[DeTomaso] Thus quoth the raven...(IE what's that tapping?)

[doug351c]

Chris,

Surely you're not tying to wring Pandora's neck without a good dose of 104+
Maximum Octane Boost in every tankful are you?  Your compression is high
enough that you need it!

You were told wrong about turning the distributor CW to decrease knock.  The
rotor turns CCW so turning it CW will increase the advance (fire sooner in
the compression stroke) which increase power but also increase the tendency
to knock.  Turning it CCW will decrease knock and decrease power.

Doug

-----Original Message-----
From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com
[mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com]On Behalf Of Christopher Kimball
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 8:22 PM
To: Pantera List Serve
Subject: [DeTomaso] Thus quoth the raven...(IE what's that tapping?)



I started up Pandora today (it was finally dryish outside) and took her out
for a spin.  I gave her some hard acceleration in higher gears to listen for
knocking, and all I heard was a slight tapping, as if a small screwdriver
was being tapped against the block.  I was told that if I heard a knock I
should turn the distributor a little bit clockwise until I could accelerate
hard with no knock.  I turned it a little, but it didn't make much, if any,
difference.  I continued doing this a tiny bit at a time until the car just
didn't run well.  The little tapping was still there under all those
circumstances.

I then rotated the distributor back to where it was (maybe even a bit
further counter clockwise) and then when I punched it I heard the kind of
ping/clack that I remember our old Chevy station wagon used to make when I
would floor it (my dad called it "pinging").

I'm wondering if the slight tapping noise I'm hearing isn't really "knock"
at all, but just the normal sound of the engine, but the louder sound I
heard is the real knocking, and if I turn the distributor enough to
eliminate the loud noise and live with the slight tapping noise I'll be OK.
I know hearing the actual knocking in an engine is bad news, and I don't
want to mess something up.

Any comments?

Thanks (again),

Chris