yeah....these are supposed to be straight. haha. these are only the ones i pulled, too...got fed up. that first one that looks straight? yeah, not straight either. that last one? almost broke in two. i'm HOPING this is the only problem....but of course with something like 200 horsepower bangin' againts these poor things (considering that's what bent them in the first place) there's almost DEFINITELY something else fucked up....but i htink i'm gonna try and replace these first to just see.....would be a miracle if it works....

fyi...camshaft is full of oblong lobes that are arranged to push each of these rods at certain times to rock the rocker (previous pic) to open either the exhaust valve or the intake valve. the valve spring (other pic as well) keeps them naturally closed unless they are pushed. so when the pushrods DON'T work and the valves DON'T open and close...you get gasses (either rich intake gasses or possibly still combustible exhuast gasses) get stuck in the chamber and ignite at the wrong time causing a backfire through the carb like i'm getting now.

i've learned a shitload about engines in the past few days looking through all this shit and tearing raimi's insides out..... 

so here's ONE thing that's wrong with my engine. see that one rocker arm that's hangin' off? yeah that's not supposed to happen (notice how the others, with the exception of that one and the one to the right of it are straight on the valve spring). the reason that happened is on the next post..... 

oi oi

check out this badass parking job. notice that i'm ALMOST in the road. yeah...that was all she wrote. drove all the way home, ON THE FREEWAY (the onramp was downhill...i picked that one), across kalanianaole, and up hawaii kai drive...stalls on a hill comin' down on kahului but starts up again before she rolls to a stop....and stalls COMPLETELY right the fuck where you see her now. unbelievable. i almost crashed into that hibiscus bush there on the right 'cause the steering wheel is a bitch and a half to turn when the car's dead (the brakes lock too).

of course my neighbors were standing across the street chatting. hah. she sounds like all hell, i'm not even kidding. i'm sorry raimi! but she's home.

oh btw she just needed to cool down a little (she was overheating) and she started up again a few minutes ago (4 hours after this pic) and i got her into the garage. my mom was horrified to hear it and my dog jumped. sounds like a 350 cubic inch lawnmower....something is definitely banging in there. a lot. but she's home. and i'm leaving the island on monday for POSSIBLY two months...so at least she's home so i can relax about it.

$894

if i can revive her, it's worth it. 

oi

sooooo this is why raimi died. boo. that's the timing gear that goes on the camshaft...she basically ate herself and spit her teeth in my oilpan. definitely not something that's RARE in a car this old, though. says GM on it so there's a really good chance it's originial.

of course, when this went, somethin' else went crazy as well and now my car backfires like a mother fucker. i drove somewhere near 10 miles at 25 mph. it would take me about 200 yards to GET to 25 mph (too much gas made it backfire....). i had to be VERY careful...he had to drop the idle to about 500 just to keep it from backfiring at idle....and it backfred at like...900 rpm? so yeah....i accelerated REEEEAAALLLY slowly. i'd periodically put my hazards on when someone behind me was lookin' antsy.

i was kind of advised not to try and drive'er home but i explained that if i could get'er home i could do the rest of the work myself (something's fucked up in the valves)...so i tried it...and...read on (next post, which you probably already read 'cause it's above this one...even though i haven't even written it yet....how creepy!!!)

*raimi crying*