Bought Another Spree and...

[TheLastApollo]

Whelp I bought an 84' Spree with just over 3000 miles on her. I took her on a few test runs before purchase and she went around 20-22mph. When starting her up you had to give it a little gas which I though at the time was probably due to the carb not being adjusted right. So I get her home and take her out for a spin and then the next morning the work began.

I started off cleaning the carb and then let it dry and then cleaned it again two or three more times and then hooked the carb back up and when I tried tightening the 8mm bolt on the carb I noticed that it was cross threaded as well. So when I tried starting her up I noticed it wouldn't draw any gas when trying to start it up so I unscrewed the carb adjustment all the way out and finally it got fuel and fired up. Since then it's been fine as far as starting up but I still have to give it gas from dieing on me until it warms up.

The next thing I did was put in a new spark plug. So I got the new spark and took the panel off and what did I see? A spark plug which wasn't in even right and looked cross threaded because the boot wasn't even conformed to fit the actual hole. So I got it out and just put the new one in because I don't really have the time to fix it right now and it's probably a project for this winter. So I get it on the best I could and used quite a bit of dielectric grease as well because the boot was messed up as well.

Upon trying to start it after putting the new spark plug in still won't start without having to give her some gas otherwise it'll die. I guess this is the end of my rant and I just want to say that if you don't know what you're doing, either don't do it or take it to someone who knows what the * they're doing because you'll probably end up screwing something up. And if you do get ambitious and try something and you f*ck it up please fix it before selling it and making it somebody else's problem.

But after taking it for a ride it now gets up to 25-26 but lacks acceleration. I have an 86 Spree Iowa that blows by it as far as acceleration goes.

/end rant lol

[dr.ona]

Congrats on the new Spree...but sorry about the BS....

1) How is the air filter? I would put a new one in and make sure no one drilled holes in the cover.
2) Clean the muffler out...I use the oven cleaner and a water hose method.
3) Have you done a compression check?
4) You can use a helicoil for the carb.
5) Check the adaptor plate between the carb and the intake...the o ring could be missing or cracked and could be causing an air leak.
6) New fuel.

Good luck and again congrats for keeping a Spree on the road!

[odinxxix]

those are all good tips,but as for cleaning the muffler drano works better if you dont have access to an ancetyln torch(SP?).
as for your carb get a 1/4-20 bottom tap and retap the screw hole and put in a standard 1/4-20 bolt, thats what i did and it works great. if you cant find an o-ring that is fuel approved then you can use a paper gasket,just get some gasket material from the auto parts store and trace the spacer(carb insulator). you really should retap the head and get that spark plug all the way down in its hole. it could cause a problem later down the road, sorta like it wont burn the fuel completly. or you couls sorce a head from someone here on the forum, and gaskets are cheap. G/L with both your sprees. above all have fun in all you do to and with them.

[TheLastApollo]

Congrats on the new Spree...but sorry about the BS....

1) How is the air filter? I would put a new one in and make sure no one drilled holes in the cover.
2) Clean the muffler out...I use the oven cleaner and a water hose method.
3) Have you done a compression check?
4) You can use a helicoil for the carb.
5) Check the adaptor plate between the carb and the intake...the o ring could be missing or cracked and could be causing an air leak.
6) New fuel.

Good luck and again congrats for keeping a Spree on the road!

I cleaned the air filter as well when I was cleaning the carb. I noticed that the tube that goes from the air box to the carb wasn't attached completely and that makes me a little nervous. I haven't ran a compression test yet and I probably will after I get a different cylinder head although I should before and just put a new piston in there.

And the rest of those things are on my to do list haha.

those are all good tips,but as for cleaning the muffler drano works better if you dont have access to an ancetyln torch(SP?).
as for your carb get a 1/4-20 bottom tap and retap the screw hole and put in a standard 1/4-20 bolt, thats what i did and it works great. if you cant find an o-ring that is fuel approved then you can use a paper gasket,just get some gasket material from the auto parts store and trace the spacer(carb insulator). you really should retap the head and get that spark plug all the way down in its hole. it could cause a problem later down the road, sorta like it wont burn the fuel completly. or you couls sorce a head from someone here on the forum, and gaskets are cheap. G/L with both your sprees. above all have fun in all you do to and with them.

Thanks for the help man that'll save me a bunch of time looking stuff up.

One question I have pertaining to exhaust is how well is the exhaust supposed to match up? By that I mean the exhaust looked to be offset from the exhaust manifold (not really sure if there is an exhaust manifold on these but I think you know what I mean). What kind of problems can that cause or lead to?

Thanks again.

[dr.ona]

It should have a gasket in there...