Heidi and Franny do a 550

[DessauSpeed]

I've seen a few of their videos before, always well done. Will be interesting to see someone getting on-the-job education tuning a cranky Spyder. Have not watched any of the videos yet, but should be entertaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdykJ2PDU_we

[RBP]

Will be interesting to see if they finish the project and pull the head,

[EEricson]

Does anyone else wonder why she doesn't 1. check the disty; 2. set the timing and 3. balance the dang carbs?

[DessauSpeed]

She actually does rebuild and balance the carbs in one of the shows. I also saw a clip where she times it, either they cut that out or it's going to be in another episode. The car is a bit strange, having the gills on a Beck. My guess is this is a Beck kit built by Boulder Speedster. Looks brand new. Crazy it has problems, and the way they did the throttle cable at the pedals is nutty. I've never seen a Spyder with stock VW heat exchangers either. Crazy that they fit...

[RBP]

From what I saw she did R&R the carbs and give them a good cleaning. She then balanced them for air flow with a snail at each velosity stack, set the idle then the mixture screws. She also states she opened the air bypass screws a few turns which I understand is not something one should do. There was no high RPM sync done and she set the rockers for the wrong gap at .006 rather than .001, but neither of these 2 things would cause the problem at idle.

If it were me, I'd close the air bypass screws, and as noted by Eric, check the ignition system. If it still is doesn't run I'd pull the head. Based on the leakdown test I'd say that head has to come off, and while in there replace the push rod seals and or tubes to fix the oil leak.

[Carlos G]

That is one creepy smile.

[DannyP]

IMHO there is probably carbon buildup on the 3-4 head. Those leakdown numbers really aren't bad, but as she said, they should be nearly identical in all cylinders.

Close those bypass screws. Only use them to adjust a low airflow at idle on one barrel per carb. You could alternatively set them all 1/2 turn open initially. I did that in my younger days, but now close them all and only open a low barrel.

[DannyP]

They are actually in the process of this job, latest video was posted three days ago.

[Spydey]

https://youtu.be/LdUfCfUsogg

Just started watching the series. I’m enjoying it. She has a handful of videos on the Beck 550 Spyder. The one above compares an original (356) to a replica Beck Spyder (pros and cons).

[egrant5329]

IMHO there is probably carbon buildup on the 3-4 head. Those leakdown numbers really aren't bad, but as she said, they should be nearly identical in all cylinders.

Danny if it was carbon build up, how would you fix it?
EdG

[DannyP]

Start it up, get it real warm. Drive it hard. Then remove the air cleaners. Rev it up to 3-4000, and keep it there while pouring some water down the throat. Use the throttle as it bogs down to keep the revs up. Watch the big cloud of white steam pouring out of the tailpipe. You have now steam-cleaned the combustion chamber. Unless you have a big white cloud, you're either not using enough water or enough revs. Do all 4.

Poor man's tune-up!

[egrant5329]

What volume of water? 1, 5, 10, 15, 30 ml ?
Where is the carbon that this cleans off? Valves, pistons, cyl walls?
Any downsides/risks to doing this?
Just curious. You mentioned it in the past and I meant to ask then, but never did.
EdG

[RS-60 mark]

Well, I just watched through episode 7. It reminded me of me; when doing things for the first time not knowing what I was doing. Eventually I get there, sort of.

She should have spent some time actually reading Tomlinson's Dellorto book. It was sitting on her workbench. Her answers were there all the time.

Danny P: Is it just me, or can you also see the ball ends on the hexbar actually jumping up and down due to wear when she pulls on the actuating horns? She'll never get a smooth off idle transition with wear in the ball end joint. And, even with a proper "heim joint" modification, she'll never video record a smooth transition by pulling on one actuating horn (there is torque flex in the hexbar that will always cause the other horn to lag behind the one being pulled, hence the rough and shaking transition from idle).

But, it is still a fun series to watch.

[DannyP]

Ed, about a pint or so for each cylinder. After you do it a few times you'll know how fast to pour. If there is carbon on the cylinder walls, you've got more problems than I can solve.

Mostly, the carbon is on top of the piston and on the head and valve surface. This increases the compression ratio and causes detonation, especially because the carbon will glow and can ignite under pressure, like a diesel.

I guess if you pour too fast you could conceivably hydro-lock a cylinder and bend a rod, that's why you keep the revs up, to keep the water moving through.

Mark, totally agree. You and I could have that thing purring in an hour or so LOL!