Yesterday's daily today - the J69 version

[Seth]

Argh! So annoying!

[Jonny69]

As of yesterday evening, while there was enough light to take pictures:



The new shaft turned up earlier than expected so I swapped it in and got it bolted up. You can see the spacers between the rockers instead of the springs that are normally there. She was running late from work so I cracked on and did the valve clearances and bolted everything back on. I pulled the plugs to make it easier to turn over by hand and it was also a convenient time to check the mixture:



They don't look too far out to my eye. Looks a bit lean, which ties up with the flat spot when you open the throttle, so hopefully the different emulsion tubes will clear that as the ones in there are for progression on a larger engine. I don't completely understand what they do, but you match them with the cc of the engine.

I got it fired up and took it out for a spin. It's super quiet at the top end now, so I'm pleased. In my experience, these cams usually result in a noisy top end, but I'm thinking now that the wear in the rocker shaft has a lot to do with it.

[Seth]

Great news! I hope you've taken the oil cap off and had a peer inside to make sure its all wet and gloopy in there.

[Jonny69]

Yeah, well, I'm not saying anything because I haven't checked. But it's still nice and quiet.

It's slightly over-carbed, so I sniped a set of 30mm chokes for the Webers on Sunday and they arrived yesterday - amazingly quickly. Had a go at swapping them in situ last night. So the chokes go in ok because there's a slot in the carburettor barrel and a pin on the side of the choke if it's an old choke, or you rely on the jets which have corresponding slots on the newer ones. The problem is on new DCOEs there is no sprung keyway on the aux venturi which goes in the barrel after the choke, so you have to rely on the securing screw to line them up. If they're not lined up, the fuel feed doesn't line up with the jet on the venturi and it's a nightmare to get in place. I've done it once before and got it wrong and the engine starts and runs up to about 2000rpm through the idle jet, but the main fuel circuit doesn't come on and it won't rev. So I need to give it another go later. It's split knuckles ahoy as well, this job.

[Jonny69]

I've been putting off changing the steering box for years. I took the last shim out of it in about 2004 and got an MOT advisory last year. Horrible job because you have to ake all the steering apart including the steering wheel, column and stalks, but it only took an hour and a half. Halfway carnage:



This little collar cancels the indicators:



Works fine turning left but some years ago it stopped cancelling turning right. I was going to add some weld to those worn slots, but I noticed you just had to position the collar slightly higher up and it worked fine. Suits me.

Also worked out an epic MOT bodge for worn out steering boxes. Take off the pitman arm and put it back on a few splines round. Centre the wheels and then move the steering wheel round a few splines so it's straight again. Hey presto, in the 'middle' it's now not sat in the worn out bit