I recently bought a 32 cabriolet and the motor heater is frozen and not sure what position it is in. I am having trouble with losing power and fouling up plugs . Is it possible it is in the wrong position and causing it to lose power and carbon up the plugs real fast
Thanks Carlk

The arm on the manifold heater should be down for the baffle to block heat from below the carburetor.

If the spark plugs are getting carboned then the mixture will be too rich or timing delayed or both.

Okay thanks . I will have to go to my storage unit and check what position the arm is in. Do you have any advice on how to free up that arm. I have sprayed wd40 on it a couple of times to no avail.
Carlk

I would use PB Blaster instead of the WD 40. You could try tapping it very gently on the end of the shaft to try and get it moving back and forth. It can take a long time and many applications to get it moving.

Dave

Thanks I will try that
Carlk

I have tried numerous times to no avail is it possible to get at it by removing the intake manifold. If so I looked for new gaskets at The Filling Station but didn't see them
Carlk

You can get to the plate by separating the intake and exhaust manifolds. That is normally not as easy as written. The studs holding the two together are often rusted enough so they don't easily slide through the holes. Soaking with PB blaster and heat will eventually work.

I have found that heat and soaking with PB blaster alternately while gently tapping back and forth on the shaft will eventually get the shaft to release.

Tried with map torch but no go so I removed the intake manifold [it was pretty easy because the engine is very clean and was rebuilt I think]. Well it seems that there is nothing attached the the shaft so it seems like that knob does nothing.When I tried to order new gaskets from the filling station the intake to manifold gasket was a border only gasket whereas the one I removed was a solid gasket?Well it seems like my problem is something else
Carlk

I have not found the answer yet although I had someone did a exhaust pressure test by removing tailpipe thinking there might be something in the tailpipe and said the exhaust pressure seemed low. He thinks the timing gear might not of been aligned right. If I have to remove the timing cover is there some kind of procedure for that.Or if anyone thinks it could be something else that could be the cause of it losing power and the plugs getting carboned up real quick
Thanks carlk

I wonder if the person who rebuilt the engine installed a block-off plate to prevent any heat circulation to warm the intake mixture for a cold engine. To do that they would have to remove the “flapper” plate on the heat riser valve shaft.

If there is a block-off plate that is the same condition as having the valve always closed. That is the condition for operation of an engine at normal operating temperature. So that would not be causing your lack of power and overly rich mixture.

Yes the flapper is gone and a block off plate was installed
carlk