[DeTomaso] Winged Warrior Update

[Dan Courtney]

Here's the latest on The Winged Warrior.
The problems I've found so far are:

Crack in coil wire boot at dist cap. Replaced.
Excessive oil (WD40 - whoops) inside dist. cap. Cleaned.
Possible low spark in #2 spark plug wire, suspected due to fouled plug. Replaced.
Excessive fuel level, serious overflow. Float levels adjusted and elec fuel pump found to be pumping at an insanely high rate. Fuel pump adjustment screw appears to be missing. Regulator added.
3/4" crack at bottom of #5 header tube. Looking for welder.

Also checked:
Secondaries. Turns out they are vacuum operated. I'll be trying the paperclip test.
Timing, 12 deg at idle, 32 total at aprox 2,300 rpm (testing curtailed early due to angry call from angry neighbor)
Vacuum leaks with carb cleaner and soapy water. Nothing found and idle is great.
Compression test, with engine warm. All 8 cylinders between 195 & 200 psi.

Tomorrow I'll be taking it to the shop for a look at the pistons with another borescope and a dyno run to check the air/fuel and double check the timing.

I'm not sure if any of the above caused the damage to the #5 & #6 spark plugs. Possibly the excessive fuel meeting air from the header crack and igniting in the exhaust, causing the backfiring I've been getting on deceleration.
Or, it could be either the crack in the coil wire boot and/or oil in the dist cap causing cross-firing, and #5 & #6 are sequential in the firing order.
They could also have been damaged on gapping, and the parts bounced around in the chamber.

I also still have clutch issues. It looks like this new slave cylinder has gone bad already, as I'm losing fluid and gaining air. Also, the pedal still feels strange. Strong resistance but no action until the pedal is almost all the way up, then it just pops in, all of a sudden.
I'm wondering if the throwout bearing is binding.

Busted BIG or Reno!

Dan


Dan F. Courtney

La Jolla, CA

(858) 551-5455 Phone
(858) 551-5456 Fax