Mark Maras

I don't see how the distributor can be bad. The coil wire leads to the center of the rotor, which spins and distributes the energy to the contacts in the cap, then to the wire, then to the plugs. If the problem is electrical it has to be somewhere between the #4 internal cap contact and the connection at the plug. (you did check to see if the screw on connector on the plug tip was tight, right?) I think the best way to test the resistance is to remove the cap with the wires intact. Check the resistance in all six as an assembly by touching one probe to a contact inside the cap and the other probe on the sparkplug contact inside the spark-plug boot. Check the resistance in all six. Actual numbers aren't as critical as major differences, especially in #4.

Looking carefully at the pics, I think I may see the carbon trail. The horiz. flat #4 boss that holds the contact has a very faint vertical line on it, then looking at the next contact down in the pic I see what appears to be another or the (kinda wavy) same line under the top of the lid that runs down from left to right. The carbon trail that I originally discovered on my 521 was very faint too. Do you have a volt-ohm meter, I don't remember.

I've seen carbon trails inside the cap from one contact to the contact next to it that caused a misfire. The carbon trail (track) looks like a line drawn with a pencil. The cause was a poor spark plug wire connector. The path from one contact to another inside the cap was an easier path to complete the circuit than jumping the bad connector in the spark plug wire. @jalexquijano Have you ever compared the resistance in all the spark plug wires with an OHM meter? They should read about the same as each other. No need to pull them from the engine. Just disconnect both ends and stick a probe in each end.

Those are great compression numbers. Did you ever try removing #s 3 and 4 spark plug wire and switching them to see if the problem moves to another plug along with the wire?

@jalexquijano I remember a compression test from a while back but I don't remember the results. Could you post them again?

I'd try a hotter plug. It won't tell you what's wrong but it might buy you some time.

Glad you got your starter problems resolved. I wish I could give you an opinion on the spark plug non-foulers but I don't even have an educated guess. I'm not familiar with the product at all. It's cheap and I doubt it can do any harm. I'd be interested in hearing about any change if you try them. Anyone else want to chime in? Have you tried all the things that @AK260 suggested in post #15?

I loved Westwood too. Down that short hill, pulling multi G forces at the bottom was the most fun for me. Lap after lap, going down that hill, I kept believing I could enter that left hander faster than the previous lap. That theory worked well for a few laps until I went off on the left turn exit. Regretfully, I never felt like I mastered that off camber downhill right hander. I loved tracks with elevation changes.

Submerge it in CLR for 24 - 48 hours (Thanks @wheee!). It will come out looking nearly pristine.

A good many years ago I was headed up I-5 (relatively flat section) going a good 75ish mph when suddenly my 71 240 slowed to 45 mph. It was running smooth and being a few miles from my folks house I decided to try a few things, I pulled the choke, no change. Kicked in the clutch and revved it to 6 grand. Let the clutch out and it would not go faster than 45. Shifted into third, no change. Shifted into second, no change. Got to my folks house doing 45mph and I told my Dad (an old school logger) about my car woes. He kind of chuckled and said the engine wasn't getting enough fuel. I countered with the damn thing will rev to six grand but then he explained an engine under a load consumes more fuel and it won't go any faster , no matter what gear I was in because it only had enough fuel to pull the load that speed. It would rev fine because there was no load. Our temporary solution was remove to the underhood fuel filter and blow it out in reverse flow direction. I drove it home the next day (75ish) and had no trouble. Replaced the old filter after that and never experienced the problem again.

The major concern at this time is the float levels. I'd work on that first. The needle installation looks OK.

I agree. Any of the three ways are a piece of cake compared to removing and replacing those parts on most cars.

He won't be the first Gov. official to make a one way trip to Walter Reed.

Correct, 1 turn = 360`. I'm not sure what you want to do to one needle. The piston drop and lift test seems to have confirmed the needles aren't scrubbing the nozzle ports. Just looked again. I think I see what you mean. The top (base) of the needle looks like someone wrestled it out of the piston with new sharp pliers. It also appears to be bent or is that just my eyes? I don't believe there's a good reason to hook up the choke cables if you don't need the choke but that could be a too rich symptom. The piece of flat bar linkage that pulls the nozzles down needs to be installed.

An 8" rod is impressive. Perhaps we've discovered the reason for no pics.

Sounds pretty good. Did you check the float bowl fuel levels and how many turns down are the nozzles?

Pics or it didn't happen.

The main function of the choke cables is to pull the nozzles down, richening the mixture but the linkage also opens the butterflies a bit. That allows more air into the mixture and raises the idle RPMs. The nozzles shouldn't stick. Try lubing them first if that doesn't work check the nozzle linkage alignment. You may have to twist the linkage (circled in red, above) to be sure the mating surfaces on each end are parallel to their attachment points.

Great, it would seem the needles, pistons and domes are in good shape. Earlier you mentioned the choke not working on one carb.There are a couple of things that will cause the nozzle to bind up. The fuel hose to the nozzle needs to be ultra flexible. Ztherapy sells silicone hoses. The other problem can be the linkage that pulls the nozzle down and pushes it up. Over time, the flat-bar linkage can warp a bit causing the nozzle to bind up. The carb will have to be removed to check the linkage alignment. Check to see that both ends of the linkage are parallel to their mounting surfaces and lube the outer surface of the nozzles before assembly. Another thing to check is the float levels. The float level is the primary mixture adjustment. You'll definitely need a Uni Syn for balancing the carbs.

No need for lube. The outer diameter of the piston isn't supposed to touch the inside of the dome. The chrome tube in the center of the piston that holds oil should have a bit of oil on the outside.

Clean everything carefully with lacquer thinner and raise the nozzles to the top (usually up 2 1/2 turns?). Install the domes and pistons without oil and without the shock absorber "jiggly bits". Verify both pistons bottomed out, then lift them slowly to their top positions and let them fall. The stroke of the pistons should be smooth (no resistance) from bottom to top and top to bottom and nearly identical in drop time. If you encounter resistance at the bottom of the stroke, lower the nozzles to their original height (2 1/2 turns down) and perform the drop test again to see if the resistance changes.

If I didn't want to spend big bucks for a starter, I'd buy the one with the best warranty.

I'd use it if I couldn't find a replacement. One could also TIG weld the damage. I seem to remember Cliff @siteunseen using cheap oven cleaner on a trans, at one time, and reporting it worked very well.

The fires, for the most part, are still burning but not spreading rapidly like they were in the high winds. There will be plenty of work to be done when they're all out. Hwy. 22, between Salem and Sisters has over 10,000 trees that have to be dealt with, due to fire damage and unstable hillsides, before the hwy. opens.

Nope, not the "Yellow death". Jim is correct, it's the 8008 adhesive. Good tip on the 3M adhesive remover. I've never tried that.