I can't tell you for sure how much the engines smoked. The engines were brought to me out of the cars for rebuilding. One did smoke somewhat, but it also had .008" wear in a cylinder, the other reported low power and just wanted a total rebuild with more performance. Maybe the smoke leaks out of the cracked headers before going out the tailpipes, and is dissipated into the heat shields!!!!! LOL
maybe it's just a case of going from zero oil consumption to a bit? not enough to blow enough smoke to notice? my 355 doesn't consume any oil at all....so if it started to use ANY, i'd become suspicious...and i'm sure that it could do that without necessarily blowing plumes of smoke. just hypothesising.
Yesterday I was mowing the grass, and just to get finished, I had to pour a little 2 stroke mix gas in, as that was all I had at the house. It was 92 octane with 32-1 Royal Purple oil. The John Deere didn't smoke a bit, to my amazement!!!!
Forget the BS about guides and no smoke...........Here is a better mystery....How is this executed???? Image Unavailable, Please Login
How about this????????? If I could do this, I'd never get married again for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!! Image Unavailable, Please Login
I take Visa / Mastercard, check with an ID and cash, and as a guess would estimate I was fixing these cars when you were still crapping green. Yup, you are absolutly correct, maybe it is time for me to find another sandbox to play in, I believe I have had enough. I would estimate around 12-14 innocent soles have been pillaged by me doing un-needed guide replacements to date. Three more waiting to get in. Dave
Sure, some carbon is expected as no seals are perfect. The description I gave is not an exaggeration of what I find on the backside of these valves. Zero flow until near full lift on 4 intake valves on a Fly Yellow GTS some years back. Cant say I have ever used a vac. test to check these. Not sure I would trust it alone. I spent a GREAT SUM OF MONEY purchasing a medical Bronoscope with a video interface so I could easily verify what my tests show. Seems the FDA is attempting to protect the innocent from me practicing medicine and made the purchase of this scope very expensive and difficult. In the plentium, down the stack, through the throttle plates, down the manifold and there sits the valve where I can look at it. The visual verification is just the final, proof positive check to be done after all of the normal prerequisites. Dave
Truly a lost cause trying to share realworld experiences from over 20 years in this game. I'll just go away with my loyal customer base of Fcar and Lcar owners. FWIW, so far this year, I have done 2 blown 355s (spun bearings) and 2 valve jobs. Others, 2 TR 30s, 4 308 30s, Porsche 930 engine upgrade to 500+hp, and more......No doubt that's worth nothing. Bye
I am questioning why I even get on this site anymore for information regarding maintaining my car when people here are happy they ran off Brian Crall and are now questioning someone with Dave Helm's reputation and credentials. Are those who are so pleased to tell the rest of us that there are cheap fixes and that master mechanics such as Brian and Dave have been performing unnecessary work, willing to take on the long term personal legal liability with their solutions? I will continue to vote with my wallet to trust Dave and his trusted group of mechanics. The long term effect on the value of our cars is at stake, the damaging residual consequences of cheap incomplete repairs will do nothing to help the perception of poor reliability and value of these fine machines. On a more positive note, I do truly enjoy the wonderful animal pictures that seem to pop up on these threads from enginefixr and jet fixr!
Since no one is going to say it, then I will: That is just rude. A rude comment, and a poor attempt to appear tough. Why didn't you PM the guy and ask him that question? Would you say that to his face? Reminds me of my dog, who will only bark at a deer to impress other dogs, and will never actually go after a deer. My dog will just sit on the porch and bark...and bark........and bark JM3 PS I don't even know any of these guys, but a bit of of courtesy is expected. PPS I'm not entering into an argument, just so you know.
Well, I'm a purist and believe a "sports car" is one that requires a degree of skill and sport. Thus, I'm no fan of the automatic transmission, I mean "F1" girl box. Before the tiptronics and F1s were introduced, women (no sexism intended) didn't often drive sports cars (e.g., Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini). Real drivers needed to know how to handle three pedals and a stick. Of course, most manufacturers have the "F1 transmission" option now and they don't participate in F1.
i assume you mean a synchronized gear box. For years purists looked down on them and those who couldn't shift without them. Time moves on.
Well darn. If you asked me I would have asked you how many would you like and is tomorrow O.K.. By the way on the Flag car pic maybe you should post a picture of it because someone must have a pic of it at the FCA event and maybe not know what they took a picture of. Oh...I like the broncoscope idea....I am certainly too cheap to own one. I wonder how this was done...some kind of boroscope? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvmBLqjaZxY&feature=related
Not sure what the FDA was thinking I might stick the darn scope in and look at but I got around them regardless. I even have a 4' flexible forcepts that fishes through it as well. Not sure how many years the payback period will be but it took me seconds to retrive a plug extension clip out of a 308 front bank cylinder when a customer knocked one down the hole. Thankfully he was aware of what happened and towed it in. Thank you John and Carl for the photo. Carl, I sent you an email explaining the request. This video is a perfect visual where one can now picture what a great deal of carbon on the backside of the intake valve will do. Taken with a borescope inside a lexan tube in a twin plug head missing one plug. Thank you for the kind words, between dealing with some matters at work that I have been drawn into that are well beyond my control and then defending our profession against some piss ant that wants to beat his chest yet knows nothing about which he speaks, it makes me wonder if I am beating my head against the wall because it feels good when I stop. As posted above, this used to be a site where owners shared terrific data and techs would help where help was needed and everyone grew from the experiance. I have nothing against saving money and am in the process of devoloping new parts and techniques to do exactly that. The direction the marque and the mindset is headed will greatly effect the value of the cars in the near future and not in a positive way. Not everything in this world can be bubble gumed together nor should it be. If a Ferguson tractor distributor cap can be made to fit a 308, then by all means DO IT as it will save hundreds of dollars. If using the same cap causes burned pistons after a few thousand miles then was it worth it to save the money when its all said and done? Our fathers and grandfathers perfected this type of repair on the farms across the country years back BUT longevity was a prime concern and in many ways it is those farmers that designed a better than OE part when doing the repairs, they had to as the whole family depended on it. My point here is that what is happening now is these repairs are being done to give instant gratification and save a buck right now with little to no thought towards the future longevity of the car. Tomorrow be damned, it works today! With the age of the Intranet where anyone with a modem can become an expert behind a keyboard this type of thing is becoming epidemic and is costing the owners of these cars a great sum of money to reverse. There are posters in this thread that know this statement to be true first hand. No one needs to take my word for it as some of the discoveries were made while the owners stood there. To be one of the last "Chicken Little's" on this site yelling a message to stop is not a rewarding position to be in. I had a long discussion with an owner on the east coast last evening and read some kind words here and at least I know there are some that care about what happens a few years out. I make the same money doing quick fixes as I do with proper repairs. There is method to the maddness, I am holding off a great deal of repairs until I get a handle on quality parts that will last into the future. Brian Crall and I are investing a lot of time doing this and there is no profit or even payback for the time invested. Terrible shame that a few chest beaters behind a keyboard drove off one of this sites biggest assets when Brian decided he had taken enough crap. A thread started by a Lawyer looking for his next case (yes, there is some merit to it but dont get me started on lawyers right now!) and a chest beater yelling you are all being cheated. To hell with that, where is my $100? I was even willing to take the 3% credit card hit!! Yup, I can change to adapt to the new trend and still have a little fight left and am willing to stick my neck out with my real name noted so all know who is cheating who. Dave
Plus 1! I have had great experiences from data provided by Dave and Brian C. they have graciously responded to my e-mails as I strive to learn and uphold the integrity of the independent here in the mid-west. My old friend from the UK "Bowbells" hs been my good contact with people over that side of the pond and has supplied me a large amount of parts/tools and information over the past 20+ years and helped me get into repairing these cars. I personally have not yet had to perform a valve job on any of my customer's 355s, but when the services are done, I carefully set cam timing and check cylinder leakage as well as use a borescope to inspect internal condition of cylinders. I am sure that one will come up soon and luckily I have enginefxr close by to perform the machining! Brian.S
