big surprise on the 52/200 .I thought Id have solid lifters on that car ,with a 288 135 hp /5 main bearings
so I got some gaskets for the valve covers ,saved up, and went to the mechanic for my very first valve adjustment for the car .I had a fair bit of valve clatter the engine sounded like a diesel ,but runs fine and doesnt smoke ,id been using straight 30 wt oil
I called to see how it was comming this pm ,and he said guess what you have hydrolic lifters ,and they arnt adjustable ,so your valve clatter is from something else beside lifters needing adjustment
.hmmm... do the hydrolic lifters get gummed up or the springs get old,making loud valves ?? it turns out the timing was way way advanced ;I cleaned off the bottom crank pully and found a timing mark as directed in the site ;it was at 12 degrees btdc ,the distributer had to come out and go back in to be able to get it so it would adjust back to the 6 dbtdc the service manual required ,maby thatll quiet the valves

any clattering hydrolic valve thoughts??
ill have the engine number checked ,it must be a 327 if it has hydrolic lifters unless there were some 288's built that way
wheres the number near the oil filler hole on the flat flange?

12 v jump boxes usually have an accesory plug ,which will power a gps for a long time in a 6 volt car ,you can also use this as a compass and check you speedo as well

thanks for the comment about the torque converter slip then direct drive rather than a gear shift ,that makes sence as to how the ultramatic feels to drive
.you mentioned I could hurt the ultramatic starting out in low then switching to high .I hadnt been doing this BUT it brings up an important question ;I live where there's sssteeep hills ,so I use low to engine break down the hill rather than burn up the brakes (they seem to get hot and fade quick) . when its not so steep,I shift into high range on the fly ,the car lurches forward a bit .This is the same action as what you had described as being harmfull but in a slightly different setting ,
am i hurting the ultramatic doing this ?
one of the ways the ultramatic was advertised in an old broshure was that the direct drive feature assisted with engine braking

thanks you guys
,good advice again ,as things and kinks get fixed one by one, and the car is getting more dependable ,I drive it more, which seems to make everyting work better almost like the old girl is getting getting limbered up .Im excited about the valve adjustment Im having done in the am .
there is indeed a panel which can be unbolted in the inner fender to get at the valves and ive got the new gaskets
each piece of advice from the web site has gotten the old car over a hump tword the daily driver status

thanks many good advices !excellent explanation of the mysterious wiper vacumb system
excellent explanation of the plunger thing

the height of the carb throttle link where it attaches to the transverse rod is only about 2 1/4 inches ,1/2 " off,
the rod going forward to the carb is a bit bent theres a spring that is acting as the cotter pin for the transverse rod /carb rod junction that holds the linkage forward. the other end is hooked on the manifold vacumb line ,it doesnt look like its hooked up the way its supposed to be but it works.. although the link to the transmission may not be being held sufficiently upwards since the linkage is being pulled forward by the spring


but it works ,and it seams to allow the carb urator to function properly .i noticed the rod going to the carb has a spring loading function inside of it

the spring loaded button to make sure you really want to downshift makes sense out of the mystery switch
i cleaned off the bottom engine pully with a wire brush and found an old painted timimg mark but not the embossed degrees may theyll show up with some welders chalk

thank you ,imagine going up a steep hill with the car floored in high gear ,Ill bog down to almost a stall, but if I release the accelerator itll pop down into a lower gear ,it feels like itll stall before it down shifts. I ve been " preemting " this by forcing the car to down shift before it bogs too much with the pull off (like a fluid drive),this works fine but I didn't know if thats how its supposed to work

oh wow ,INTERESTING ,WHEN i INSTALLED A NEW GAS PUMP, THE VACUMB LINES WERE IN DISSARAY AND disconnected ,I WONDER IF IVE PUT THEM TOGETHER OUT OF ORDER .,you mentioned that the gas pump vacumb is in SERIES between the carb and the wiper motor ,so the vacumb line which comes from the carb is the sourse or first , then hooks to the gas pump vacumb on the front ,and then the vacumb goes to the wiper motor and terminates there?does the vacumb get "boosted" at the gas pump?

it was mentioned that the only adjustment that the 52 needed to the throttle linkage was the cross link height as measured off the height of the top of the head.. I tried this with the 2 2/3 " height and a scale but the exhaust manifold is where the rod is over ,not he head .shall I measure the height of the short bent part where it wouldhave lined up with the hole on the special tool to where it would be over the head by trying to get a horizontal line thats level with a carperters level or something , and then measuring its height ,I think iLL need 3 hands
,also the excellent but complicatedservice bullitin proceedure went into adjustment of the throtle lever on the side of the ultramatic transmission ,this still have to be adjusted on the 52,no?
it has to be loosened after unhooking the throttle lever rotated back on the shaft somehow untill it begin to compress a spring and then retightened and rehooked up.

my grills fell off he areas aroiund the studs got old and gave out ,I have front rubber floor mats in my 52 200 ,I tacked the grills back on with a little silicone sealer.does ayone remake the rubber floor mats?mive are very hard and brittle and have fallen apart rolling them back to get at the tranny filler hole

thanks!
good to know about only the one tool that I need for my year could be "faked" by a simple measurement .very helpfull esoterica!

It said in the service bullitin that the spring loaded throttle stopper which is the" Mystery switch " sould b e eliminated for the 24th and 25 series if I read it right and the downshift accheived by flooring the accelerator ,
I have to do a "pull off" of the accelerator on a hill to get the downshift under a heavy uphill load ,it seems to do it itself if its not loaded to hard .

.Ill check to see if the vacumb line back tword the rear of the car where it "t",s off the wiper motor vacumb line goes nowhere ,perhaps there was a rear wiper at some point in the cars life thats not there any more ,may be a big vacumb leak that could be eliminated !

With my newly aquired $11.00 ebay 6-12 v antique timing light I didnt see timing marks on the pully ,just the pointer thing ,does one estimate the 6 degrees before top dead center to check the timing?I'll to see if I can get rid of the detonation knock or at least eliminate this .I wonder if the 1 gallon of diesal/tank trick I hear about would help this

thanks Ill try the 2 3/4 inches first that seems easy enough ,If I had a 52 200 what series would tht be ?would that determine the cu inches of the 8cylinder engine?
I wonder if those two tools are available for the cross shaft to throttle and throttle to carb .there were three tools possible for the carb rod in the service bullitin
,Ill leave the transmission link ajustment to the guy that rebuilds the transmission some day,Ill print out the bulitin it sounds mysterious ,because of the spring compression