An Engine Cleaning Adventure Topic:Engine   Date: 2008-01-27 Printer Friendly:

I ventured out to clean the engine today. I couldn't find any markings on the engine, and I was trying to identify which kind of small block V8 engine Isaballe had. The fact that there was still straw stuck in the intake manifold along with dirt bothered me, and certainly made it difficult to see what kind of engine it was. The rumor is that it is a 327, and that does fit with the year. It has been rebuilt, though, and I don't know if the engine is original. Isabelle ran well on the way to the car wash. The one a couple miles from our house has a spray-and-wash with an engine cleaner solution, so I drove her down there to get the engine cleaned up a bit. I remembered my last trip to a car wash in a GMC, which I later speculated ended in the sale of the GMC outside a minute market because I got water in the carburetor; however, this time I covered the carburetor with my hand as I sprayed the intake manifold. I simply have to get some kind of air cleaner for her. Why is it that many old cars I've had don't have an air cleaner on them?

Isabelle started up fine after washing and rinsing her engine. I considered a nice vacuuming, but decided against it and left the lot. As soon as I drove out onto the street she stopped. The generator light was on. Turning the key wouldn't start her. More on this later, but when I got her, the positive post was hooked up to a black cable and the negative post was hooked up to a red cable, which you can see in Engine Day 0. As an added bonus, the clamps are on the post upside down, so they jar loose easily. There was a bus at a stop down the street, and I was in the way. I tried to get out the driver's door using a tricky move I had practiced reaching up through the inside of the door. No luck. I had to get out the passenger door, open the hood, jiggle the battery cables (I still haven't fixed them) and go in and start Isabelle. She started up right away. I let her go a little bit, and decided after a minute to try and cross the four lane street, turning left on my way home. She stopped as I turned left, halfway through the intersection. I coasted so I was blocking the two southbound lanes. This time I didn't even try the trick on the door and left through the passenger door, the folks stuck at the intersection watching as I opened the hood, swiveled the clamp on the post a couple times, and got back in the cab. As I was getting in I noticed an older, fifty five or so, guy with a large beard halfway down his chest walking towards me. When he saw me get in the cab he turned back. The engine didn't start. I got out and pushed her down the road. A guy with a Chevy truck pulled up in back of me. The truck was an early nineties truck, I think. Not in the best shape. The paint was peeling off. The guy yelled that he could push me, and how far did I need to go? I told him if he could just push me into the parking lot outside a Mexican restaurant on the right, that would be great. He did. As he was pushing, the tailgate fell down. We both looked at his truck... there didn't appear to be any damage. He pushed me the rest of the way into the parking lot towards the back. As we were entering the parking lot, the man with the beard drove his car away. The restaurant was closed, so he must have pulled over to help me. The guy who pushed me with his truck asked if I needed a ride anywhere, but I told him, no, it was just some wiring.

I banged the clamp onto the post and Isabelle started fine. I revved her up a bit and drove her home without further problems.