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Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 11:26 pm
by Czechsix
more like the perfect indicator that it's time to pull the engine and find out what else is up with it....

Anyway, hafi started to lose power under load, managed to limp home. Could be carb, probably all sorts of interrelated things...could be electrical, etc etc. Decided to fiddle with it, pulled the right plug, damned thing felt cross threaded on the way out.

Well, it wasn't cross threaded. I might just pull the engine and go through it on the bench, check clutch life, and hell....maybe pull the deck off and do it right. Not a full overhaul, but deal with the worst cancer and issues that need to be resolved. No front locker actuation, front rezepa seals shredded, more rubber rotten.

Whaddya want? It's a 50 year old truck that's seen abuse! :roll:

Image

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 2:28 am
by Goatwerks
Did it pop out? If not, put the sleeve back in with red locktite and re stake it.

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 3:38 am
by Czechsix
Turned out with the plug, but the threads have so much crap in them I don't think the threading is holding in the head. Pretty much turned out with no resistance. I'll take a closer look when it's not raining outside to see if it's an easy re-do.

Fun!

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 8:05 am
by jhon
Hey CZ - well, at least the plug is a decent colour, which suggests that your mixture is right and that it's not burning too much oil.

You could try a compression test before tearing the engine down - if you've got decent compression and it's not noisy it might not need much work; the reason for the poor running may be something simple.

If you take off the small square cover on the carb (facing the rear) you'll see the carb jets; these are notorious for getting blocked - it doesn't take much, you need a good filter to prevent it. Anyway, if one of these jets get blocked it'll drop on to one cylinder and run like crap.

Might be worth checking out before doing anything major - good luck with it! (Bad news about your plug thread - might need to helicoil?)

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 9:11 am
by heinkeljb
If the threads on that head are so naff, it might be better to get an insert rather that a helicoil. Helicoils work if they are the first attempt at rectifying stripped threads. If it has had a helicoil already, then it is difficult to get a suitable size replacement or clean up the threads really well without making everything a little bit bigger.... So an insert will sort the issue, but the head should come off to do it properly.

As said above, maybe it is crud in the fuel system, maybe low compression due to the plug threads? So worth dealing with those things first before pulling the engine.

John

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:39 am
by Czechsix
We'll see how it goes. What you're looking at there is something called a Time-Sert, which is a thread repair sleeve or bushing. This one isn't the right size to begin with. They'll usually hold without locktite or similar, but it looks like this one wasn't installed well. Couple of steps might have been skipped lol.

I'll get in there with an inspection camera first, but this engine was supposedly a decent replacement engine. With the holed exhaust, stripped plug hole, leaking carb float, etc....I've gotta wonder how many other things are hiding in there. I'm really getting tempted to pull it, especially since I want to be able to have a fair amount of confidence in this little truck when I'm twenty miles out in the desert from the main truck.

If the threads look good in the head and I don't see anything else wrong after I peel some more bits off, I might just go with some 500 degree locktite and put a properly sized time-sert in.

I'll pull the cover off the carb as a regular thing anyway, but I just went through it so I don't think it's carb related. Running two paper filters in the fuel system too, and they're clear so I don't think it's crap in the passages or jets.

Another thing I'd like to do is go to a civvy coil, wires and plugs setup....much easier to source some parts, and a good bit cheaper too. This might come sooner rather than later if my military coil is shot. As I said...fun fun fun.

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 7:15 am
by AustHaflinger
I had a Subaru engine (so similar layout to a Haffie engine) that the a stripped spark plug thread. A mobile helicoil guy was able to put in a helicoil with everything in place on the engine and in the car. A professional can do it with no swarf getting in.

Having said that I also have inserts in other spots in my engine and they work very well - used them where helicoils had previously been used and could not longer be used as the metal holding them in had also stripped out. They do work well.

Garry

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 11:21 pm
by Czechsix
Looks like the engine is coming out. Ran a Time-sert into it, nothing but some old steel epoxy to bite into.

Ah well. So it goes. I'll pull the jug and see what it looks like. Which means I'll probably be pulling the body off too....sigh.

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 3:21 am
by AustHaflinger
Why do you need to take the body off?

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 5:16 am
by Czechsix
No real reason right now, other than fixing rust, better access to do a real thorough cleaning and assessment of what needs to be repaired on the chassis. Easier access too, for the front end repairs I need to do. The body has some fairly nasty undercoating underneath that needs to be blasted off - it's a mud and rust trap.

You know how it goes....and goes.....and goes.....and.....lol.

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 7:39 am
by heinkeljb
Clean it, put it in the garage and all will be well if you don't use it! :lol:

Any vehicle used on a muddy road - track will end up with mud hiding in corners and seams where it will sit despite all your efforts to wash the vehicle afterwards.

At least on the Haf you can take the platform off with relatively little effort / work and turn it upside down which as you point out would allow better cleaning and checking of things.

Biggest issue would be having somewhere to put it along with all the other stuff that has to come off!

John

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:40 am
by AustHaflinger
oh - ok you was talking about removing the engine and the body and I thought they were related.

Good luck

Garry

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 6:01 pm
by Czechsix
Yah, what's happening on the body is that the undercoating is flaking off in large sheets, it bubbles and then traps material....then goes to rusting.

If I was smart (I'm not), I'd take the whole thing and dip/strip/blast/etch prime it for a new coat of paint (not happening!)

I really need a build a bigger shop building.

Anyway, thanks for the well wishes, I'm sure I'll find lots more to be entertained with as it gets peeled apart. The real danger for me is not to go overboard, tear everything down for full restoration, and wind up with a 10 year long project that the son gets to complete after I'm dead. :D

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:24 pm
by Techmogogy
Czechsix wrote:Yah, what's happening on the body is that the undercoating is flaking off in large sheets, it bubbles and then traps material....then goes to rusting.

If I was smart (I'm not), I'd take the whole thing and dip/strip/blast/etch prime it for a new coat of paint (not happening!)

I really need a build a bigger shop building.

Anyway, thanks for the well wishes, I'm sure I'll find lots more to be entertained with as it gets peeled apart. The real danger for me is not to go overboard, tear everything down for full restoration, and wind up with a 10 year long project that the son gets to complete after I'm dead. :D
Mine just keeps on going and going - at least you can work year round, I am limited to 3 seasons which does not help :roll:

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 6:02 am
by Czechsix
Looks like I'm going to take it over to Castiglione, I pulled the engine today, someone used a hammer on one of the cylinders, breaking some fins off and bending others, etc. I'm glad I pulled it, I'm sure there are other issues going on.

and so it goes.....

Re: Well, guess that settles that...the perfect spark plug

Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 11:23 pm
by Czechsix
mucho time later....got tired of trying to pin castiglione down, I'm going to have an attempt at a reweld for the spark plug hole. If I can find a good TIG guy, I can re-drill, mill and re-thread the plug hole myself.

Now the next question is - since the cylinder walls actually look nice, do I really want to do a full rebuild on this sucker?

I do know that, contrary to what I was told, there's a ton of crap in the case of the engine...lots of muck in there. At the least when I flush it all out I'll have to see if there are any decent chunks or shavings that come out. If there are, then total rebuild time.....or repower time. Whooopeee I'm having fun now! LOL.