I took the Vega out a few days ago to get some gas and run to the auto parts store.
Everything went well until i was leaving the part store. When i got to the light it started idling rough and acting like it wanted to stall. It felt like the fuel pump was off or something.
I made a U-Turn to head home and stopped about a block from house to take a look. When i climbed out and looked it stalled.
It started right up so i drove it home. Fuel pressure was good but my air fuel ratio was showing really lean.
My first thought was battery. I'm upgrading my alternator because it can't keep up with all the eltronics on the car. I charged battery and it started up but the idle slowly got slower and it stalled again.
Fast forward to last night i pull all the plugs..they all looked OK like this.
EXCEPT cylinder #1 which looked like this
Well there's a problem not necessarily THE problem.
Pulled the valve cover and one of the rocker arms was really loose.
Here's a link to a short video
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1l6om10ob73em5l/20160203_172827.mp4?dl=0My buddy is the one who set the valve lash but he must have not had that one on the base circle of the cam.
So tonight and/or Friday night i'm going to check the pushrod. Verify that the rocker isn't hitting the retainer. Relash everything. I'll also clean the carb..check floats..idle speed..mixture..etc.
So if this wasnt' the problem then whatever problem that caused the bad idle and stalling was a blessing in disguise.