Initiation

In discussion about the poor running he'd been experiencing, Larry mentioned that he hadn't adjusted Sandy's valves. How many miles had it been, I asked. Over 4,000 miles was the answer. That's too many. Even if it had nothing to do with Sandy's poor idling and starting, they needed to be done anyway. Knowing from bitter experience that fuelies are especially sensitive to out-of-adjustment valves however, I had an inkling.

In any case, true bus operators need to know how to adjust valves and Larry'd never done it. He had done his homework though (see his composition book?) and said that Sandy's were to be set at 0.006" for intake, 0.008" for exhaust. Skeptical since twenty-two years of valve adjustments have indelibly etched the 0.006" figure into the very fabric of my mind (it's right there between the quadratic formula and the lyrics to "You Shook Me All Night Long"), I asked him to call the guy who built Sandy's engine for confirmation. Sure enough, Sandy has a cam that necessitates those figures. Eight thousandths for the exhausts it is.

Determined to get Larry familiar with Sandy, I did as little as possible besides talking. At cylinder 1 I showed him where to slide the feeler blade and checked his work. 

At cylinder 2 I just checked his work.

By the time he got over to cylinders 3 and 4 I was just fielding questions, spouting "wisdom", and casually reflecting on existence.

Sandy's got a nice, clean engine compartment with unmolested fuel injection. Larry has already been advised to get a screen for the fan, lest Vermont's spectacular Fall foliage (among other things) end up inside Sandy's cooling system.

Checking in with Lexie.

It turned out that all the valves were off, both ways (tight and loose), and not just a little. Firing her up post-adjustment, she purred like a kitten, pretty much. We reset the idle to spec, looked at the timing, and Larry changed the oil. Then he took her on a drive up a grade, to get her warm and see if he could induce the poor idle/hard starting condition.

Nada. I advised (such as my advice is) that the problems were caused mostly if not entirely by the way-off valves and that barring any further issues, he shouldn't do anything else to the engine. (Here is Larry's take on the day, for the record.)

As of this writing he's in Livingston, on his way to Billings and points East. Safe travels!