April 20, 2003

Decided to actually pull the back of the car out of the garage to double-check the valves and torque down the lower part of the heads to see if that was causing my low compression reading on cylinder #3. I realized when I tried to check the valves on Thursday night that I had the engine in the complete wrong position. For some reason I hadn’t been able to see the notch in the distributor that signified cylinder #1. I left Thursday night thinking I had done something very wrong, and a couple people on the Type 3 list mentioned that I must have had the engine turned 360 degrees incorrectly if I couldn’t adjust the valves. That’s exactly what had happened. So I turned the engine over to where it should be for cylinder #3 and took the valve cover off, removed the rocker arms and checked the torque on the heads. They were way loose and I was hoping this was my problem. Put the rocker arms back on, torqued them up, did a complete valve adjustment, then did the compression test. I gained 10psi on cylinder #3, but that still only brought it to 60psi, which means either way I’m going to have to pull the engine out. Decided *not* to do that today. Instead, I jacked up the front of the car to get a good look at the underneath of the gas tank & to replace the fuel lines in the front. I discovered a little canister on the front of the torsion bar beam and didn’t know what it was. It went to the pressure outlet of the fuel pump and then to a line in the tunnel. A few posts on the Type 3 list noted that this was a “fuel muffler,” and that most cars either had it removed by now, or could have it removed. I decided to leave it on though and replaced its fuel hoses. The only one I did not do was the one from the three-way plastic plug to the tank itself. I was going to put a long hose on that one so the tank would be easier to take out if and when necessary, but Jim Adney suggested that I leave the tank because it’s tough to seal it up sometimes after you get it out. I’m leaving it. I took the fuel pump with me because I wanted to take it apart, but knowing how much it costs, I think I’ll leave the taking apart for when I have some more cash (or until I it actually fails) in case I futz it up. I do need to get at least one new mounting bracket for the pump though, as it looks like the rubber sheared off from the clamp that holds the pump. The pump was just kind of “resting” on the bushing. Also replaced the fuel filter as well.