what's wrong?, gurgle, pop, even died Options

[seanery]

OK, so last week the car ran wierd on saturday. I blew the jets out (they seemed fine) replaced the o-rings, cleaned the K&N's and it still does it. It smells a bit rich, but it always has. It will idle fine, but if I go out for a drive it's just not right. Could it be valve adjustment time?

Thanks in Advance, I'm going to the track Saturday and don't wanna have to wrench on it there.

[lapuwali]

The trick with making valve adjustments easy is you don't really HAVE to have the engine exactly at TDC. You simply need to ensure that the valve that's being adjusted isn't on the cam ramp.

On a flat four, this is very easy. Take both valve covers off, and look at the intake valve on cylinder 4. Turn the engine until it just starts to open (you'll see the rocker move). Now, the intake valve on cylinder 1 is timed 360 crank degrees away from the intake valve on cylinder 4, or 180 cam degrees, and they use the same cam lobe. So, when the intake on 4 is open, the intake on 1 must be off the lobe. Adjust 1, then reverse the process, turning the engine until 1 opens, then do 4. Repeat with 2 and 3. Exhaust valves are the same, as well. If you want to be extra precise, watch the rocker on the valve as you turn the engine, so it opens, then JUST starts to close (it will actually pause for a bit between opening and closing). You're now very close to TDC, and any error in valve lash will be under a thou, which is plenty good enough.

If you're still running points, check them as well. Check the dwell and the timing. If you don't know when the points and condensor were last changed, replace them. They're cheap, and consumable. Ignition problems frequently masquerade as carburation problems.