DeTomaso Mailing List: June 98, Message #317

Hi guys,

Had a fun weekend working on my various cars with P.J. Couillard (out 
visiting from Vermont.)  Among other things, I received several object 
lessons on the importance of Preventative Maintenance.

My 427 Cobra has been running kind of doggy for awhile (at least by MY 
standards) and I didn't know why.  We started poking around, and 
discovered ALL spark plugs were loose, not even finger-tight, and I was 
getting blowby on all cylinders.  So much for compression!  The exhaust 
was loud enough that I couldn't hear anything from the plugs.

(During my stint in Korea, Doug DeRyke had pulled all the plugs and 
spritzed WD-40 in the cylinders to keep 'em from rusting up.  He said 
he'd then re-torqued all the plugs, and I never thought to check.  Guess 
he was wrong!)

Anyway, tight plugs made a noticable difference, but then we got out the 
timing light.  Our efforts were initially frustrated by the discovery 
that the balancer had NO markings on it! :<(  By trial and error, 
though, we were able to determine that the timing needed to be advanced 
a full 20 degrees or so.

NOW this motor is beginning to act like a 427 should!  It still doesn't 
feel FAST fast though; apparently it's fitted with a fairly mild cam. 
:<(

So, how difficult would it be to perform a cam swap with the motor in 
place, I wonder?

(BTW, Tullio and Ingate, when you drove in the car, yes, it was just as 
doggy.  I guess I picked up 35 hp or so by dinking with the plugs and 
timing, but I think there's another 40-50 to go by carb jiggling, and 
maybe a cam swap?)

Later on, we turned our attentions to (gasp) my Pantera!  The motor had 
been giving me fits the last time I'd tried to run it (back in July or 
so.)  Long story short, it's STRONGLY advised that you actually have GAS 
in the tank when you're trying to make a motor run!  All the backfiring 
and rough running I'd experienced was at least partly attributable to 
that!

All sing together:  "DUH, Mike!"

But still, it was only running on 6 cylinders, even WITH fresh gas.  
Pulled the plugs and found a couple of dead ones.  Propped the electric 
choke open (no electricity going to the choke, thus it wasn't opening, 
thus it fouled the plugs), installed new plugs, advanced the timing a 
bit, and VAROOM!!!!

Man, this motor sounds TOUGH!  It's got a fairly serious cam, and the 
Pete Jackson gear drive makes BEEYOOTIFUL music!  FWIW, later on we 
compared the sound to Moon Man's Gilmer Belt drive, and his belt drive 
was almost totally silent (which may be a good thing, depending on your 
perspective.)  Previously I'd heard a very noisy and tough-sounding 
Gilmer drive on Robb Casey's car; turns out the thing was adjusted too 
tight and eventually a pulley failed because of it.

Oh, and yesterday I paid an unannounced visit to the HQ of DeTomaso USA 
in San Francisco; didn't talk to any of the Qvales but did spend some 
time chatting with the DeTomaso affairs admin person, a lovely Italian 
girl named Sylvia.  Took a sneaky peek at some of the documents on her 
desk too; BIG things (GOOD things) could be happening by/for/with the 
Qvales in Italy (not just related to DeTomaso.)  Pretty cool stuff, all 
in all...

Mike

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