Yet another Used A4 Newbie

[Mark Millbauer]

I won't argue with success and I admit to using tip cleaners for numerous tasks other than cleaning oxy/acetylene tips but do keep in mind that each little wire in the set is a miniature round file. It will remove metal and enlarge holes if one is not careful.

Mark

[tenders]

The wire peeled out of a bread twist tie also works to ream out those little holes.

Don't fear the carb. Once you have it apart you'll be surprised it's complicated enough to do anything at all, much less what it does.

[Bold Rascal]

You guys are the greatest! Not that I appreciatte anyone having difficulties in thier efforts but, your willingness to share insights and discoveries, knowledge and know how are the best tool of all!

I did order a carb rebuild kit from MM, just waiting for it to arrive. I do have an air compressor and a decent work area so thats my project for the weekend? Hopefully all will go well (it will be warmer) and there will be time for other things, Like repacking that stuffing box.

The fuel tank is made from Monel, Pretty sure it's the original. It still has distilled white vinegar sloshing around in there. The tank looks pretty clean inside.

Looks like a timing light, tack and dwell meter are in my future. How do use the timing lights if there are no timing marks?. I'm harkenning back to my earlier years when I did my own tune-ups.

Thank you all again for the tips and encouragement. I'll keep you up to date on my progress.

[roadnsky]

Looks like a timing light, tack and dwell meter are in my future. How do use the timing lights if there are no timing marks?.

Here's the basic procedure for STATIC TIMING:

1) Remove all spark plugs and rotate the engine in a counterclockwise direction until you begin to feel compression in the first cylinder.
Stop turning at the first sign of compression, and then continue to slowly rotate the engine while observing the roll pin in the center of the flywheel.
Stop turning when the roll pin is vertical.
The engine is now set with the first cylinder at Top Dead Center (TDC) of its compression stroke.

2) Connect a 12 volt timing light across the primary terminals of the coil and rotate the housing of the distributor a small distance in each direction (with the ignition switch on) to locate the point where the light turns off.
Retighten the hold-down bracket.
This is the point in the engine rotation where the secondary discharge occurs which will be sent to the number one cylinder (at the flywheel end of the engine).

You may also want to look at this thread about finding TDC...

http://www.moyermarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2930&highlight=timing+procedure

Hopefully that makes sense?

[ndutton]

You may want to read this thread as well as long as you're finding TDC.

http://www.moyermarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4743

[Bold Rascal]

Aaaargh, broken valve, "Idiot"<<<

Greetings all! had to take some time away from working on the boat these past couple of weeks. Moyer Marine was very prompt in sending me the carb rebuild kit and other gaskets I orderred. Love that quick turn around.
The weather here on the lower Chesapeake was great on saturday so my best mate and I took the Bold Rascal out for an afternoon sail. I have an outboard motor rigged up on the transome to get us out and in until I get the A4 running again. It was so nice getting back out on the water again. I took the day off today and dedicated it to freeing up those stuck valves.
I did remove the side cover, the 2 bolts holding it in place were not tight at all. Bumping the engine over off the starter I was able to easily see which valves were stuck, 3 of the 4 exhaust valves and a few lifters as well. The forward most valve just would not budge. Plenty of MMO and PBB had no effect as it did with the others. I tried the allen wrench down the piston hole and tapped and tapped and tapped, nothing. I finally gave up and accepted that the head would have to be pulled, this took some time but eventually it came off exposing the one stuck forward most valve standing tall. More PBB letting it soak several minutes again. Took my trusty ball peen hammer gave it a couple good taps and the head snapped off! My fault, quietly cursing all the while. Yes, I Should have been more careful.
Ultimately I was able to drive the remaining stem post down, bumping the engine to push it back up the driving it down again. It's still not "free" but at least I have a shot at getting it extracted. It's soaking in PBB until next weekend. So what's involved with getting that stem out? Gonna be searching the forums for tips and insights. That forward most valve stem and spring are gonna be real hard to work on given the configuration of the engine compartment.
It's probably a blessing in disguise though, Many of the valves have a substantial amount of build up on the tops and around the seats, an "in boat" valve job? Wish me luck!

[BryanLee]

If you do not have one already, order the valve spring compression tool from Myer right away. While I have recently found it is possible to replace the springs with out it (story to be posted soon :-) ) I have found the minimal price to be well worth it if you do not have the tool already. I could not find one locally for less then 100.

[Bold Rascal]

Thanks for the advice Bryan. I was "this close" to orderring it last night while orderring my new exhaust valve and head gasket. I'm still kicking myself for breaking that valve. Should have been much more carefull.....Regarding the tool, I have a co-worker who has one, maybe not the exact same item but it should do the job.
I am not looking forward to this at all...

[sastanley]

Bold Rascal,

Call the Moyer parts line directly...Ken will steer you in the right direction regarding parts. He is just as valuable a resource to the Moyer team as Stephen, Don & Admin Bill.

Since you are on the Eastern Shore it is one day via UPS.

[Bold Rascal]

Ken is awesome!

My friend and co-worker did bring in his spring compression tool. Much as I appreciatte it, it's HUGE! So Sastanley, I took your advice and called Ken in parts, he was super helpful and has my replacement valve, (8) new springs, some keepers (just in case) and, a nifty (more managable) spring compression tool on thier way to me, hopefully in time for the weekend. Ken also mentioned that one of the forum users has a valve service related thread/post which is nicely illustrated and complimentary to the Moyer Manual. If anyone can point me in it's direction?

Sastanley, I see your in Solomons, MD. without a doubt one of my favorite places on the bay, Count your blessings my friend. Hopefully we'll have this A4up and running in a few weeks and will be moored there over the Memorial day weekend.

Thanks Ken!

[Bold Rascal]

Making progress

Greetings Afourians. My A4 resurection project is taking longer than I had hoped due to "other issues" requiring my time however, [B]I am progressing[/B!

I did rebuild the carburator using a MM rebuild kit. It went very well and allthough it may not look brand new I'm hoping it will at least perform that way. Thanks to those with encorouging words, it turned out to be much less of an undertaking than I had thought.

Now to the meat of it. Having broken the head off #1 cyl's frozen exhaust valve I was forced to remove the head. Further evaluating my ability to properly work on the valves with the engine in place I decided to remove it from the engine compartment and perform the work with the engine resting on an old spare tire on the floor of the saloon. Ultimately a good decision and highly recomended unless you have really good access.


With the willing enthusiasm of my fiancee, we slinged the engine at the reversing gear and also around the fly wheel housing. Ultimately the 2 slings were cinched together above #2 cylinder and with a 3rd lifting sling created a good solid harness. I decided to attempt hoisting it up and out using the main halyard. With the mounting bolts removed, careful guidance and my best mate slowly winching at the mast we hoisted the engine up high enough to clear the leading edge of the engine compartment and within 10 minutes the delivery was complete. Hopefully the same process with the aid of some tackle to pull it back into the compartment will work just as well.

Now about those valves. I removed all the valves, managed to capture all the keepers and retainers. All the valves were pretty gunked up and would need a thorough going over. Everything was kept seperate by cylinder in individual disposable tupper-ware and given a good soaking in carb cleaner/solvent.

Upon a better inspection of the broken exhaust valve I have determined that the engine must have been run quite a bit with the valve in the stuck open position given the amount of carbon build up down onto the stem. There was no way that valve was ever going to be infuenced back into place without removing it.

A word of caution to those trying to free suck valves thru the spark plug hole. If it doesnt budge after a few moderate taps, you may be doing more harm than good?

Since the engine was out and much easier to get to, I pulled the intake/exhaust manifold and gave it and the head a good acid flush, inspected the hot side, and also found that the plastic inlet adapter to the VETUS type 2 waterlock was severly cracked and needed repair.

The alternator and the cylinder cooling water cavity cover were removed. Was very encourgaged to find very little rust or scale inside, a testimony to FW cooling installed several years ago by a PO however, there was no gasket around the side cover either, only silicone? Given the amount of surface rust evident on the exterior of the block beneath the area of the cover I'd say it wasnt doing such a good job.

All in all it took quite some time to clean all the valves, scrap and clean the head (paper gasket) and install the new springs, keepers and lap the valves before putting the head back on (Graphite gaskets).

When I finally do get a full weekend to finish putting the engine all back together and getting it back into place I'm crossing my fingers that I'll have at least an attempt at a start.

The Moyer manual and the information available in this forum has proven to be in-valuable in this process.

Oh, one last note-worthy item: The distributor was 90 deg's out of position, ie: the tab and rotor were facing dead aft with #1 at TDC.

[ndutton]

Mike,

I read every word of your account twice and both times one thing really caught my attention:
Looks to me like your fiancee is a keeper.

[Bold Rascal]

Neil, if nothing else, I got that part RIGHT! She's AWESOME. Thanks.

[marthur]

Here is a link showing pictures and text for a carb rebuild.

Carb Rebuild Picts

You can do it!

[Bold Rascal]

She RUNS!

It was a long day putting the engine back in it's compartment and re-connecting everything, but not long after sunset the moment came and with the raw water seacock closed, she roared to life! (then I opened the seacock, LOL)

Beings it was late and my back was killing me from being in and out of side lockers all day, We only ran her for a few minutes. I did check to see that she was pumping water out the transom, surge-gush, surge-gush, Is that normal?

Also noticed the water temp guage was reading upwards of 200 Degrees so we shut her down.

The engine already has a FWC system in place, MM system I believe. The boat also has a pressurized hot water system. I don't know if it works or not, that's another project.

My best mate and I worked pretty hard today. All we knew about the engine when we bought the boat was, "it doesn't run". Were both very happy that with the help, advice and encorougement from each of you, She does now!

Thanks!