R-2 Avanti now on street! May run again later!

[jnfweber]

At least it's out of the garage, although I may have to work on it in bright sunlight! After about a year of messing around with AFB carburetor, worrying about valves and rings, it turns out the main problem may have been the coil and its connections. One warning! DO NOT try to put the nut back on an Avanti coil with the distributor cap off, or you might drop the nut down into the distributor. I did this neat little trick and said nut jammed the centrifugal advance weights, and for some reason, the retaining ring holding the cam in place popped off, which allowed the cam to jump out of position, thus killing the engine.

Pulling and taking the distributor apart revealed at least one problem. Also broke the rotor, which dropped behind the engine, which was easy to find with distributor out. Also found the retaining clip which goes under the oil wick on the top of the cam, which is suppose is usually absent on most middle-aged distributors! I thought I might seal the clip in place with epoxy glue, but good sense prevailed, and I reassembled it without the little felt wick. Oiled the distributor as well, and took it up the cemetery hill, where I could coast down to the garage if necessary.

I was going to have wet and dry compression tests today, but decided I would have that done on my other Avanti, a R-1 where about 2 quarts of oil had diluted the expensive Castrol Syntec 10-40 oil (with zzdp) I had filled the crankcase with last fall. Tests revealed pretty good compression W&D except #7, which was 95(D) and 120(W), indicating both valve and ring leak for #7. I was worried about a blown piston in this car, but mechanic (good one) indicated carb was flooding crankcase with gas. So off will come carb again to check floats & jets. This brute has plenty of power, and smoke with overfilled crankcase and rich mixture is impressive!

Back to the R-2, which killed again in front of the house (needs washing anyway), and still has this nasty "cough" when I accelerate (like it is not getting enough gas from accelerator pump). And still has unimpressive power compared to the R-1. Maybe it will start before it gets dark (in SW Montana around 9:30 pm on July 29).

Jack in Anaconda

[unimogjohn]

Jack, keep after that R2. She will run like a scalded cat! I just got my R2 running good after it sat for 30 years. So much fun. Keep us posted on your efforts and successes.

John

[jnfweber]

Jack, keep after that R2. She will run like a scalded cat! I just got my R2 running good after it sat for 30 years. So much fun. Keep us posted on your efforts and successes.

John

John, there is no end to the fun. Latest problem was suggested by WCP in Ontario, Canada. Many thanks, eh!,
who said:

The fact that it ran for 4 blocks may indicate a fuel problem such as plugging filter or crud in the tank blocking fuel delivery or a plugged vent line that exits under the body in the right rear wheel well. If you can get it started again, run it up to 2000 rpm and hold that for as long as it runs without moving the car and with the fuel tank cap off. If the car passes that test and comes up to normal operating temp., then put the cap back on for a few minutes. If it dies then the vent is the problem. If it doesn't, then go for a drive. If it dies then I suspect crud is floating in the tank and moving to the fuel outlet and causing an intermittent plug.

This has been a problem in the past, and I actually ran the car down to John Metzger in Garden Grove, CA and he replaced the rotten rubber tube from the tank to the steel gas line. Of course, there is also another (dual) line going back to the tank, and both need to be blown out. Got to get an air compressor! Also, I disconnected the hose from the tank last time this happened (crud in tank) and got an eye full and ear full of gasoline. Ouch! Had to rapidly run in and get an ear syringe to wash out right ear as the burning was awful. Note quick-disconnect fuel line!

[unimogjohn]

My fuel system gave me fits too. I waited too long to pull the tank, so my bride and I had to walk home, about five miles. So that made me finally pull the tank. It was full of rust and crud. No way was fresh gas going to ever give me clean gas. So off it went to the radiator shop. It was cleaned out and resealed. We also found out that the fuel level gauge was totally rusted away. So now everything is like new, no more stalling on the road, and my fuel filter stays clean. We are happy now. So you might just bite the bullet and pull that tank.

[jnfweber]

My fuel system gave me fits too. I waited too long to pull the tank, so my bride and I had to walk home, about five miles. So that made me finally pull the tank. It was full of rust and crud. No way was fresh gas going to ever give me clean gas. So off it went to the radiator shop. It was cleaned out and resealed. We also found out that the fuel level gauge was totally rusted away. So now everything is like new, no more stalling on the road, and my fuel filter stays clean. We are happy now. So you might just bite the bullet and pull that tank.

I pulled the fuel tank today. Man, quite a job! Shop manual does not say how to get the tank high enough so the little "L" shaped nipple, which is about 1.5 inches long, will clear the hole in the body. I had to break the nipple off, but can get that fixed. Manual did not consider that draining fuel from the "T" in the fuel line would be done on a 46 year old car where the plug is rusted shut! Anyway, like you, I will take the tank in Monday and get it cleaned up and sealed. However the gas, most of which I collected after pulling both lines to the fuel pump, did not look like it had any large crud. Also blew out both fuel lines with a compressor which just happend along with the guys who arrived to paint the front of the house. I hope there will be no problems after I put the gas tank back in and connect the lines.

Jack

[Laemmle]

Some yrs ago Jon 'the man' Myer convinced me to pull my gas tank. Like many other Avanti owners my car was leaking gas on the inside of the car........upon pulling the rear seat the offending fuel stains could be readily seen.......only G-D knows how long the leak was active. After pulling the tank (damn that brass fitting on the tank bottom) it was taken to a local radiator shop...........in addition to boiling it out I gave the owner a roll of copper pennies.......I instructed him to braze the pennies over every tack weld the factory had done......these welds are what holds the internal baffles in place...years of fuel sloshing around had loosened the welds enough so that fuel would leak out of them. After all spot welds from the factory were covered with pennies I never had fuel weeping and the resultant staining on the fiberglass seat floor...not to mention the smell and fumes.

[jnfweber]

Gas tank not bad, replacing back seat the real chore!

Some yrs ago Jon 'the man' Myer convinced me to pull my gas tank. Like many other Avanti owners my car was leaking gas on the inside of the car........upon pulling the rear seat the offending fuel stains could be readily seen.......only G-D knows how long the leak was active. After pulling the tank (damn that brass fitting on the tank bottom) it was taken to a local radiator shop...........in addition to boiling it out I gave the owner a roll of copper pennies.......I instructed him to braze the pennies over every tack weld the factory had done......these welds are what holds the internal baffles in place...years of fuel sloshing around had loosened the welds enough so that fuel would leak out of them. After all spot welds from the factory were covered with pennies I never had fuel weeping and the resultant staining on the fiberglass seat floor...not to mention the smell and fumes.

tak

Tank would barely come out with brass fitting in place. I looked at it and assumed it was brazed in place, but took it down to local muffler shop and the muffler guy said, "all you need is this big wrench," and pulled out this 2 1/2 foot crescent wrench and screwed the fitting off. I looked in tank, and took some photos, and except for the rust spots you mentioned holding the baffles in place, and since it was not leaking, I decided to put it back in.

There was NO LOOSE CRUD in the tank, just some light rust. After getting it back in place, the R-2 ran pretty well, but still has a little hesitation on acceleration, which I will blame on the accelerator pump or its jets or gaskets. I found it was much better after removing the in-line filter (shown in earlier photos). I notice my R-1 has all steel gas lines with the little sediment bowl type filter, which I assume is original equipment. Maybe these supercharged engines don't get enough fuel from an in-line filter, and maybe it should be replaced with a sediment bowl type.

The real chore was putting the back of the rear seat in place. Seat structural elements thick with rust, even in this southwest car, but may have been in Texas, where it is more humid than CA or MT. Almost impossible to get it to hook into the holders mounted on the fiberglass panel separating the tank from the interior. Anyway, it is back together, although tank removal and re-installation was a full day process, and I think it runs better. Also, no exhaust smoke--maybe running too lean.