The Webmaster Zone

Well I went to get my insurance renewed and suprise, my emissions certificate was expired. I was still going under the testing the previous owner had done, I could have sworn it ran out in November. So this Saturday I got a day permit and started in on it. Pulled off the rocker cover and adjusted the valve to tappet clearance using the rule of 9 (number the valves 1-8 put the car in 4th and roll it until a valve is rocking. Take its number and subtract from 9, that is the valve to work on. Rinse, repeat). Several valves were quite tight. Scraped out the old gasket and the top of the head with a razor blade. Ran a thin bead of blue silicon gasket sealer around the rocker cover and pressed in the new thick cork gasket, let that dry a while, then lightly oiled the mating surface on the head with fresh engine oil. Replaced the nut cover washers and grommets and torqued it down to 8 ft lbs. Hopefully that will eliminate some of the oil leaks around the engine, I still have to replace the short oil pressure hose as well. Then I adjusted the point gap and set the static timing (retarded ever so slightly), checked the spark plug colour (biscuit is the goal) and gap and replaced. Fired it up and it ran really well so I tried my luck at the testing station. I came very close to passing, I passed all the categories except hydrocarbons at idle by 30% so I'm sure after I adjust the carbs (the front is running slightly rich, the rear quite lean), perhaps retard the timing a little more, I can get it through. Damn I'm good *cracks knuckles* heheh