an expensive finger jesture!

lindenengineering · Post by **lindenengineering** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:52 pm

Watch out for that errant forefinger!
Not the popular digit but the one that operates your aerosol cans!

The other day we had a Pinz come in on the hook with a reported bad knock. We tried to start it, yes knocking like the "hammers of hell".
The owner turned up a bit later on to find out about the good news.
"How did this thing start knocking"? I asked.
"Oh I got too rambuncious with the easy start" (ether) He lamented. "I could'nt get the damn thing to start to so I resorded to that stuff"
"Do you think it will be expensive"? Came the question
"Dunno" came the answer, "I will have to open the engine".
So we did.
The event caused all the carbon in the combustion chamber seperate & impact the pistons and valves. One of the pushrods got bent and all the piston rings damaged. In short a top end rebuild. $3500
Having got it together we started the engine (sounded nice) only to detect on cranking a ring gear tooth off. At $377 for a ring gear plus labor, this job has turned out to be an expensive excercise for those excesses of the "right digit and ether".

Simple maxim don't use ether to start your Pinz, can seriously damage your bank balance.
Bye bye
Dennis

milesdzyn · Post by **milesdzyn** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 11:36 pm

Dennis... a quick question.

I have my motor out of the Pinz and was wondering if it would be worthwhile to pop off the cylinder heads, in order to remove the carbon build-up. I've done this before on an air cooled VW motor and it greatly improved / smoothed out the operation of the motor. There was nothing wrong with my motor before removal, Just had to tear the frame apart for restoration.

Miles

lindenengineering · Post by **lindenengineering** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 11:47 pm

Well Miles
You must have heard the maxim "if it ain't broke don't fix it"!

Me, I would remount it and then Motorvac" the engine. Cheaper by far than a teardown if the engine is running ok. We charge $200 for motorvac.
Best of luck with the rebuild.
Dennis

andy · Post by **andy** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:28 am

Dennis, okay, I give up. What is "Motorvac"? How does it work and what does it do? Thanks.

Andy

lindenengineering · Post by **lindenengineering** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:15 am

Andy
A Motorvac-----This is a Pro Shop's ( Car Repair centre for my UK brethren--"Pro" is something else over there) method of cleaning carburetors, injectors,rails, inlet tracts, pistons, combustion chambers, exhaust tracts and in some cases will improve cat operation if the unit is plugged up.

Essentially its a wheel up unit/device that you connect the vehicle's fuel system to; then disable the vehicle's fuel pump /supply lines it for the duration of the exercise. A fuel and a very aggressive fluid cleaner mix are pumped into the vehicle by the machine that strips out the carbon/gums/ and built up contamination that occurs in gasoline (petrol) engines. All going out through the "zorsts" . Car runs like new once complete in most cases and you can see an improvement in fuel consumption. Great for getting the car into E compliance

There is one for diesels and the crap expulsion can be quite spectacular as a Ford F250/Powerchoke customer we had experienced who just couldn't wait for us to purge out the exhaust! Patience seldom in a woman never in a man!
Dennis
ps That's why we are not doctors--No patients!

MASSIVE PINZ · Post by **MASSIVE PINZ** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:21 am

I have used a mixture of water and sea foam introduced at 2500 RPM into the intake to break up the carbon deposits with great sucess...

Carbon deposits effe ct the size and shape of chambers/pistons and can effect combustion balance, effectively making for 4 different compression ratios on the same engine and that makes for harmonics...

I-10pinz · Post by **I-10pinz** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:21 am

Sounds like i got lucky then we had a cold morning here a week back (one of the few) and tried some of the starting fluid, didn't work turned out to be the points but mabey that was a good thing.

andy · Post by **andy** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:21 am

Thanks, will send pm later. Cheers

Andy

lindenengineering · Post by **lindenengineering** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:37 pm

Guys
I suspect the hapless owner and his can of Aerostart got unlucky by spraying in a goodly dose that was unevenly distributed throughout the engine. When it "caught" two cylinders were heavily laden with ether/gasoline mixture. The resultant precombustion was enough to do the damage as I have explained. The "kick back" on the engine was sufficient to sheer off a ring gear tooth.

Besides with a carbureted engine and with the air intake plenum off spraying ether can result in a substancial "spit back" of ether/gasoline that will cause a spectacular engine fire under the canvass top.
Barbied Pinzaguer anyone?
How do we know?--Simple!
We had "almost" a Barbied Volvo c304 doing that on a cold and frosty morning, good for keeping the hands warm, hell for the "compos mentos" & heart rate!
Take care and I sincerely mean it.
Dennis
Bye Bye

SAM. C. · Post by **SAM. C.** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:32 pm

Hi Dennis

I was thinking of de-coking my Pinz engine, is Motorvac Ok for Naturally Aspirated engines? I have asked around here in Australia and they (the professionals not the pros) said it was mainly for cleaning out fuel injected sytems. It is still called Motrvac so I think it must be the same process.

Cheers

Sam

lindenengineering · Post by **lindenengineering** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:48 pm

Sam
Yes it is mostly for FI engines these days. That's what we use it for since most stuff that comes in the shop is FI equipped. The unit we have can be turned down to pump low pressures like 3 psi and there are instructiuons for hooking it up to carbied engines. in the handbook.

I suspect the ones used by the companies you have called have later units/different units to suit injected engines only.
Cheers mate
Dennis

SAM. C. · Post by **SAM. C.** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 3:41 am

Thanks Dennis

I am going to see the blokes that do it here on Wed. I will ask them if it runs at low pressure. Is there any danger of screwing anything up if it is run at high pressure?

Thanks

Sam