(Happy Birthday, Dad)

"It may be that your purpose in life is to serve as an example to others."

Last night we went out to the barn and tried to tackle my no-start problem. The car cranks great, but absolutely, positively will not fire. We are getting spark and fuel; every now and then we get a strong puff of air and fuel backward out of the primaries. Something is definitely wrong here.

The first step was to go through and re-cold adjust the lifters again. When we tried to cold adjust them the first time, and to our inexperienced hands and eyes, it just seemed like they were too tight. This time, we decided that we would set them cold first at 1/4 turn past what appeared to be zero lash per Ken Hand's method, and then set them for good with the car running. Knowing this, we left the mufflers hanging below the car.

While playing with the exhaust, we installed the correct packings, which I picked up on the way home from work.

We buttoned the valve covers up, and cranked the motor. Same thing. Not even the barest hint of a spark.

The gas tank was filled in April, but accepting the possibility of bad gas, we shot some starter fluid in there. Nada.

The next thing to check was the installation of the distributor. Gotta be something there, we're getting spark and gas, so it must just be that they aren't there together at the right time. So I open the shop manual to the instructions for installing the distributor, "Engine Disturbed," (kinda like I'm getting by this point) and start from the beginning. I flip to the 140 section and look at the picture of the inside of the head. Yep, that big valve must be the exhaust valve, and that little one must be the intake, the second one over.

So we go over and I pull the engine through while Jeff watches the valves, and when the intake valve closes, I bring the timing mark to zero, check the position of the distributor, and everything is as it should be. Hmmm. Crank the car, nothing. Loosen the distributor, and move and try it in more advanced, retarded positions. Nothing. We watch the valves open and close, and can't figure out why the exhaust valve opens immediately after the intake valve. That just doesn't seem to be natural, but there it is. Something is not adding up.

In the meantime, I keep having this debate about lifter adjustment. Larry Shapiro insists I should do it with the motor running, as does the Clark's catalog, my first technical resource. Smitty and Bill Hubbell think me a fool because I won't do it cold (I'm sure that's not the only reason), and Ken Hand absolutely insists that cold adjustment is best. Cold adjustment appeals to me because I don't want to deal with the noise and oil spraying all over the place, but I can't dismiss the collective experience of the "adjust running" crowd has to say. As the baby of the family, birth order requires that I try to please everyone, so I settle on a course of doing both. Or not.

Getting back to my static Corvair display in the garage, by midnight, Jeff and I are running out of ideas. He decides to take the dogs and get some smokes. I head for the house to read the shop manual some more. As I am paging through, I see a picture of a 95hp head, with "EX" or "IN" typed below each valve. The intake valve is bigger than the....

Oops.

Might be that I have installed the distributor to fire right after the exhaust valve closes, at the beginning of the intake stroke. Not likely to get a lot of power out of that set-up.

Yesterday was rainy, cold and miserable, but today, the sun is shining outside my window. Tonight, I am going out there, I'm gonna reinstall the distributor (correctly this time), hook up the strut rods, lube those u-joints, put my car on the ground, and take her for a drive. Yeah.

Soooo...

Will our hero get the car to run?!

Will he adjust the valves cold?!

Will he get to meet up with the Western Michigan Corvair Club guys in Hastings for the color tour?!

Will his wife ever speak to him again?!

Will Jeff get tired of this crap?!

Who will the winner of the Celebrity Pool be?!

Find out Monday in the exciting conclusion of LEGENDS OF THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT!!!

Back to Index.

Back to Part 19.

On to Conclusion.

All images and text copyright Norman C. Witte 2002.