so thats what all the Mod tentage is for that you've been buying.

Cool HUP
 

Whew! Finally some time to myself. This work thing really interferes with the hobby. Now that things have calmed down at the office, I can finally post some more pics of the last HUP recovery.

First, a big thank you to Bob for making his truck and trailer available for the early morning run to Mount Royal. Second, gratitude to Grant for lending his considerable energy and assistance in this recovery. Next, a big thank you to the Sûreté du Québec for staying off the roads during the snowstorm...My biggest fear was that we were going to get the unwanted attention of the local constabulary. Luck was with us and we made it back to Ontario unmolested.

At Prefair, our buddy Jacques fired up the pay loader and gently placed the C60 frame aboard the trailer. After some adjusting (smashing down the rear cab panel - which was toast anyway), Jacques loaded the HUP onto the top of the C60. With the front two wheels resting on the cab floor and the back two wheels straddling the frame, the HUP settled in nicely.

Bob, Grant and I knitted the two trucks together with chains galore. Then we bear-trapped the load and invented a new game. Who can slacken each other’s bear trap. This involved placing the initial bear traps on the right side and then doing the same on the left side. The process of tightening the chains on one side made the chains slack on the other side and so on…After making sure everything was secure, we wired the handles of the bear traps to the chains and took a spin to check if anything moved improperly. I think we have learned some good lessons from past recoveries because things went very smoothly indeed. By this time the store had opened, so we took advantage of the situation and did some green shopping. I’m surprised that Grand did not buy the million candle power spot lamp, but I wasn’t surprised that Bob bought some old wooden boxes…

Eventually, we hit the road for the city. It was snowing somewhat lighter by this point, but the roads were quite slippery. The closer we got to Ontario, the better the conditions got. However, once in Ontario Lady Luck dealt us a small but significant blow. The windshield wiper fluid couldn't reach the windshield. So we pulled into the metropolis of Casselman to troubleshoot the problem and to clean the windshield. Get this, not one, but both of the windshield washer nozzles on Bob's truck had broken at the under hood connection. Luckily, we found a local Ford dealer who set us up with replacement parts (another story there). Meanwhile, the locals gazed with great curiosity at what appeared to be two procreating CMPs on a trailer. One fellow stopped by to ask "What the hell is "that" thing?" After politely educating him, he drove off muttering something that sounded like "silly tuckers" or something like that...

Now, back at the barn, Bob invited his neighbour Dave to stop by with his front end loader. The HUP was too high off the ground for Bob’s tractor to handle, so we decided to go with two machines. With the loader up front, and the tractor at the rear, the HUP was chained up. Dave, being new to the world of old trucks was very “enthusiastic” in his first lift. The quick pick up caused one of the chains on the rear to lose purchase and the HUP decided to show its displeasure by rotating left onto its side. Fortunately, it was only a few inches off the ground when it decided to spin…Removing the C60 was a breeze. After thanking Dave and sending him on his way, we dragged both vehicles to the wagon lines behind the barn. The rest of the day was spent cleaning up and putting the gear away.

This was another good recovery in that we brought home more CMPs and we did it safely. Again, thanks to the Hammond Barn Boys for their help in giving a HUP a new home. Here’s to the next mission!

Photos:
1 - Bob's mobile CMP recovery shop
2 - A close up of the chaining process
3 - Bob inspecting the work
4 - Casselman's first and only CMP parade
5 - The snow melted off the trucks - just ignore the blue oval in the background...

More Shots
 

Photos:
1. Safely (for the moment) back at the barn - Bob providing some scale for the trailer load. This was not our tallest load. The Caldwell haul and the Huntsville haul were higher.
2. The HUP being introduced to the rest of the Hammond herd

Nice to see that, instead of rusting in isolation, it will now rust in good company. :cheers:

Rust?
 

Nae, Clive. That is not rust, but the fine patina developed by valuable metal... I have other delusions as well, but my doctor says not to talk about them in public...

. . . good camouflage and concealment from air assets in a winter setting . . . and a nice quiet herd even . . . :D

Hammond Herds
 

Mark,

We suffer constant attack by shit hawks and crows. The snow provides some protection from the bird guano, but the biggest threat is from the herd of cats that have developed the curious habit of using CMPs (Cat Mobile Potties?) to relieve themselves. Now, that odour keeps most civilized folks away from the trucks, but wouldn't deter anyone on an unauthorized shopping trip.

The CMP herd is due for a thinning out soon. I will have the orange Ford and a load of spare Ford parts, the C60 frame (stripped) and various other CMP parts for sale in the Spring. Got to make room for at least one more HUP...

Ssdd
 

On Saturday morning, it was sunny and -13oC at 7AM, with a stiff breeze dropping the wind chill to about -22oC. After stoking Lucifer's fire, snow was removed from in front of the barn doors -we only got about 2mm of snow which was whipped up by some strong winds the night before. Both of my shelters had the modular tent sections/tarps blown halfway off. After knitting them back onto the shelter frames, it was time for some more chores.

Bob's trusty trailer got swept clean and its tarp laid out in the sunshine for cleaning. Some time was spent tarping up the newest HUP and removing the ice and snow that collected on the roofs of the trucks and beds of trailers in the wagon lines. The cold weather made working outside a little uncomfortable, so we retired to the barn - yes, we are getting a little "soft" as we approach our dotage.

With Grant taking the day off from the barn, Bob busied himself with two very interesting chores; the first, sorting nuts and bolts into bins, which took most of the day to do, and then cleaning out the cat house...more on that chore later.

My time was spent making metal flanges for the "opera" window on the HUP. The long rectangular window is held in place by two long "L" shaped strips on the top and bottom, and two similar but shorter strips on the sides. I misplaced the side strips a few years ago and made replacements out of 18 ga metal. Once bent, I drilled holes, sandblasted the strips, acid treated and then painted them. Hanging by Lucifer dried the Tremclad paint in short order. After lunch I put them on the truck.

Following that it was time for "lip" service. The replacement lips for the large hatch on the HUP lines the hatch hole with the lips providing part of the seal with the hatch cover. As previously mentioned, these strips were spot welded together, will be cut to fit and welded onto the roof hatch of both the 45 and Prototype HUPs. To prepare for the installation, each of the six strips were cleaned up. This involved using a grinder and flap wheel to clean up the ridges caused by the spot welder and to take the sharp edges off each strip - this will prevent the hatch lips from cutting into the foam that fills the hatch cover corresponding channels. Once that was done, the strips were cleaned, acid treated and given their first coat of paint to keep them from rusting further. Later the strips will be MIG welded to the hatch opening.

The next chore was to replace the oil pressure line that accidentally melted to the exhaust manifold during my last visit. The new nylon tube was encased in copper tubing to make sure that it stayed out of pinch points and did not rest anywhere near the manifold. The ends of the tubing were capped with a couple of inches of rubber tubing to keep the nylon tube from chaffing or rubbing agains the ends of the copper tube. The copper tubing was then bent accordingly and the new fittings put in place. Next week I will secure the tubing and take some photos.

At the end of the day Bob decided he had enough fun playing with his nuts and bolts and decided to take on a less tedious challenge...the photos tell the "tail":


Photos:
1. Hatch Lips - pre-cleaning
2. Bob sorting bits and pieces (excuse the camera...it didn't like the cold)
3. Bob, a HR advisor is used to dealing with sh*t, so this chore was no problem
4. Cathouse "leftovers" - yes, he has a few feline friends...

Glad to see you are keeping busy
 

Hi to the Barn Crew

Sounds like and interesting day, loosing parts is always a pain, I generally find them later in the project after making replacements and then wonder why do I have these bits left over.

Talking about cats, we have a 18 lbs house cat who has been not keeping this part of the bargain about chasing critters out of the house, the proof of this was discovered the other morning when I went to put on my work boots only to find one of them filled with kitty kibble, I'd worn the boots the day before.

Keep up the spirit of spring should be here in about 4 months.

Cheers Phil

Wacky Winter Weather
 

I woke up this morning to the snow gently floating down and covering everything in a nice white coat. After shoveling the driveway, off to the barn I did go, just as the weather switched to rain from snow. This being a weekend, the roads do not get the attention they usually get. The rain came down harder as the temperature rose. This made the roads very slippery and full of slush. It took an extra 15 minutes to get to the barn.

The first order of business was to rid the shelters of their now very heavy snow load. It is interesting just how much weight the rain added to the snow. The shelters seem to "inhale" as the snow/slush is removed. Bob took care of the shelters near the barn, while I cleaned those on the side of the barn, and of course Clive's shelter, which always seems to suffer the most.

After removing the slush in front of the barn doors, Bob and I (Grant was AWOL) jumped into his truck for quick visit to Embrun (a little town close by) to look at a CMP that was converted into a front end loader/welding support truck. Neither Bob or I brought a camera - the photos would have been rain spotted anyway. After chatting with the owner for a while, we learned that there were a few CMP wrecks in the bush just north of Ottawa. We will see where that lead takes us. After a quick coffee at the local Tim Horton's, we headed to Greely to visit our friend Bill Clairmont.

Bill owns the yellow CMP based snow plow previously shown on MLU. The reason for our visit was to discuss some custom work Bill is doing for one of the Rotters, and to pump him for more info on CMP wrecks in the region. Next weekend, we will be kidnapping Bill and heading south west to look at a CMP with a winch on it.

After Bill got tired of us, we headed back to the barn to do some administrative chores. Neither of us felt like taking on any more projects for the day, so Bob headed home to take care of his "honey-do" list, and I headed back to Ottawa. The rain was still teeming down and the roads were just a little more dangerous than usual. The freeze thaw cycle really affects the roads here. They tend to bend, buckle, break, crumble, heave, dip and split open. On some roads you spend as much time going up and down as you do going forward.

Could be worse...

Dear members of the Hammond Barn,

I read your exploits of relics from the WW2 era with great interest. Obviously as I am a post war British vehicle enthusiast, and an import to these shores I have missed a few basic details that I could use explaining.

1 Why do you embark on vehicle recoveries in winter, is it a future demonstration Olympic sport?

2 The "breading" program you descibe, with row upon row of relics, does it have some majic formula for "cross pollenation" whereby a 60CWT is possible from a lesser original "breading" stock?

3 Is your property visible on Google Earth?

4 How many variants comprises a "full set"?


I apologise for the phillistine like questions, please see intro again!

Robin

Good times
 

Thanks to Mr Clarke, Carriere and Bowker for the photo's and updates of Blitz adventures at the Hammond Shed...makes for an entertaining evening instead of watching rubbish on the Tele.

Keep up the laugh's and pictures fellah's, just getting back into my beast for a bit of tune up before Corowa.

No doubt you blokes have booked your flights and we'll see you next week for a barbie and beer or three....our shout.

Response to ??????
 

I read your exploits of relics from the WW2 era with great interest. Obviously as I am a post war British vehicle enthusiast, .....we won't hold that against you....and an import to these shores I have missed a few basic details that I could use explaining.

1 Why do you embark on vehicle recoveries in winter, is it a future demonstration Olympic sport.....Yes it is..... but you will never beat us Canucks at it...haha

2 The "breading" program you descibe, with row upon row of relics, does it have some majic formula for "cross pollenation" whereby a 60CWT is possible from a lesser original "breading" stock?.....We have NO lesser stock..... based on rare DNA we are trying to raise the elusive Cab 13 with the Dodge engine

3 Is your property visible on Google Earth? ......Actually the whole property is covered with aluminum foil to prevent satellite viewing..

4 How many variants comprises a "full set"?.....No "variants" just vagrants CMP, DODGES, etc......

The Gang


I apologise for the phillistine like questions, please see intro again!

Who is "Phillistine" ........ any pictures of the lady????

To view the foil covered property 45 25 53.89N 75 15 16.57W should get you close. :sheep:

Bob,

Looks like you should change the aluminum foil for aluminium foil for better anti satellite coverage :fry:

R

Google Earth Search CMP HERE
 

Don't know about aluminum foil, but I did google earth search on CMP HERE and got this image.

Cheers Phil

Too Early for Robins?
 

1 Why do you embark on vehicle recoveries in winter, is it a future demonstration Olympic sport? No, but there are fewer mosquitoes and it involves less sweating

2 The "breading" program you descibe, with row upon row of relics, does it have some magic formula for "cross pollenation" whereby a 60CWT is possible from a lesser original "breading" stock? Not sure where you are going with this question...never mind, don't elaborate

3 Is your property visible on Google Earth? Normally on planet Earth

4 How many variants comprises a "full set"? 42C

I apologise for the phillistine like questions, please see intro again! Nope. Still no help

Robin, We are delighted that you peer in on us and show some interest in our madcap exploits. Will you be joining us for the BBQ in June?

Foiled
 

Phil, If we have our way, Hammond will become the center of the CMP universe...By the way, we have leads on four more CMPs. Stay tuned Googlers!

Dear Gents of the barn,

you have been "playing" in winter with military vehicles, we have been working with ours.

Here is a picture of our BV206 working last week in Quebec where we also work. This is our winter access vehicle to the site.

Just thought you might like to see it, sorry its not the greatest quality picture.

Look forward to June BBQ if we are not making hay that day.

R

Worldwide CMP Networking
 

Tony, We are glad that we have some fans downunder. One of these days, we may take you up on your invite to share a beer or two (and to take in some of Australia's charms). We are looking forward to more postings from you and your mates.

I "almost" made the trek a few years ago, but fate had other plans (AKA the Prototype HUP). It was a tough decision, but the HUP won. I'm sure most CMP types would understand...alas, my wife still shakes her head over that one.

In the meanwhile, don't forget to tune into Phil Waterman's excellent New Hampshire Barn Thread. We consider Phil to be one of the Hammond Crew and always look forward to his contributions to the CMP body of knowledge.

Cheers!

Very close Robert....
 

..... considering you are looking over your shoulder from down under rather impressive.

I gave in and downloaded the Google Earth download and had fun looking at the neighbourhood.....but could not find the Nudist Colony.....

If any one knows how to download the map files so I can had some ID tags for certain features I would welcome the input.

Based on the cross hair in Robert's coordinates my house is a few hundred yards North...... North side of my property was once a RR line now a bicycle path. Phil identified the many silver color Winter canvass garage that we use for storage from the elements.

Now East of the cross hair is an open field.... that's the BBQ field and if you look near the tree line you will see some CMPs....some future dreams parked there.

Immediately above that large field.... and East of the silver shelter and the barn is a smaller field.... the field of dreams..... neatly parked are some Dodges M43 and various CMP complete or parts trucks.

Now that info is already 4 years out of date and the population copulation has increased some what...... plus 3 more canvass shelters and a sea container..... pictures were probably taken in late Spring before the trees had there leaves...... early May perhaps...?

In one of the pictures I looked at you can See Grant's white Ford and Rob's grey car parked in front of the shelters..... which usually signifies that we are doing something messy with paint guns or sandblasters and they parked away from the front door of the barn......

All can say is thank God for the high trees and understanding neigbours.

Next time we are on the barn roof for repairs maybe will scribble CMP on it for good measure.....

Bob

So Far Only CMPs identified from space
 

Hi Bob

The Hammond Barn is the only location that I have seen so far where the individual vehicles or silver shelters are distinguishable on Google. Your area is one of the higher resolution areas they show, many other known locations are still cloaked in low resolution screen to prevent detection. My place you can pick out buildings, while my brothers place 10 miles away you can identify individual cars. Also your image was taken at a different time of year looks like early spring with no snow but fewer leaves.


Cheers Phil

Hi Bob
 

I was guessing the cleared field to the west of my cross hairs was the one made famous on MLU. I started with your address from white pages on line.
So the correct target for the barn should be 45 43 26.94 N 75 25 60.37 W.
:cheers:

Waiting for the next satellite pass....
 

HI Robert

Those satellite pictures are from the Fall of 2008..... closer examination shows late Fall with some re maples still olding their leaves and the unmistakable yellow beech leaves which can stay on til Winter.

We have now added 4 more Winter shelters and one sea container plus the collection of CMP parts trucks/trailers has almost doubled.

Too bad we cannot get the military "Hi Resolution" pictures.... htere is an agreement between Canada/USA not to release hi res pictures....they purposely "dumb" down the res to "one meter" resolution. Canada can't cheat because we rely on US antennas to recieve signals from our Canadian satellites.

I have seen pictures at work of a hand held GPS ( 5"x9" scientific model) laid on the ground over a 6 inch brass Bench Marker...... just outside Resolute up North were the air has no polutants...... and you can read the GPS coordinates on the screen.......

When the first set of pictures were received from the satellite... it showed a part of the Gulf of St Lawrence.... which is all Canadian territory....BUT... before it could be released for a press announcements.......Canada had to obtain permission from Washington.... who carefully scrutinize the picture before giving an OK......apparently ships..... even underwater can be easily seen and ID....... now what could possibly be inside Canadian territorial waters.....???

A particular feature of the Canadian satellite is the ability to see, with special electronic radar apperture, through clouds, dark Winter nights and various levels of soil. The mass graves hidden in Bosnia were readily identified because the disturbed soil....even when grass has grown over it... leaves a different signature.

Scary....!!!!

Gives a whole different spin to "Privacy".......

Bob

Strange Sightings
 

1506 hrs local time Wednesday 9 March 2011 - Seen on the Queensway (Hwy 416) at the Nicholas Street on-ramp in Ottawa, heading west - one 90mm AA gun sitting on the back of 40 foot trailer. Maybe one out of Prefair, or may be the one from in front of a Quebec Legion...unknown.

What is known is that most, if not all of the Prefair 90mm guns are heading west. Not sure what this means...could be the west is arming themselves for the big battle against Hydro Quebec (clean electricity vs. dirty western oil). Wonder if the west is recruiting?

Wet Saturday
 

The forecast called for +3oC on Saturday by noon. I will tell you that it was damp and cold Saturday morning until around 0800hrs. The drive down the lane way to the barn was a lot of fun. The road was glare ice so one had to tread carefully. After making the turn to the barn, I gently applied the brakes, but the car kept sliding on a collision course with one of Bob's shelters. Fortunately, the car came to a stop with the passenger side resting next to the shelter. An exciting start to the day...

As mentioned, it was still quite chilly outside, so Lucifer was pressed into to service to take the edge off. After a few administrative chores in the barn, a quick tour of the HUP shelter was in order. The weather this past week was quite warm with more than a few rain showers. This reduced the snow pack nicely, but also caused a lot of melt water. The melt water from the front of the barn usually follows a small trench that flows past the front of the HUP shelter, down the left side and into the gully. Unfortunately, the trench froze over and the melt water made its way into the shelter forming a nice coating of ice on the floor. I got a great view of the ice sheet after falling on my ass when I ventured inside the shelter…

Since the HUP engine was still acting up and the cause(s) were not yet known, I winched her out of her shelter into the now warm and sunny barnyard. By this time, the ice in the yard that was exposed to the sun had a nice coating of water over it making it more of a hazard than before. After playing “cow on ice” I finally got the HUP out of the shelter. Next was removing the tarp on the floor – which was coated with up to an inch and a half of ice. As this was going on, a truck approached.

Guy Vapeur arrived after a considerable absence from the barn. He must have seen his shadow as he headed back for home after a very brief visit…looks like six more weeks of shitty weather. Bob arrived shortly after Guy’s departure. After helping me free the tarp from the ice, we laid it in the open to dry off. Then we walked to the creek to see how much work would be involved in clearing the ice which was blocking the flow of water. Bob had dumped some salt on the ice earlier in the week and it must have worked. The water was flowing – one stream on top of the ice sheet and one below it…Bob was happy with the flow, so we cancelled the plans to remove the ice. Our attention then turned to removing the very wet snow from the trucks and trailers - Bob and Grant had already cleaned off the shelters earlier in the week. Grant arrived shortly thereafter.

While I headed to the vehicle park to clean off the trucks, Bob and Grant opened up the sea container and the small storage sheds to drive off the condensation that had built up over the past week. The field where the vehicle park is located was soaking wet under the snow and it took considerable effort to slog though what was now three feet of slush. After finishing the job I headed back to the barn to reinstall the tarp in my shelter and to change my clothing and boots. Bob was measuring his carburetor openings and put the final touches on a diagram for a part he wanted fabricated at a local machine shop.

By now, it was close to the noon hour, so we headed to Embrun to visit the machine shop to have a carburetor part fabricated. This is the same machine shop mentioned last week. This time we took pictures. While Grant and I looked over the hybrid CMP, Bob got his order in. After a quick lunch, we headed back to the barn. Bob decided to bring his CMP out of the sea container to shake off the condensation. While his truck idled away in the sun, we decided to take on the HUP.

The HUP took some time to effort to start up, but once running, she ran steadily. After 10 minutes of warming up, Bob checked the timing, and we adjusted it according to the shop manuals of the time. While there was some improvement in starting and running, the acceleration was still quite rough. Next was the balance test. We found a problem with number 2 and number 5 cylinders – the engine stalled out. Next was a compression test that showed that there was adequate compression in all six cylinders. After some head scratching, it was decided to swap out the spark plugs. Fortunately, Bob has a few (dozen) plugs laying about…This had a marvelous effect – the engine ran smoother at high revs than before! While still not perfect, it was a great improvement and morale was high. Doctor Bob then recommended that the plug wires be replaced (they came with the engine). It is hoped that this will fix the rough acceleration problem for good. Since the truck was running better, I took it for a short ride – into the shelter.

Bob then jumped on his truck and took it for a spin – literally and figuratively…The spring like conditions and riding a CMP put Bob into a wonderful mood – judging by the SEG welded to his face. After re-digging the overflow trench (which sort of reminded me of my army days), I had to head back to the city, happy in the knowledge that the HUP was running better - thanks to Bob and Grant for their help.


PHOTOS

1. Inside the HUP ice skating arena
2. Bob and his carbs
3. Chev CMP front end loader/welding tender
4. Bob in the box
5. First run of the New Year

Sounds like a busy time
 

Concerning the poor start and rough running the, improvement with a change in plugs along with the age of the spark leads, are interesting one of the ways I check for problems like this is to with the engine running, (no small task sometimes) take a spray bottle and mist the leads one at a time you should be able to hear the crack if you have a leak. This trick also seems to work if the plugs are firing down the outside of porcelain also.

But it sounds like you maybe on to the source of the problem or at least part of it.

Concerning moving stuff around on the ice you really need to get Bob to put the cable on the winch and get the scotches set-up the pulling ability of the truck sitting on the scotches is amazing. But them again you have the tractor with takes a lot less rigging that the winch.

Can't wait to see the spring progress photos of the HUP.

Cheers Phil

Cylinder balanced test....
 

HI Phil

I discovered that process in the 1958 GM shop manual for my Dad. It claims to give more information thanjust a compression test.

Anyways.... we first warmed up his 235 for about 20+ minutes..... I know it is not like a good road run by it had to do.

Did some adjustment on the timing.... newer 235 are recommended to be set at ) TDC but earlier manuals talk about 5 BTDC...... we went with the 5BTDC and seems to run better..... re adjusted the idle speed and mixture..... vacuum was a very steady 20/21 inches. After the adjsutment the engine did not b pop back through the carb anymore but still had a rough/out of balance feel...

Then I tried the balance test... it calls for setting the idle at 1500 rpm and grounding out 4 of the 6 cylinders in a particular paired order.

Goes like this.... firing is 153624 ...
......sliced in half 1 / 6 5 / 2 3 / 4 ...... first 3 numbers over last 3 numbers.

So at 1500 rpm I removed the sparkplug wires from 5 and 2 and 3 and 4 holding them between my fingers so they would not spark all over....th-th-that was f-f-f- fun.....

Well expectedly rpm dropped BUT engine kept running.

Did the same with 5 and 2 and the engine stalled out.

restarted the engine and did 3 and 4 and it ran OK.....

So the unbalanced cylinders were the 5 and 2....

Still not sure what to do with that "information" but it was obvious the 2 and 5 had something wrong.

We changed for new plugs..... engine started better and ran smoother with only a small hint of vibration.....

Lack of time prevented me to repeat the process with the new plugs. Rob was to pick up a new set of universal spark plug wires from the tractor shop for the next adventure.

When we removed the plugs we noticed most had a light black deposit as if too rich a mixture BUT since in the past we had to run the engine with some chole to keep running that partly explains it....... two plugs seemed to be wet or wetter..... can't remember which tonite. We did a compression test and got between 135 on the low side and lots of 145/150 .... which greatly relieved us.....

On the spray bottle approach..... I always verify sparks by sticking a screw driver in the wire cap and hold it bare hands.... very stimulating.... how deep you bite your tongue indicates the K voltage.

However, on my engine it's a different story... I installed the Pertronix with a 40k coil ...... which is border line painful.... in fact I have to refrain from pulling sparkplug wires, when running, even with leather gloves as the spark is strong enough to be felt ......

I understand Rob has jumped on a Pertronix system for his engine so we will be setting that up soon.

The Pertronix made a big difference on my engine.... ease of starting... no points to set and reset and then burn..... no need for a ballast resistor.

One caution on the Pertronix..... to run good you have to regap your plugs to 45 T or it will run rough.

Next opportunity we will redo the balance test with the new plugs and wires then repeat the process on my engine.

I will be redoing the valve adjustment on mine as I suspect the small intermittent popping in the exhaust is sign of a miss adjusted valve. It still runs very good and can idle at 450 / 475 easily.... but you the hear this faint clicking noise..... vacuum is good at 22 inches at 600 rpm. I had ti out of the box this past weekend....started first spin.... ran it for about 2 hours at 600 rpm to boil off any humidity it may have accumulated.

Well enough for now.... I have caught up with my need to replenish my MLU fix.......

At time like this I appreciate MLU running well......

Bob

Cylinder Balance test more observations and questions
 

Hi Bob

Interesting diagnostics, the pair test I’ve never done but will definitely have to try, I’m getting ready to do a test on the engine out of the HUP so I will have to try it. Though I may have to ask for more explanation of which pairs should be the running pairs, I think I understand.

Concerning disconnecting vs grounding particularly with your high voltage coil be careful of burning holes through the insulation on the new wire or carbon tracking the distributor cap or blowing the coil. I’ve played with this on test stand, (think I have video of the test). If you ground out a lead there is no problem but if a lead or more than one lead is off the spark potential goes way up. With a standard 6 volt coil it will jump ½ to 3/4 inch but at some point the spark potential doesn’t jump the gap and goes looking for an easier jump like down the insulation on the coil or through the wire insulation. My understanding is that once it starts jumping where it shouldn’t it doesn’t take long to create a permanent path for the spark. When I was running my bench test I had use a 1 inch thick block of oak to hold the adjustable spark gap at the point where the spark stopped jumping the gap it started flowing through the oak to the metal bench underneath which I was leaning against at the time. Then I put it on some ½ thick plastic.

Not sure I follow the logic of which cylinders are the strong ones and which are the weak or problems, it would seem to me that if you can run the engine on three pairs of two then all the cylinders are relatively the same. Conversely if it will not run on any of the pairs then all the cylinders are relatively weak (or there is a different issue). But if any one pair or two pair causes the engine to stall then that one or two pairs are the strong cylinders which are carrying the others.

“Did the same with 5 and 2 and the engine stalled out.” To me that the engine stopped when you had grounded out all but 5 and 2 would seem to say that they are the strong cylinders

One thing I think your test is showing is that there is something different between the cylinders. Now the 64 dollar thousand question what? Mouse sleeping under and intake valve.

If all of the cylinders are showing compression at cranking speed of 135 or better sort of says it is not a compression issue.

That your vacuum gauge indicates good vacuum I assume without any flicking of the needle, would seem to rule out a stuck intake valve or badly burned exhaust valve. Out of curiosity did have the vacuum gauge attached during the pairs test?

I’ve got a though about another possibility but want to try to figure out a test that doesn’t require taking the engine apart. Let me do some playing with the 216 on the test stand and see what I come up with.


Cheers Phil

More on the balance test,,
 

Hi Phil

My assumption is that the balance test pairs off two cylinders that are firing about 180 degrees apart.... if they are of equal strenght/power they can keep the engine turning...... if they do not support the engine on two cylinders one of the two is not powerful enough.... as in a faulty plug..... but which one..... we obviously need to do it again....

With the good compression readings it may have been just a bad plug or two bad ones.....

Now when we do it again..... following your advice and the instructions in the GM manual.... we will insert a insulated copper into the plug connection of four plugs centrally connected to a switch that is gorunde.... so when we swithc to ground only two will run and NO sparks will be flashing around.

I remember ready about sparking leaving a carbon trail and one done the parts are usually no good anymore. I may have to use an old spark plug wire set to devise a four lead grounding system that will not spark in our hands...particularly if working on mine at 40K volts.

I plan on modifying an old 235 valve cover by removing the top one inch.... keeping the sides to minimize hot oil splashing when adjusting the valve train so we can watch the action while the engine is running.

So the pairing is 1/6 and 5/2 and 4/3 ...... the first one went fine and the second one 5/2 caused the engine to die out.... engine ran on the 4/3.

Will need to pay more attention to vacuum fluctuation while redoing the balance test.

Maybe some old mechanic or old Chilton manual can answer the 64K ????

Stay tuned

Don't know about you neck of the woods but things are melting nicely here....muddy yes.... but melting.....

Bob