1971 Volvo 164

In an effort to try to narrow down the starting issue, I put 5gallons of 89octane unleaded gas, some lead additive, and replaced the engine oil in the carb dampers with Automatic Transmission Fluid.  Next step was to determine top dead center and make sure that the distributor was set right.  Dad helped with his thumb over the sparkplug hole and I turned the crankshaft by hand from underneath the car – stopping when he felt the compression stroke stop.  We looked through the Chiltons for some hints as to where the timing marks were on the engine and the gear.  They’re down there somewhere!

In between looking for the timing marks I noticed the same spider that was there earlier in the week.  It had made a home just over cylinder 5.  I thought it might be a Black Widow but I couldnt get a good look at it the last time I was working on the car.  This time it was clear.  It definitely was a Black Widow.  I admired it for a while and watched it hiding in the dark corner of its web.  I admired it but seeing how I was going to have to reach down there to unplug stuff – I wasn’t too interested in getting bitten and spending my evening in the hospital.  I sprayed about a shotglass full of WD40 at it and figured it was dead.  Just as I was reaching down to unscrew the sparkplug I saw something move.  I poked around the hole with the nozzle of the WD40 can and the spider climbed out up on top of the block!  With a sigh I squished it with a screwdriver.  It was about the size of a dime.

That excitement over with, we found the timing marks.  There is a raised bump on the bottom of the water pump and there ARE notches and numbers on the gear!  My engine is just so dirty I couldn’t see them until the flashlight was at a particular angle.  Hallelujah!  We were a bit off but actually not bad.  Just by feel I think we got within 15degrees of top dead center.  Way to go dad.  I got underneath the car again and turned the crankshaft until it lined up with zero and called it a night.

I have come up with a name for my car I think, though… svart änka (which means Black Widow in Swedish).