The Mediocre TITLE FAIRY thread :: Change my title, please.

Speaking of working on carbs, a friend of mine showed me a neat device he uses to set the two carburetors on his MG. Simple but effective. First one pulls a spark plug out and places this special "spark plug" in its place. The diagnostic plug had glass sides. When the car is running, you can watch the color of the fire in the cylinder by looking through that thing. When the color of the fire is the cylinder was correct, the carb was set. You just did one carb and then do the other one. No need to try to balance the two carbs. You just set one at a time.

That was even easier than my old method. (I might not should mention this. . .) but my never fail, secret method was called "Dad, I need a hand. . ."

Nogo wrote in post #19522324
Speaking of working on carbs, a friend of mine showed me a neat device he uses to set the two carburetors on his MG. Simple but effective. First one pulls a spark plug out and places this special "spark plug" in its place. The diagnostic plug had glass sides. When the car is running, you can watch the color of the fire in the cylinder by looking through that thing. When the color of the fire is the cylinder was correct, the carb was set. You just did one carb and then do the other one. No need to try to balance the two carbs. You just set one at a time.

That was even easier than my old method. (I might not should mention this. . .) but my never fail, secret method was called "Dad, I need a hand. . ."

if you had two "special spark plugs" it would be even quicker! 'spose you'd need to test each at either end of the bank of cylinders to see if there was a "lean" end or not.
Must say it's been a very long time since MG's had carburetors though, great to hear they're still in use somewhere... <A30 owner here, similar to MG in age, but much less performance>

Nogo wrote in post #19522324
Speaking of working on carbs, a friend of mine showed me a neat device he uses to set the two carburetors on his MG. Simple but effective. First one pulls a spark plug out and places this special "spark plug" in its place. The diagnostic plug had glass sides. When the car is running, you can watch the color of the fire in the cylinder by looking through that thing. When the color of the fire is the cylinder was correct, the carb was set. You just did one carb and then do the other one. No need to try to balance the two carbs. You just set one at a time.

That was even easier than my old method. (I might not should mention this. . .) but my never fail, secret method was called "Dad, I need a hand. . ."

Rich friend. I use to work in a gas station as a mechanic as a youngster. Very low budget place run by three brothers (J-3 Texaco, Jimmy, Johnny, and Jesse). They were three good ol' boys from Alabama that invested in the station and were barely making it. Anyway, they showed me a method that I have used several times when I needed to sync my Honda 750K. Very primitive, but dirt cheap and totally effective. It used 2 bottles with rubber caps. Clear beer bottles work great. The bottles were attached by a piece of tubing and there were two open tubes that you attached to the carbs. You poured a bit of brake fluid in each bottle, seal it up, suck on one tube that connects to the carb until the tube connecting the bottles fills with fluid. Let them equalize for a bit until the fluid level in each bottle is the same. Then attach the open tube to your two carbs and watch the fluid level. If it starts to rise in one and drop in the other, adjust the carbs until the fluid level stays even. Once done, move the tube to the next carb and do the same. Couple minutes your carbs are synced. Worked great.

My mechanic was my best friend in high school. He was a natural. Not a big kid, he could sit in the engine compartment and work on the engine. I'd hand him tools, but that was the extent of my knowledge. He kept my cars running excellent. I stopped by his house one day when we were 18, and he had disassembled a Chevy 350 from a Chevy Silverado and neatly laid it onto his parents driveway. Probably close to a thousand parts. He had that thing back together and running great by the end of the weekend. His skills served him well, he was very successful. He retired in his 40's with a huge house, and started restoring and selling cars from the 60's. Now he just works on his own projects, all Chevy's.

Weather update...the Canadian smoke is heavy today. You can actually taste it when you're outside, and the haze is pretty amazing. In the 80's again today and sunny. So far, no rain in sight.

No weather here.

jay125 wrote in post #19522291
I still have some gap gauges laying around. Life was simpler with $1.99 gap gauges vs $1299.00 hand-held diagnostics gear with more power than my macbook. I remember when timing lights were cool. Sure, they gave the neighbor kid seizures, but still, they were cool.

The first time I used a timing light, I thought it was magical. And while adjusting the timing, I felt the power of being in control. Aaaaah, youth and innocence.

Life changed when you could purchase a timing light with the plug wire clamp. That original spring on the spark plug arcing on the manifold all the time. I shudder at the memory.

icopus wrote in post #19522431
The first time I used a timing light, I thought it was magical. And while adjusting the timing, I felt the power of being in control. Aaaaah, youth and innocence.

I use to have a strobe light, pretty powerful one. When the kids were small I would turn it on for them and they would prance around the room having a geat ol' time... until one of them ran straight into a wall pretty much at full speed. I believe they learned a very important life lesson that day, don't always believe what you see. My wife didn't see it that way.

gjl711 wrote in post #19522444
I use to have a strobe light, pretty powerful one. When the kids were small I would turn it on for them and they would prance around the room having a geat ol' time... until one of them ran straight into a wall pretty much at full speed. I believe they learned a very important life lesson that day, don't always believe what you see. My wife didn't see it that way.

I think we all did that!

Chet wrote in post #19522443
Life changed when you could purchase a timing light with the plug wire clamp. That original spring on the spark plug arcing on the manifold all the time. I shudder at the memory.

I had forgotten all about that!

icopus wrote in post #19522517
I had forgotten all about that!

I never owned a timing light. I just pointed my friends at the fan blades while my friend was busy doing something else. They were pretty hypnotizing. I remember my friend asking the infamous "Are you done?" line, and thought he was channeling my dad.

It's also 90º here now. And the yard needs mowed.

jay125 wrote in post #19522599
...

It's also 90º here now. And the yard needs mowed.

Get a goat.

They eat everything else as well

ECC233 wrote in post #19522749
They eat everything else as well

What does that mean? What is everything else?