[SECC] Black Buzzard Beater Update (long)

[BEllison at bbafiberweb.com]

Hope this helps someone else.

Background...forgot to mention St. Augustine at the CORSASC meeting.  For
those that don't know, I autocrossed GREAT Saturday morning, beating
WTBRT,and the Pig, pretty easily.  Only car that had me was that Yenko (oh
and Tony of COURSE GRRRR).  Just can't get him, with my 15's vs his 13's.

Saturday night, heading out for go-carting in the BBB with Tony, going VERY
slow...changing early...very low rpms, etc.  (Promise! Really!)  We smelled
something, our eyes watered, I lost some cylinders, smoke out the back, no
head/temp light!  (OH PEUPSKY!!!)  Pulled over, trail of oil out the back of
the car.  (Oh Crap!) blew an oil filter.  DOH!  You can tell Tony's ticked
that I used purolator...but guess what?  It's a NAPA GOLD!  I know better
than purolator.  No oil on dipstick.  There goes 5 quarts of SYNTHETIC on
the road.  OUCH!!  Steve and Kevin Poe arrived soon after (thanks to cell
phones) with 5 qts and a new filter and a wrench.  Changed it...ticking, not
knocking.  Continues ticking.  The new filter had cocked sidways, on the
bolt.  Too much pressure.  Decided to drive it home.  Made it.  Missed
Go-carting.  :(  (Sorry, no revenge this time Leslie.  I hear you're too
chicken to show up for a Helen repeat.  LOL)

Once home, I pulled the high-pressure-relief plunger, with a special tool
Tony had made from an old textile machinery tool.  It allows removal of the
plunger w/o removal of the rear end.  And it was STUCK!  Pretty tough to get
out.  Dad and I spent some 30 minutes just polishing it, too.  We ran some
tests.  We decided my oil pressure sender is intermittent at best.  The
light works..SOME of the time.  Bad thing.  We finally decided, I'm getting
oil to the engine, so I decide to drive it around easy, to see if the
lifters will pump up, since it's still ticking, and at least not knocking.
Took it for a couple of 20 mile drives.  No change.  :(

Spent some time this week piddling with the Corsa.  Put a stethoscope on it,
and nothing majorly different, either from side-to-side, or individual
cylinders, but with naked ear, I feel it's mostly on the right bank.  Pulled
the passenger valve cover, and the rocker arms seemed a bit loose.  I
readjusted statically.  Cranked her, and ticking to beat the band.  :(  I.e.
no change.  Upon  removal, only 2 of the valves I could compress by hand.  I
suspect those were the culprits.

Dad Picked up some new lifters yesterday.  Replaced the whole bank today.
Initial crank, no change.  DANG IT!!!  But, just decided they hadn't pumped
up.  I can't get my compression tester to work properly, so I decide to pack
up, and head over to Dad's to borrow his.  Ticks all the way over,and I'm
taking it real easy.  I get to Dad's road, and turned it off to coast to the
shop.  Got to the shop, started looking for the tool.  Discussed with Dad.
Went out to show him, and the ticking's GONE!  We pulled the stethoscope,
and nothing really audible, except the faintest of ticks on the left side.
Sooo SWEEET.

So, 1 set of lifters later, I'm back on the road I hope, for now.

I'm taking it to Bethune SC (20 minutes East of Camden) behind the RV this
week.  I've talked Corvairs to those people for a couple of years now, but
never had the chance to take one down.  Now's the time.  I'll be there thru
Thursday (working 18 hour days), head home on Friday morning hopefully, pick
up the girls when I get to Powdersville, and continue on to Helen Ga for a
great weekend of Corvairing.  Hope to see you there.

Moral of the story : if you think you've polished your high-pressure relief
plunger enough...polish it 5 more times.  HAHAHAHA

Gene - I haven't forgotten about your measurements.  Hopefully tomorrow,
I'll remember.

Barry Ellison
Corsa SC President 2005
65 Corsa
65 Monza 140 4spd convertible
61 Lakewood 102 PG - next project
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