Thanks Bob.  That is an excellent article, and you
are being VERY helpful, especially considering
that I purchased my engine from a competitor.
Thank you so much for your help and advice.

I don't know what happened to this engine. When
I first started it up it ran fine.  Within a
hundred miles it  became doggy, pops back through
the exhaust, lopes, and runs like crap.  So far,
nothing has helped. Today I will change the
distributor, ECU, and pop the valve covers.

Because my engine is assembled, I guess I should
try the "in the past" method that you mention.
I'm a bit of a novice, so when you say set the
lash at .006, do you mean bring the cylinder
to TDC and use my feeler gauge to set the
clearance at .006? Then run it for a while?
I've never adjusted valves before, so wish
me luck!

Bob, I really appreciate your help.  You're a
real asset to the list.

Warren Lail
88 Westy "Billy Bones"
87 GL "Long John"

----- Original Message -----
From: ROBERT DONALDS <donalds1@verizon.net>
Date: Sunday, March 21, 2004 6:17 am
Subject: Re:      a new beginning on B. Bones

> Warren try this
> Bob Donalds
> Boston engine
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Warren.K.Lail-1" <wlail@OU.EDU>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2004 12:00 AM
> Subject: a new beginning on B. Bones
>
>
> > After a relaxing week traveling in New Mexico and
> > Arizona where I stared into a campfire each night,
> > I'm back at home and trying to catch up on all
> > that has been happening with the list.
> >
> > For me, it's back to the problems of my 88 Westy.
> > Tomorrow I will swap out the distributors between
> > my 87 and 88.  If that does not work, I'll
> > swap out the ECUs.  If that does not work, Leonard
> > at AVP told me to check the valve adjustment.
> > Sometimes, I'm told, the valves on a newly rebuilt
> > engine will tighten, and so I'm going to do the
> > initial adjustment per Bentley (less one turn).
> >
> > If by Monday this bus is not running well,
> > I'll take it to a local (and brilliant) English
> > mechanic.  I'll leave it with him until it's
> > running well, or I'll ... I'll, well, I'll cross
> > that bridge when I come to it.
> >
> > Regarding Joy's problems lifting the pop top
> > with her boat on board, I was thinking that
> > any shop that regularly installs those fiberglass
> > lids for pickup trucks could provide and install
> > a set of struts that would certainly help with
> > this task.  Just a thought . . .
> >
> > Warren
> > 88 Westy "Billy Bones"
> > 87 GL "Long John"
>