314-A Engine Bogs down and a little black smoke

[nekovt 0]

Hi, I just completed the work and just found your message.

I ended up using a super light sand paper and carb cleaner to clean everything, including the top of the cylinder. It wasn't to bad.

I replaced the points, the condenser as well.

What I did find and I wonder if this why the head gasket was blown was that the timing wasn't even close - I got a timing light and lined up the S in the hole by moving the points, that was very tricky to do.

I also readjusted the carb jets and it seems to sound better.

I'm letting it cool down to do a final torque of the bolts after running it for 30 min like the service manual says.

Would the timing be off cause the head gasket to go? When I replaced the condenser with a new one, the points don't arc at all any more like they did.

Brad

[shorts 182]

good deal, it's amazing what a fresh condenser will do for the life of your points,demonstrated by the reduction of spark/arcing, also as the points wear and the arcing erodes the contact surfaces the arcing seams to increase. the timing being advanced to far could have been a contributing factor to a leaking/blown headgasket but most likely not the primary cause. probably an issue with either a warped head or block surface, a bolt torque issue or a localized thermal issue.

[Duff 206]

Brad, I seem to recall reading here and there over the past few years on this forum that the Magnum engines, although very solid and reliable workers, do tend to blow head gaskets a lot. Maybe our more seasoned members can either confirm this or correct me?

I have three Magnums (actually four, but one is still under wraps awaiting a rebuild). Two of the three runners had developed leaks around the head gasket at some point in their lives before I got them, so the first thing I did was to decarbon the heads and replace the gaskets.

Duff :WRS: