Projects KIWI MADE 1927 T Lakes modified - Journey to the end of the road!

Top idea. JW

 

Soooooo, before we left for the pre 49s I figured that it might pay to check that the roadster was going to start after having been on the trailer since returning from the street rod nationals 3 weeks earlier. The carb float had been giving grief and sticking previously. I leaned in and hit the key as usual, expecting it to fire off straight away as usual. Nope! Not today! It spun over then hit a wall and would no longer budge.....oops!
Sensing that the float had stuck and flooded a cylinder due to the tanks proximity to the carb I pulled the spark plugs and placed rags appropriately to minimize mess. Then I hit the key again.......sure enough whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, squirt! Copious amounts of fuel out the plug hole! Bugger!
I checked the oil level.....high!
Okay, sump plug out to drain the oil/fuel. Fresh filter and oil from town, on a public holiday.
Stick with me, I am getting to the part where I broke it on the run!
Fresh oil in, new filter on, I replaced the spark plugs, only to find number 6 had galled aluminum on the thread! I carefully cleaned it up and applied locktite and very gently replaced it into the head and didn't mention it to my girlfriend!
Apparently locktite on a galled aluminum head thread only lasts 2 and half days of thrashing it like you stole it!
So we were about a hundred meters from the final show and shine venue for the run on the last day when the sparkplug staged a dramatic protest, luckily it had a black rubber tether attached. Never mind, we then got to show off how easy the car loads onto it's trailer.
So now I will be pulling the head for a trip to the machine shop for a helicoil.

 

You tell it so well, that would be a nasty event to have happen and good you trailered it there. What do you put on the plugs threads when you install them? JW

 

Head off, helicoil organized, now we just have to track down a gasket set for an engine that has been out of production for 6 decades! Wish me luck!

On the plus side of the ledger I did find the vacuum leak on the off topic tow car. The gasket under the carb spacer had been whistling "enough is enough" due to it being the incorrect one for the manifold! Never mind, we live and learn!​