I fine-tuned the timing again yesterday and got it running a bit better. It is still getting hot so I may have popped the head gasket. I'll have to run a compression check on it when I find my gauge to determine if that is really the problem.
I fine-tuned the timing again yesterday and got it running a bit better. It is still getting hot so I may have popped the head gasket. I'll have to run a compression check on it when I find my gauge to determine if that is really the problem.
Good luck. I finally had my car out last week. It's a noisy little bugger on the highway, but screams along at a pretty good clip - I wasn't the slowest car on the road by a long shot.
It appears none of my electric gauges are working (temp & fuel), so I have to figure that out. Doesn't seem to overheat, tho.
It's funny... I drove my GT6 yesterday and it feels like a luxury car in comparison.
You might want to try cleaning up the fuse box. I had some electrical problems and took the fuse box out to clean all the contact surfaces and now everything works.
I have to find the fuse box first. The wiring in this car is a bit of a kludge... For example, at some point a slightly newer steering column was added... so there's an key for the column that serves only as a lock. There's the original key location in the dash the controls the ignition and starter.
Plus, as I'm looking through the shop manual, I'm starting to think this car was converted from positive earth.
Sounds...fun. 
Yeah... While I don't relish the thought, a new wiring harness may be on my future "to-do" list... Fortunately, it's a pretty simple car and a new harness would allow adding a few convienences - like door-operated courtesy lights and a boot light for example. Might look into a more modern steering column as well.
In the meantime, I think adding an aftermarket temp gauge may be easier than trying to get the OE gauge working. Debating on adding a tach as well.
Just ran a compression test. Cyl 1-4, 35-35-140-145. Off with its head!
Well at least we determined your thermostat is fine. 
Good luck with the head gasket, Should be pretty straightfoward.
crankwalk wrote: Good luck with the head gasket, Should be pretty straightfoward.
I think all you need is a crescent wrench to get the head off of one of those 
In reply to Knurled:
Pretty much.
Take pictures though, and use a can or something for scale. I want to see if the cylinders are really as small as I think they are.
I already got halfway there in 10 minutes with a 7/16 and 13mm wrench, just soaking the exhaust manifold bolts in PB Blaster so I can take them off tomorrow without any fuss.
I think I found the problem:
Better pictures later, the lighting in my garage is terrible.
How is the head looking? Need some machine work?
Fortunately, being iron and iron, the head and block are most likely okay. Burn a head gasket like that with "mongrel ores" in the engine and you'll melt a channel.
The head looks ok at first glance, I haven't checked it with a straight edge yet. One valve appears to be sticking down a little bit farther than the others.
Head gasket done, all buttoned up. Go to start and it is backfiring like crazy out of the carb. I'll look it over more later when I have light.
In reply to EvanB:
That usually means the timing is off. Double check the dizzy isn't 180 degrees out.
I didn't touch the dizzy while doing the headgasket, I moved it around to see if it made a difference but it still backfired through the carb.Checked all the vacuum lines and they are hooked up. Firing order is correct.
It seems to clear up when revved but at idle or right when getting on or off the throttle it will backfire quite a bit. I loosened the intake valves a bit but that didn't seem to do anything. Confirmed the rotor is pointing at the #1 cyl wire when #1 is at TDC compression.
Video of it running, can't really see much but it is coughing smoke out of the carb:
http://s221.photobucket.com/user/earthur11/media/VIDEO0001_zpsac7a8e26.mp4.html
Check to make sure your wires are right. I know you probably already checked, but I'd check again. It sounds like it's firing wrong. If the distributor is in the right spot then your next check is wires. If they look right then unplug them one at a time to see if you can isolate a particular cylinder. It really sounds like you might have two wires in the wrong spot though.
The wires are in the right spot, I have checked about 3 times now. 1-3-4-2. I'll try unplugging one at a time. The only vacuum line on the carb is the vacuum advance.
Well I feel sufficiently stupid for today. Somehow during my rush to get it together I got it in my mind that the rotor rotated clockwise and didn't think that I could be wrong. It runs much better with the correct firing order.
And holy crap is this thing fun to drive. I've never had it running this well before. Now it actually has acceleration and no bogging!
Fired up the computer just to check on this. Glad it's back to better than normal.
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