Originally Posted by marshon50

I was hoping Ron would answer this....but here are my thoughts from reading all of Ron's posts.

At 5.5 gallons I doubt your engine is spent unless it's been abused for it's whole life. So I'm going to assume that you haven't abused it and it is still in decent condition.

Setting your idle gap at a cc size is the way to go, which you did. However, at 5.5 gallons a flush setting is probably too rich all the way around which you found out because you couldn't get temps up even after driving around for a bit. If you've adjusted the low to the point where you could get a steady idle how long was it steady before cutting off? I would get the engine fired up at whatever low needle setting your at, start driving it to heat saturate the block and chassis, then take a temp reading. If you're still in the 150 F range, start leaning the top 1-2 hrs at a time. During this time do whatever is needed with the throttle to keep the engine running (blip the throttle before it reaches the point where it'd die). With leaning the HSN you are leaning the total amount of fuel available so by default are continuing to lean the fuel at idle or on the lsn. At some point with leaning the HSN, your temps will start to rise. If when getting your temps up with the HSN your idle also starts to rise, then you know you've gotten to a point where there isn't enough fuel being delivered on the LSN and you'd begin to richen the LSN. If you don't ever cause the idle to rise by leaning the HSN and you have a good idle that doesn't die, your done. Or if the idle doesn't hold and the engine does die, lean your LSN some more until you achieve a steady idle that holds.

During this excercise always be sure you're seeing smoke at the exhaust throughout the entire rpm range and have some oil residue on your body and left rear tire. If you've done all of this and still can't get a steady idle, replace your glow plug w/ a brand new one (may actual want to do this first to eliminate the possibility of a bad plug). If the plug is good, start checking for air leaks in your fuel delivery system (tank, fuel lines, exhaust, couplers). If they're all good check for leaks around the carb base, backplate, cooling head and front bearing. Do a soap bubble test...spray a small amount of soapy water/windex to see if bubbles are made, if so, there's an air leak.

I'd also compare w/ my buddy, run the same fuel, being at the same place so atmoshpheric conditions are the same and see where his needles are as a reference.

Fuel, air, and ignition is all it takes for an engine to run. Adjusting needles is adjusting the fuel/air ratio and your glow plug is the ignition. Once you initially apply voltage to it to cause it to glow, the ensuing combustion w/in the chamber keeps it hot enough to continue to provide the spark needed for continued combustion. Air leaks are gremlins which play with your fuel/air mixture and bad fuel is just that...bad.

Good luck, let us know how you make out.