Success can be exhausting

No, the Landshark hasn't sold, but it is running the best it has since I bought it. I ran a can of SeaFoam through the engine and exorcised 25 years of buildup. I may try it again in a few weeks to see if there is further improvement. After the SeaFoam, I had to reset the timing and the idle. Unless it broke my fuel gauge, I think I'll be getting slightly more than the six miles per gallon the Landshark was posting previously. 

update, so, the mileage has increased to a whopping 10 City, 14 Highway. Still not great. It's obviously running rich from the exhaust smell, but I think I'll run a few weeks like this, SeaFoam it again, and then start fooling with the mixture. So far no further interest from buyers, but as Spring gets closer, the idea of a project car becomes more appealing.

The Landshark is leaving

My electrical problem is fixed.  It wasn't the alternator, merely a shorted out wire to the alternator.  Much less expensive to fix, but time consuming to find.  This was the last repair for the Landshark.  While it has been a lot of fun.  I am starting law school in a few weeks.  My reading list is long, and school is a 30 minute drive.  Fun and enjoyable will have to wait for a mid-life crisis. I need reliable.  

The Landshark can be yours!!!  Look for it on Craigslist, (or by moonlight)

The Landshark is afraid of water

Specifically rainwater.  It's raining heavily.  I was a little too correct with my choice of "The Landshark" for a name.  It does not like the water and conked out in the rain.  I hoped I had just blown a relay or fuse in the wet. Sadly no. Something has affected the alternator and the battery is dead.  If only the battery had died in a parking lot.  Unfortunatley it died while driving.  This is an interesting experience.  The headlights get dimmer and dimmer, the wipers slow down and then, the engine stops firing correctly coughs and sputters to a halt.  

By the time this had occured, I was still doing 30 trying to spot the sholder through a rain soaked windshield no longer serviced by my wipers.  I thought about it, switched relays and gave the key a turn.  Sadly nothing happened.  I gave the engine some time to dry out.  Still nothing.  At this point, I called Roadside Assistance, thankfully I had one flashing bar of battery left on my phone making the automated phone menu of my insurance especially enjoyable.  The battery held out, the tow truck arrived and the Landshark is now parked in front of the house.  

Hopefully the rain will stop and the electrical problem will have dried out by morning.  I still think I'll be riding the bike to work.

Out of Commission

Not the car, just me.  I sneezed yesterday and blew out my back.  Hopefully it's not too serious.  I wasn't planning on doing much this weekend anyway.  Happy Thanksgiving.  

At least I can still eat turkey!!!

Cold weekend; little accomplished

So it was chilly this weekend.  My one repair project met with minimal success.  The exhaust has some small holes, I thought I could patch them with some muffler tape...No such luck.  After curing overnight, the test drive today burned right through the patch.  The LandShark will just be loud until I order a muffler.  On the plus side, I created a long and seemingly daunting list of things to do.  http://jacknsundrop.tadalist.com/lists/1156806/public.  Hopefully, I can roll through them pretty quickly.  The only real excitement, other than how much fun the LandShark is to drive, is when my hood latch let go somewhere past 85 mph.  Fortunately these old BMW hoods are hinged in the front, so it did not fly up and block my view.  The speedometer only goes up to 85 as well, so it's hard to say how fast I was going.  The long drive did wonders for my clutch and transmission.  Shifting was much smoother on the return trip.  I should have taken a picture.

Success!!!

Who knew that an engine could be so sensitive.  I left the snorkel off the air filter case while working on the engine.  It's in the way, and when making adjustments, I am constantly taking the air filter case in and out of the car anyway.  With the snorkel off, too much air was getting into the engine at idle, snuffing out the combustion.  The snorkel is part 4 in the diagram below.  

I know, that's a lot of parts to hold an air filter.  Until I had made these adjustments, the snorkel didn't really make a difference whether the car ran or not.  It was actually harder to start with the snorkel on before I cleaned and tuned up the engine.  Now it fires right up.  The throttle was unresponsive too before I made all the adjsutments and cleaned/checked/replaced various fuel injection components.  Now it runs as much like a scaleded dog as a car with only a little over 100hp can.  Now I just need to start my search for a passenger seat and center console. 

I have a suspicion that my heater vents are all blocked.  Possibly with dirt dobber nests. Thankfully I have a warm coat and a short drive to work.

Still sitting in the carport

Now that it is very cold working on the car is less exciting.  Riding the bike to work will be even less exciting next week if I don't figure it out tomorrow.  The Landshark will run, he just won't idle.  It's hard to hold down three pedals at a stop sign with only two feet.  I've gone through everything, but may have overlooked something simple.  I have an idea to try tomorrow.  We'll see what happens.