2011 at the Hammond Barn

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Bob

I've done just what you are talking about of moving the timing mark to somewhere you can actually see it. The little inspection hatch on the top of the bell housing. I just line the timing mark up carefully through the normal timing window behind the starter. Then with a lettering punch I make a corresponding "O" on the back of the clutch housing in line with a fine wire strung between the two bolts. See the picture.

Not really shown in this picture but something I've started doing as I resemble engine and clutch units is I paint two inches to on the advanced side of the timing marks both new on clutch and on the normal flywheel position. This really helps when the timing is way off to find the timing mark.

I have copies of this photo with my manual on the computer in the shop to remind me on which side of the bolt to wind the wire.

Cheers Phil

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Hi Bob I've done just what you are talking about of moving the timing mark to somewhere you can actually see it. The little inspection hatch on the top of the bell housing. I just line the timing mark up carefully through the normal timing window behind the starter. Then with a lettering punch I make a corresponding "O" on the back of the clutch housing in line with a fine wire strung between the two bolts. See the picture...Cheers Phil

We can re-institute the underground railway, or if things keep going "south" with the US ecomony, you could apply as an ecomomic refugee...in any case, you would be a welcome addition to the Hammond community.

Failing that, keep up the great work on your website and on MLU. We hamfisted non-technical types really appreciate your work!

[Bob Carriere]

Phil you are a genius......

....I actually set my flywheel on the pointer .....then crawl underneath to spray paint the flywheel black then draw a yellow line on it for TDC.....

....... now I will not have to crawl underneath anymore..... which is a good thing as I get older.....

I still can't believe it.....even smart ass GM engineers never thought of that....

Thanks a million......

...... as Rob said we will adopt you if need be.......

Bob

[Phil Waterman]

Couple of things that I have really noticed down here with the E10 fuel, it does go off (stale, water logged, what ever) very quickly. The best cure I've found is an electric fuel pump. Both big trucks have electric fuel pumps and letting them prime the carb before trying to spin the engine makes all the difference. They don't seem to care if they have sat for a day or a month both of them also are reasonably fresh rebuilds. My HUP is a different story it still has only a mechanical fuel pump and if it is started every week regardless of temperature it starts fine, evens out and runs smooth quickly. If it sits for a month then it doesn't want to start and when it does it takes a long time to smooth out. I suspect that it is the all the stale gas being pulled out of the carb.

Another suspect for the rough running is the vacuum advance, is it working?

Cheers Phil

[Wpns 421]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

I still can't believe it.....even smart ass GM engineers never thought of that....

"And they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks" Being an engineer with a piece of paper on the wall is nice , but it will never, ever beat the knowledge of a guy with greasy, dirty hands that has a big smile on his face because it now works. Gilles

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Guys

Wish I could say I thought of that little trick the first time I timed my HUP back in 1978. No such luck. I'll have to find the periscope timing light made up out of plumbing parts on 90EL, Y joint and a mirror sort of worked. Or the next version mirror taped to timing light. But it wasn't until I had the third or forth stovebolt engine on the test stand that I started to really get smart.

But there is a further generation of thinking ahead, which I have done only on one engine, putting a TDC on the clutch housing and on the front pulley for each of the cylinders, this makes adjusting valves easier the one on the pulley lets you turn over the engine with the crank to the TDC for each cylinder to adjust the valve of course you still have to look at the valves to determine the valve closed position but if you remember the pairings you 1/6, 3/4, 5/2 it gets the job done quicker.

Cheers Phil

[guyvapeur]

Phil:
I would hate to think of what inventions you would come up with if you were in the medical field. That timing light and mirror might work on people for rear end examinations.....there would be no need for the examination table..... everything would be done standing up.

Guy

[Bob Carriere]

Resourcefulness and not knowing it can't be done are basic skills for working on a CMP.....

Phil

You could write a book on "how to...for CMPs" .... and maybe you should....

That modification to the crankshaft pulley is genius and surely related to the old index wheels we used on V* for setting valve cycles accurately..... using a boxful of various offset keys...once marked every 120 degrees you are set for life....

I still think that using the inspection hatch on the bell housing for timing is worth it's weight in gold.....

Now .... to the stale gas.....

It seems to go bad faster than a few decades ago..... however the old gas form the 70s use to stink like hell.... new gas goes bad but you cannot readily detect the changes by smell alone.... I remember coming home
after sucking gas from old cars in junk yards.... we used it to wash parts.... inevitably you always swallowed some..... my wife was always quick to point out my stinking breadth..... we stopped that practice after reading in a safety manual that only one drop in your lungs....once spread over the wet tissue like an oil slick... can suffocate you..... so now we suck beers....

It may be that Rob's gas had gone bad.... because his (marine mobile )tank stayed connected to his truck and when he went in the tent it had heated up and poured out when pressurised by sunshine...... it mayhave vented the best volatile components of the gasoline....

The other suspected thing is the dizzy was bumped and moved..... he did have two sparkplug wires knwoed off the dizzy,,,, and yes we checked the firing order... too young...too old..... just right..... perverts !!!!

Vacuum seemed to be working when last checked.

Next detective work willbe a systematic elemination process finishing with the timing......

On the electric fuel pump.... it has been a lively topic on Stove Bolt Chev site..... a lot of guys have been having problems with deteriorating gas line and in particular the fuel oumo diaphram..... some are advocating srtipping the pumping mechanism of the original fuel pump..... replace diaphram with a strong neoprene gasket.... removing the one way valve and using a hidden electric fuel pump to flow gasoline through the dummy pump to the carb.... it retains originality of the pump but is more dependable.

I fully intend to install a permanent electric fuel pump on my cab 11 either in series with the mechanical pump or as a stand alone bypass system in case of unforeseen problems.....

Please keep us informed of any other short cut you come up with while re-doing the HUP.

Bob