Friday, August 22, 2008

Life is a Poorly-Tuned Carburetor.



I know what you're thinking: Mr. Hot Rod Anglican, what IS that doohickey that looks like the head on the Lost In Space robot?

Dear Reader, it is the Power Valve from a Holley carburetor. And our neglect of it has been the hidden cause of much head-scratching around the Hot Rod Anglican Meteor Garage. It has caused a horrible hesitation in Eliot's engine, particularly under load (1200 - 1400 RPM) in 4th gear.

Finally, we changed to one with a stronger spring (10.5 in Hg instead of 6 in Hg, for those currently tuning their own Holley 4150s at home). What a world of difference that made! Now the mighty 302 runs fast and smooth enough to scare us when we step on the Loud pedal!

Like the power steering pump overheating problem (another affliction out of which we have seen a happy issue), it seemed like we had tried everything, and that the problem would never go away.

But, God wanted us to work harder on the problem before being rewarded with success. At long last, the success came. And we are wiser for having worked through the problems. I will also say that a day spent with my son tinkering with a poorly-performing car is better than a thousand days by myself with a perfectly-performing one.