Restoring a 1988 Spree

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:06 pm

It should screw off or you have the wrong plug.

CaptDan · Post by **CaptDan** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 11:32 am

Storm wrote:the new spark plug I bought has a bigger tip than the plug cap will accept!

Maybe you need to unscrew the metal jacket from the thread?

CaptDan

Storm · Post by **Storm** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 4:37 am

Put a bit of force onto the jacket and lo and behold, off came big tip and there was little tip.
On advice from a friend, I used jumper leads from my car to ensure a good spark to start, got a couple of positive sounding turnovers, but no go.
Will try the torch on the plug approach and then attempt a start with a hot plug and plenty of power and see what happens from there.

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:40 pm

Jumping it form a car will not give hotter spark, might turn over faster if the battery is dead but thats all. Spark is an isolated circuit running off a small dedicated auxiliary coil in the alternator. If I remember correctly.

Storm · Post by **Storm** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 4:04 pm

Probably just gave it a good quick turnover then.
It just gave me a brief moment of excitement when I thought it was going to catch.

circusracer · Post by **circusracer** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 6:16 pm

If need a hotter spark, replace your coil with a MSD aftermarket coil. Then you will have a blue bolt of lightning.

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:00 pm

Coils are a waste of money(and cant be good for the tiny weak stator), stock throws blue.

Storm · Post by **Storm** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:19 am

Gave the spark plug some blow torch love to get it up to operating heat, and used jumper leads off my car to ensure a good spark, and got several cycles with a decent crank, and then it bogged down and refused to start, even after I gave the plug some more hot loving. It was covered with oil, leading me to think I am still having grief with too much oil from somewhere, or the starter motor is not doing a proper job.
Any hints on what to check with the starter/oil system?

ALOW1 · Post by **ALOW1** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:58 pm

Plug off the oil lines and see if it runs on premix?

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:42 pm

It has been sitting for a long time and the oil pump has a slow leak(NBD unless it sits for years). Try pouring some gas down the plughole, see if ti will cough.

Storm · Post by **Storm** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:25 pm

I assume you mean down the spark plug hole, and what exactly do you mean by "cough"? Start, or just turn over

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:00 pm

Turn over would mean the engine is making full rotations. The word you are looking for is "fire".

Storm · Post by **Storm** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:19 pm

Fire's good- preferably a good solid flame to cook off the oil surplus of several Arab countries worth that is gunging up my non-combustion chamber.

Cheers for the advice, will give it a go and hopefully keep the exhaust bolted on when it fires !!! LOL

Storm · Post by **Storm** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:23 pm

Unfortunatly, it seems the starter motor has decided to go on holiday!!
I had it connected to a friends van and was turning it over, when the starter motor ceases to crank. The relay is clicking in and out and is getting very hot when attempting to use it, which tells me the starter motor is refusing to rotate. I shall pull the starter motor off and investigate further. I wonder if thats been part of my non starting issues?

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:24 pm

You ran it too long 10 seconds out of a minute MAX or it will smoke itself.