum vaccuum advance, then from 50 MPH on up it slowly decreases until you no longer have any vaccuum advance at 75 MPH. Marty