Thursday, January 31, 2008

10-minute job

I mentioned yesterday that the carb came out for a gasket renewal. It really should have been a 10-minute job to remove it, stick in the gasket and get it re-attached. Most of the time is usually spent on tuning the thing, setting the idle speed and mix.

However, life with a Landy is never simple.

That 10-minute job took 2 days (part-time)!

First, there were issues with o-rings. The one on the main bottom bolt was sitting way too loose, and I suspected that was causing the leak. It was replaced on the way home yesterday - but then I found that the inner bolt o-ring was also shot. More than... it has completely disintegrated! It seems that particular version of rubber and petrol do not mix well. However, there was still one more o-ring in place, so I took my chances and put the thing back together (while attempting to cook supper at the same time - nothing like a bit of multitasking).

As darkness fell, the carb went in. Only to come right out again 15 minutes later when the bottom bolt fell out during setting - showering me in the contents of the float chamber as I lay beneath the beast.

Back to the kitchen, and between the remains of supper it was re-assembled. I really dislike having to work in the dark by extension light, bothering the neighbours with the sound of tinkering and tuning - but last night I had no choice.

Finally, at 9:45, smelling like petrol and oil, I was done. The carb may not be professionally tuned, but it's working - and one final idle-speed adjustment after the commute to work has it ticking over more than sufficiently.

However, I'm now placing a ban on 10-minute jobs after work.. :-) They never end up sticking to that schedule anyway.

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