> I never heard of a BBS. It ranks up there with butter churn parts and
> knowledge of how to crank start a car. It is good to know but it is not
> something you'd run across - well except here. It is interesting to think
> of all the detailed knowledge lost throughout history as it simply had no
> use and was not preserved.
Well, since you brought it up,...
<Off-topic-useless-info>
The newest car that I've had that had a crank was a 1958 VW pickup,
although the U.S. models stopped in the early 50s. But the parts were
around for quite a while (special crank pulley nut), so I added it to
others through the 1980s. The special crank pulley nut had deep
asymmetrical notches, kinda like the "tamper-proof" screw-heads in public
mens' rooms, so that the crank would be pushed back and not be turned
by the engine once it started. The crank itself is just a bent rod with a
small cross bar near the tip.
Start by chocking the wheels, or at least FIRMLY set a brake.
Make a scratch mark for the current distributor position (timing).
Retard the ignition timing to no more than a few degrees before top
dead center. You REALLY don't want it to kick back! That REALLY hurts!
A friend of Charles Kettering was killed that way, and that is what led
to the development of an electric motor for starting.
Bring it up on compression of one cylinder.
Take it as fast as you can through top dead center; if it responds at all,
try to keep as much momentum as you can past the next cylinder.
The natural variation from one cylinder to another may mean that you might
have to try starting with several different cylinders.
Once it starts, turn the distributor back to where it was; unchock the
wheels; and next time, don't let the battery run down that far!
Hand cranking is no harder than push starting a car, except that with push
starting it is possible to distribute the work load among more people.
NEITHER will work with modern systems, such as the '70 VW Type III fool
injection or modern emission control computers unless the battery has
enough voltage remaining to power the electronics (typically about 10V).
</Off-topic-useless-info>
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin_at_xenosoft.com
Received on Fri May 16 2003 - 20:45:00 BST