Working on my A4 gives me great satisfaction

[Baltimore Sailor]

I'm an over-50 guy who came of age working on his own cars -- vintages early '60s through the '70s -- and I have to say that working on the A4 gives me a pleasant throwback to that era. All of the systems are right there, easy to see and work on. (If not always so easy to reach!)

No complicated computer systems, no weird sensors, nothing but good old wires and mechanical doohickies to play with.

Drop the alternator? Two bolts.

Take off the carb? Two bolts, a 1/8" line and the throttle/choke linkages.

In fact, the only drawback is the difficulty in reaching some of those things in that narrow compartment with not much access from above.

My first real sense of this satisfaction was last year, when my 27-year-old nephew was helping me rewire the electrical system on the boat. The PO had many duplicate gauges that didn't work, bad splices and deadheads all over the place. I pulled all that stuff out, relocated the gauges, ran new wires from the alternator to the ignition key and rebuilt the 12V switch panel.

When it was all done and we turned the key and she started up, and all the gauges were working, my nephew said to me, "I can't believe it's all working again -- and on the first try!" Given his age, he's never worked on a car this way before in his life. The idea that an ordinary guy can rip the electrical guts out of the boat and engine, and replace them AND IT WORKS AGAIN was nearly beyond his imagination.

He's also been helping me this year (he is my first mate, after all) with the head gasket replacement, and I'm pretty sure he was watching with awe as I manually drilled out the replacement stud hole with a 7/16" bit and two sets of vice grips.

Of course, there are setbacks. To re-tap the threads in the repair stud hole, I had to remove the alternator bracket, and the stud came out with the nut. A simple replacement, sure -- but just another bit of time added to the repair job, since I can't just simply screw the nut back onto the stud and torque it. Now I have to reseat another stud (though luckily it's not broken).

When it's all done, I know I'll have great satisfaction running that engine and knowing that I have gained such knowledge working on it. As with all human activities, we soon forget the pain and only enjoy the pleasure we get from them.

Thank you so much, Moyer Marine, for being there for all of us.

[superdave474]

I know exactly the feeling you are describing. I've been slowly overhauling an A4 over the last year, and there is nothing else I do that takes me so far into a state of zen. I don't know how else to describe it. Must bring back memories of working on old muscle cars with my old man. And also my thanks to Moyer Marine.

[High Hopes]

Baltimore,

I am envious that you have a nephew to share this experience with. I too am in my fifties and I used to tune up cars and I've done some repairs in my day. Working on a car now requires a PhD.

I appreciate you posting your article. It helps me to remeber that this is a hobby to be enjoyed, and not a task to be completed.

Steve

[JarrettF]

Great topic!

I have been thinking about the great education I have been getting on engines and their systems this past few weeks as I troubleshoot a non-starting A4.

My dad was a real motorhead, restoring a 1957 Chevy station wagon (the one with the straight rear window frames, the Bel Air, not the Nomad, with the slanted ones), but oh, how I hated standing out there working on the car with him. And oh, how I swore how I would not have such junky cars that I'd have to fix them every stupid week.

And then I bought a Jeep Wrangler and learned a lot. A lot about my Jeep and about my dad and about myself. And then I bought a 40 year old boat!

So here I am getting into the guts of my engine and absolutely loving it. I like the problem-solving aspect of it right now, but as I go about fixing the head gasket I feel compelled to check out the sticky valves, and so it turns into a preventive maintenance operation.

And this means more neat tools: stud-puller leads to the valve spring compression vise thing leads to the feeler gauge leads to the torque wrench and so on.

And this reminds me of my Navy days fixing sonar. Or rather, cleaning sonar gear as a prevention to it breaking. Proper maintenance of systems means they are less likely to fail. Or that's the theory at least.

So here I am working on the accumulation of 40 years of maintenance, some of it good, some not so good. And learning a lot.

But you're right, if feels damn good to attempt a repair and have it succeed.

[rigspelt]

"The job is boating."

The best of boating is sailing along offshore, out of sight at land, second week into the passage. That happens -- what? -- <1% of the time? The rest is the next job. Thanks for a great website to feed my boating.

[sunnnnseeeker]

Hello, I also very much enjoy working on my A-4, except at this point I wish it were done and the boat was in the water. I bought the boat (1975 C&C 30) a few years back. It had been sitting for 3 years and not used so naturally it would not start. I cleaned the carburetor, filed the points and got it going. It was raw water cooled and the cylinder head leaked water and there was plenty of rust on it. Anyhow I used the boat and first time out it had over heating issues. That lead to a fresh water cooling (FWC) system. The over heating problem was solved and I highly recommend a FWC. Since then I have taken the engine out of the boat, cleaned it up, painted it, new cylinder head, new manifold, electronic ignition and oil filtration system. Tonight was the first test with the new head and manifold. It runs great but I think there is something wrong with the carburetor idle mixture as it really doesn't want to run as slow as it should at idle. The idle screw has little effect on the engine speed at idle. It runs (idle) best when the screw is turned in all the way tight against the seat. Does anyone have any thoughts on the idle mixture screw adjustment? Do I need a new carburetor?

The picture is with the old head and manifold right when I got it back in the boat and I thought I was pretty much done with it. Don Moyer has supplied me with parts. Thanks Don! Please tell me about the carburetor.

[Don Moyer]

Whenever a carburetor won't idle unless the mixture control is turned all the way in, it's a sign that there is an internal air leak that is contributing to the fuel/air ratio which makes it unnecessary to add any more air with the mixture control. The leak is frequently in the main bowl gasket between the upper and lower housings.

On carburetors with an idle bleed port below the idle jet (which is most late models), you can suck excessive air in through the bleed port if the idle jet is partially clogged. I'm attaching a sketch of the upper carburetor housing showing the arrangement of the idle jet and the brass bleed port so you can get a picture of how that part of the idle system is configured.

Bottom line, you'll have to disassemble the carburetor, check the idle jet and replace the main bowl gasket. You should be prepared to sand the mating surfaces of the upper and lower housings if necessary to get the gasket to seal around the idle passageway which runs up through the center of the two housings.

Don