Tess,
If you remove the spark plugs, the engine should turn over easily.
The crankshaft nut on an L Jetronic spider is 36mm. Look at the fan
blade and pretend it is a propeller pulling the car forward. Turn the engine
in that direction.
That is, looking at the front of the engine, turn it clockwise.
I suggest you just remove the spark plugs, dump a bit of oil down each
spark plug hole and just spin it with the starter. I suggest penetrating oil
or rust removing oil and let it soak for a while. If the piston rings are
rusted to the liners, you might be able to tell by turning the engine
manually. But I do not think you are going to do any more damage by spinning
with the starter.
By the way, dig out your shop vac or the hand hose for your house vac and
clean the holes around the spark plugs before removing them. A bit of carb or
brake cleaner sprayed down there can help.
You will have to remove the main air hose across the top of the engine to
get number 2 spark plug removed.
Ciao,
Russ Neely
--- On Thu, 9/17/09, Tess McMillan <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Tess McMillan <[email protected]>
Subject: [alfa] Follow on to It's Driving Me Nuts
To: [email protected]
Date: Thursday, September 17, 2009, 10:52 AM
I removed a little over 3 gallons of old, orange, sweet-smelling gas from the
Spider yesterday. Got a new Optima (to signal my serious intentions to the
Universe) battery from my German-car mechanic.
In talking with one of the guys in the shop, he took a look at me and
proffered the suggestion I might not be strong enough to crank the engine
manually. He also suggested I use the key to turn the engine over once I'd
connected the battery and disconnected the coil/spark/ignition.
I did not see the end to that discussion -- why Michael preferred manual
cranking for a dry engine, as opposed to using the starter.
In any case, I have no idea what the "normal" direction of movement would be,
although I can probably find the crank nut now that I've been shown one on
some Audis.
Tess
in Bellevue, WA USA
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