Mark Maras

Home depot $4.94.

I doubt the shaft is made of stainless steel. Typically the bright finish is hard chrome over a higher carbon steel.

The oiling looks OK to me. Did you clean the oiling tube? The holes can become restricted with sludge. A torch tip file works wonders for opening them up.

A small amount escapes at idle. A towel along the edge is enough to catch it. Don't rev it with the cover off though (VOE), you'll spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the mess on the fender well.

The pressure reading from the auxiliary gauge is the best test but I'd have started it up by now. Oil flow up to the head indicates the oil pump is pumping. On initial start-ups I normally leave the valve cover off to check the oil flow to each cam lobe and watch the pressure gauge.

A feeling of entitlement and a lack of empathy. The two sides of the same narcissistic coin. Perhaps the origin of the term "dead right".

I'd be tempted to put (grind) a bit more taper in the leading edge.

Much better.

It looks like an over-inflated Z balloon to me.

Coughing from the carbs or tail pipe? I'm thinking it may be running lean. Is it possible that you changed the float setting when it was pushed with the straw? Also, did you remove or inspect the needle valve for crud?At this point, I'd pull both float chamber tops and compare the fuel levels.

I can think of one person!

The WD-40 straw is a great idea. I'd also pull the float cover, inspect the needle valve for foreign matter holding it open, float and float pivot to find the reason for the excess fuel.

I'm leaning (snort) to a fuel problem. I've experienced similar symptoms and found them to be water related. If you have any clear fuel filters, check those for water. I'd also pull a float chamber top to see if there is water in the bottom of the bowl(s).

Original tubes thread?

Congrats on the success. 23mm down is good. I'd try turning the nozzles up 1/4 turn just to see the effect and then probably reset them to 3 turns. 20 wt. oil is recommended. The thicker the oil the slower the piston and needle rise during acceleration but doesn't prevent the piston from going all the way to the top. That slow rise (restricted venturi) and the open butterfly, speeds up the air coming thru the venturi (piston bottom), drawing more fuel from the nozzle. That slower rise replaces the accelerator pump that is found on most carbs. I ran ATF in mine with no complaints.

Grab an implement of destruction (I use an ice pick) and probe everything that is suspect. You'll soon have a better idea of the extent of the damage and what will need to be replaced.

Search using the word "floats" and you'll find pics and discussion. You'll be looking for the depth of fuel in the float bowl. Measure form the top edge of the bowl down to the fuel level. Pics would be great. Also, while holding the cap and float assembly , with the floats hanging down, blow into the inlet tube. You should be able to blow air through it. Now slowly lift the float while blowing into the tube. When the float is lifted to about 9/16" from the bottom of the float cover, you shouldn't be able to blow through it.

The carbs have no elec. wires. I'd pull the float covers and take a look inside and take a measurement from the bowl top edge to the fuel level. If you've verified you have spark at the plugs, try spraying some starting fluid (ether) into the carbs and see if the engine starts and runs for a few seconds.

Tell us the history of the carbs. Did anyone rebuild them? Not that I think they need it, just looking at a possible screw-up during assembly. If there is fuel in the carb. fuel lines, the banjo fittings on top of the float bowls contain a filter screen. Clean those and then verify your float fuel levels are correct.

I'd also verify the coolant temperature with a thermometer to find out if the gauge is wrong.

1) "Difficult first start of the day" is not enough fuel. Misadjusted choke cables are often the reason. Have you checked the float levels. They are the primary mixture adjustments.

Ditto

We didn't torque tapered roller bearings "back in the day". We would spin the wheel while tightening the nut until the nut was snug and usually tighten it until the next slot in the nut aligned with the hole in the spindle. On my 71 the next alignment slot felt too tight, so I backed the nut off. That slot left the wheel bearings with an almost imperceptible amount of play. I consulted my Dad (ex-logger) about the looseness and he said a tapered wheel bearing would last a lot longer a bit loose than a bit too tight. I don't know why, to this day, but I left the bearings a bit loose and other than occasionally greasing them, I ran them over 175,000 miles. I did have to tighten them, temporarily, for novice races. Tech didn't like loose wheel bearings.

Even compression #s (or close to it) in all the cylinders is more important than high #s in an old engine. Your second reading looks good. I've not limited the # of engine revolutions when testing compression in the past. I suspect that given a few more revs the #s would have popped up a few more p.s.i. I think you're good to go.

As the car is hesitating while pushing on the accelerator, gradually add a bit of choke and see if the hesitation goes away.