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Wed Jul 23, 2003 1:39 pm

ok, i thought the hose on the decel valve kept slipping off b/c it was pretty loose, so i put hose clamps on it, and a few other hoses, because as long as the hose was on it seemed to run ... not well , but at least itd idle ... now that theres clamps everywhere it pops and backfires and puffs out a raw fuel smelling "smoke". Anyone ever had a similar experience? i havnt gotten around to pulling teh engine, but does this sound like a stuck valve or possibly a dropped seat holding the valve open a little? A compreesion test showed
105 in #1 cyl
120 in #2
120 in #3
117 in #4
should i just pull the coul wire and hit the key to turn the engine over to check valves or is there an easier or "proper way" to do it?

Wed Jul 23, 2003 3:06 pm

You check the valves by turning the engine over by hand, with a socket or wrench on the Alt/gen nut. Take the valve cover off the right side, line up the notch in the pulley with the crack in the engine case. Check the distributor to see that the rotor is roughly under the wire leading to cyl. #1 (right front cyl). That's TDC for #1, and both valves for # should be closed, with a .006" gap between the valve stem, and the rocker. If they're ok, you rotate the engine counterclockwise 180 degrees (put a white spot opposite the notch in the pulley). and #2 is ready to be checked (rear, right). Another 180 degrees counter clockwise and nuber 3 is ready (front, left), and finally another 180 degrees counter clockwise to set up #4 (rear, left)
Jeremy

Wed Jul 23, 2003 4:35 pm

With those compression numbers, I doubt you've got a dropped valve seat. I've been down that road twice, and both times the cylinder with the dropped seat was around 30 lbs. compression. If it would idle okay before you put the clamps on your vacuum hoses, I doubt that your valves would have fallen out of adjustment so quickly. I would double check all of the hoses, making sure that none are pinched, kinked, disconnected or put back in the wrong place. I've accidentally put hoses back on wrong, and it would cough, sputter and hick-up. Hope this helps a little.

Cheers,
Richard

Wed Jul 23, 2003 8:45 pm

whoooa, i do believe i messed up my firing order ...lol ...i thought it wa 1=fl 2=rl 3=rr 4=rf ... frikkin "a" ...lol

Wed Jul 23, 2003 10:46 pm

The firing order is 1-4-3-2. Looking at the engine from the rear its:

firewall
3 1
4 2
muffler

Valves are adjusted in 1-2-3-4 order. Either memorize it or number the tin near the plugs.

Thu Jul 24, 2003 9:29 am

man am i dumb :) i had the wires in the right order, just not with #1 at the right spot, i took 1 wire off, and rotated em all 1, put the pulled wire in the new empty spot, tried it, nothin, did it a secont time, and she fired right up, guess i was 180 off on #1 on the cap ... oh well, at least its running , and i can get it somewhere to check it out . i may replace the heads anyways with the new (reman) improved "new seat design" .. just for peace of mind. anyways,just thought id let everyone know how dumb i am :)

Thu Jul 24, 2003 9:42 am

Don't beat yourself up, that is a common mistake, after 25 years I still have done it when in a hurry or some "fender lizard" owner/friend is looking over my shoulder asking me 5 questions a minute! :D

Thu Jul 24, 2003 1:21 pm

The back pressure through the intake by being off 180 is probably what kept blowing the hoses off. Your clamps probably help also so hopefully you won't have to worry about those coming off again. Just a little extra piece of mind. Good luck.