As of today the bus runs beautifully! I can start it, warm it up, drive it around, park it, and start it back up again. While I’m still not 100% convinced that the engine is bullet-proof, it ran better today that it ever has before.
I started by swapping the power jet and idle jets. Last week, I noticed that I reeked of exhaust fumes (more than usual) after working on the bus. This is a sign that the carb is running rich – research suggested that these new 30Pict carbs come jetted incorrectly. Sure enough, I noticed that the thing has two removable jets on the left side – idle and power jets, and one was slightly bigger than the other – I switched them around.
I also got some white paint and marked 30 degrees on the crank pulley – got out the timing gun, and revved the engine. If it was timed correctly to 30degrees, the white paint should line up with the middle of the crankcase – however, when I revved that bad boy, the paint line was way off. I twisted the distributor until the line shifted to the center – almost immediately, the engine idle smoothed out – Success!
To cap off a very successful day, I drove Noelle around the parking lot a few times. It started up with a bump of the key, and shifted gears beautifully. I did manage to stall it once (because I can be an idiot, but that should be obvious by now) but it started right up afterwards so I could keep going. Basically, she thinks I am awesome and well I can’t really argue with that – I am very happy with the state of the engine now – I just hope the bus is still in a good mood tomorrow!
