Spent a half hour on the phone with Joe Curto (he of Stromberg carb rebuilding fame in NYC...) and gave me some initial pointers on how to set up the carbs, what type of oil to use in the dashpots (ATF is his preference), and setting the needles properly (as well as checking the depth of the jets with a depth gauge....1/8" (.125) down from the bridge...), nylon washer level with the bottom of the piston, 1 turn of the idle screw after it just touches the butterfly lever...shazam. Balanced (with the unisyn, not the best since it covers the vent hole right above the throat; he suggested adjusting the unisyn so that the plug is screwed out a bit; the trick to synchronizing is not an absolute value, but that the two are close...so opened the unisyn up so the strongest carb raised the red plunger about half way...this gave me enough airflow so the engine didn't choke, and was able to set the other carb to close to the same flow. And it allowed me to run the car to full water temps...and the fan came on just as it should.
But...there is always something, right?
Big puddle of oil on the floor at the front of the lump. Ran a clean rag across the front of the engine at the VCG joint, and it was dry. reached as far down as I could to the front seal on top of the timing case and head. Some schmutz, but no new oil.
So...thinking it's probably the crank seal under the water pump drive pulley? Looks like it can be done 'in situ'. While there (acknowledging the potential to go into shipwright's disease here...), might as well drop the pan, clean that up, and replace those cork gaskets, too.
And, oh...the breather tube between the head and the block is weeping too. I know it's a pita to do in place (I've done it before), so, going to tackle that at the same time. Yeah, when I pull the lump to redo the engine, all these will have to be done yet again, but for the time being, it's relatively inexpensive seals and time invested.
One forward...two back. And still haven't installed the pertronix gear yet. Oh...the eezbleed and new MC came in, so, hopefully that will be tackled after I get the power unit straightened up. Keep reminding myself...it's the journey, not the destination that is supposed to be fun...
