EA81 Overhaul thread

Post by **TOONGA** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 7:24 pm

while those compression readings are a little low don't panic. Did you adjust the rocker gear or was it done by the people who put the heads on?

Im pretty sure you are a seasoned professional at it now

other things to check; the dizzy cap, the rotor button, the leads, the coil, needle and seat? and even the fuel filters.

I can see you shaking your head

TOONGA

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 9:32 pm

The engine place did the clearances, on first startup there was absolutely no noise, I mean zero (frightening how quiet it was

) but after a few warmup/cooldowns there's one or two starting to tap which is no surprise really.

Dizzy cap, leads, plugs and fuel filter are brand new. Coil isn't new but not that old. Also again with the carb kit I got, the new needle and seat weren't the same as the old ones and did not fit. The old ones looked in great shape though. Way back at easter when I did the carb, I changed the float level because it seemed out by about 5mm or more compared to specs. But if I did wrong there why would it show up now and not before? (don't have to answer that one

)

This is so annoying, how could any of that just give up during the time I was swapping engines? I'm not shaking my head, I'm in a constant state of

and

All the while the rego is wasting away...why did I even bother registering it?

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:47 pm

Silverbullet wrote:This is so annoying, how could any of that just give up during the time I was swapping engines?

The carb and manifold may have taken a knock when being swapped over - something could have been damaged here.

Or you inlet gaskets are leaking air - with the engine running spray some WD40 or the like around the intake gasket areas to see if there's a leak, the WD40 will be sucked into the gap in the gasket, you should be able to see it happen if there's a leak.

Cheers

Bennie

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 7:54 am

was throttle held full open during comp tests - sometimes that has a different result

Post by **TOONGA** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 9:15 am

did you do a visual check of the inside of the cap or the rotor button?

test the leads for resistance? or arcing out on the engine?

test the plugs for cracks?

as bennie said if the carby was bumped or even on its side it could put the float out of whack. after all the tongue for the float is a .5 mm bit of brass that bends very easily.

did you put a plastic bag over the carby to stop the petrol from drying out while the mainfold was off the engine?

TOONGA

sven '2' · Post by **sven '2'** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 10:03 am

Silverbullet wrote:Well I've got the replacement back. Sent it to API engines (Rising sun) and apparently Steve hasn't worked there for about 4 years

Who said API? - Steve is indeed at Rising Sun, behind HJs on the Grand Junction Road / Main North Road intersection.

Big white building with a red rising sun on it. Can't miss it.

If you find yourself in strife, drop in. He knows Subawreck Paul well, and I'm sure that between the 2 of them, they can sort you out (if you need it).

Give you one thing, you are truly dedicated to this car. Is impressive!

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 2:54 pm

I thought the "Steve hasn't worked there for a few years" did not gel.
Steve is Rising Sun. Was not a worker as that reply sounded.
I bought a sway bar off him two years ago

Sounds like Sam walked into the wrong place under some stress at the time

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 5:23 pm

sven '2' wrote:Who said API? - Steve is indeed at Rising Sun, behind HJs on the Grand Junction Road / Main North Road intersection.

Big white building with a red rising sun on it. Can't miss it.

If you find yourself in strife, drop in. He knows Subawreck Paul well, and I'm sure that between the 2 of them, they can sort you out (if you need it).

Give you one thing, you are truly dedicated to this car. Is impressive!

LOL!

Well then there is 2 or 3 Rising sun's in this city

When I looked in yellow pages and googled it, this one off O'sullivan beach rd came up. Called Rising sun Imports and API engines, one and the same

Is there 2 branches of the same business?

Ages back sven you said Steve was right around the corner from me, I live on the south side of the city so I thought you meant this one!

Oh well, it's done now. Any way I couldn't go to the other side of Adelaide every week, it's just too far (too much fuel as well

)
Stress...sure I'll put it down to that

Anyway back to the trouble at hand; Jonno I didn't hold the throttle open during the test.
Toonga, all those things you've asked, they are so basic but no I haven't checked them. I guess I was assuming because they're all new they would be ok, I will check. The rotor button isn't new, when I look at it what am I looking for? wear of some sort?

I had to tip the manifold over a bit to clean the gasket surfaces underneath, perhaps I bumped something out of whack then. It didn't get a hard knock though as far as I know. I will also check the float level again, and I didn't put a bag over the carb to stop petrol drying out, should I have?

One thing I've been aware of and a bit worried about; the idle solenoid thingy on the front of the carb, it has a wire poking out that goes to the engine wiring harness. Where it meets the solenoid it's been bent over quite a few times, was only hanging by a few strands of copper before I coated it in wax to hold it all solid. If this was broken would it affect the running under load?

Anyway, all this tomorrow; too tired today after singlehandedly ripping up a 30 year old apricot tree with a pick axe and shovel for my brother

sven '2' · Post by **sven '2'** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 6:14 pm

No Problem

I had incorrectly deduced you lived in the north.

All the best with it!

(PS If you want to earn some $$$ for your EA81 have a 'small' tree that needs digging up!)

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 7:23 pm

sounds like a rag somewhere doesn't it ?

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 7:25 pm

linky to our steve

showthread.php?t=4837&highlight=steve_rising_sun

littlewhiteute · Post by **littlewhiteute** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 7:33 pm

I would check and adjust the valve clearances again.

Then I would do a compression test with the throttle wide open.

A cold test and a hot test, hopefully you don't need to do a wet test.

The throttle has to be wide open.

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 8:48 pm

steptoe wrote:sounds like a rag somewhere doesn't it ?

I can answer that with a resounding NO!

Definitely took it out this time when I put the carb back on the other day. And I used paper towel this time so if I did forget it maybe wouldn't be as bad. But I didn't forget

Thanks for the link to that thread, sad the pictures have expired I'd love to see that!

sven, most people incorrectly deduce that I live on the north side

Might be easier if I did, most everything useful is on that side of town

littlewhiteute, will do tomorrow along with checking plugs, leads, rotor, cap etc. I really hope it's none of that, I'm sick of buying plugs and leads

But this problem is remarkably like one of the probs I had when I put the rebuilt motor back in, if not identical. But back then the timing was a mile out, once I'd put that right it ran beautifully...not this time

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 9:31 pm

26 pages , must be about time someone constructed an encouragement award for Sam , before he gets cranky and old before his time.

Is it just a gutless thing to drive or feel like something is holding it back?

Post by **TOONGA** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 10:33 pm

Silverbullet wrote: One thing I've been aware of and a bit worried about; the idle solenoid thingy on the front of the carb, it has a wire poking out that goes to the engine wiring harness. Where it meets the solenoid it's been bent over quite a few times, was only hanging by a few strands of copper before I coated it in wax to hold it all solid. If this was broken would it affect the running under load?

Yes it will shut the petrol off and the engine will stop.

If it has an intermittent connection it will open and shut the solenoid, so under load when more fuel is being used the solenoid will be starving the carby.

look for cracks or burn /arc marks on the rotor button and the dizzy cap check the carbon button in the centre as well.

TOONGA

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 11:19 pm

steptoe wrote:26 pages , must be about time someone constructed an encouragement award for Sam , before he gets cranky and old before his time.

Is it just a gutless thing to drive or feel like something is holding it back?

Just gutless, and it sounds wrong as well. I'll make a video of it tomorrow maybe.
Afraid I might be cranky and old on the inside already...although I haven't thrown a spanner at anything yet so maybe not

Toonga the engine hasn't stalled or stopped since I replaced that plunger, so the solenoid must still have some connectivity. It looks like a special and tricky thing to replace as well

littlewhiteute · Post by **littlewhiteute** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:44 am

The solenoid is only for the idle circuit, the engine would run normally at 2000 rpm plus, if the solenoid was faulty or disconnected.

It shuts off the idle circuit at key off, so the engine doesn't run-on.

Is the valve timing and ignition timing correct?

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 8:49 am

He is going to be a hapy fella when this is sorted without any further cash spent on it,maybe new coil (straw clutching)

You have hit the 5000 views mark with this anyway - surely that in itself is worth a personal visit from Outback Bruce to sort you out

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:17 pm

Dear god what a day I've had, pretty much well and truly fed up for this week...

First of all I checked for air leaks; there is one tiny one on the vac advance line into the carb but that's always been there and never caused much trouble.
Checked the dizzy cap and rotor, they're fine. I can't test the leads resistance I don't have the tool to do it.
Then I checked the valve clearances, and if the manual is to be believed they were way too tight. I did the 1&3 side and went over to the other side took the cover off and what do I see but pure white sludge coating the inside of the cover

:evil::evil: A thick coating all the way up the PCV hose and water at the valve...but not green water just clear

Please please please tell me this could be because when the old heads got ripped off a little bit of coolant went into the sump and that's what has caused the white. I did empty the sump before I put the new oil in but it never all drains out. There is no sludge inside the oil cap.

Sufficiently depressed at the sludge I moved on, changed all the valves to specs and did a compression test, cold, throttle wide open; every cylinder is in the 160 psi range so that's good.

Put it all back and started it up and it was nice and quiet and great for all of about 5 seconds then the symphony of tapping fired up, sounds like almost every valve. From now on, I'm crossing those clearances out of the book, they are dead wrong. For this engine anyway...

Tried to drive it but still have the gutless problem. I turned the engine off to get the camera for a video clip of a short drive and when I came back it wouldn't start, dead as a doornail

Pulled the choke chamber off to check the float level, it was about 25mm...supposed to be 10mm apparently

Adjusted that back, put it back tried to start it: nothing, absolutely no fire, this is when I was throwing things around (for once)
Pulled it apart again, double checked the float, decided to see if the new needle and seat would fit and they did, put those in, put it back together and after nearly killing the battery from cranking it it spluttered into life. Changing the float must have thrown the idle speed adjustments out of whack because it wouldn't idle.

This is getting really long...I'll just say I got it going again after playing with the idle screws, it was belching smoke from richness (like before I rebuilt the carb) fiddled some more and it was running ok a minute ago. Who knows what will happen tomorrow.

I couldn't drive it to test because by that point mum had blocked me into the driveway and taken her car key for a walk with the dog

I'm getting so sick of this, it's not often my patience is worn this thin

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 6:56 pm

White crud fondly known by mechanics as buttermilk.Mixture of water or coolant and oil mixed under pressure and heat. proves oil and water do mix. Recall mine, the welch plug corroded away to leak water into the sump.Nncoolg thought of the welch plug for me while cruising Coles one day. Takes twelve years to forget them

Or if that carby gasket allowed water into combustion and got into oil as steam passing rings???

Tight valves can give a miss as a symptom or if just right condition lower comp ratio and steal power