[V8] V8 healing itself!

[Acadianlion]

I think sometimes it's just a bit of patience.  Right now it seems that 
way with my V8.  Well, almost, anyway.  I wrote here before that I was 
having some stumbling or mis-firing since I put the car back on the road 
the day after Christmas. The V8 is not intended to be the normal daily 
driver in the depths of winter. We have the 100 Avant for that. But on 
Christmas eve the fuel pump in the 100 died and the car was towed to the 
wrench. Since we'd have no car for four or five days the V8 was put back 
on the road.  (It promptly suffered an alternator failure as payback to 
me for not driving the car very much over the past three years, but I've 
forgiven it for that.).

We have had a remarkably open winter here. It's been neither awfully 
cold, nor have we had much snow, so the V8 has been at least available 
through the winter and on pretty nice, or at least nicer days, I've 
enjoyed driving it.  In case you have forgotten, I really, REALLY like 
my V8.  But I digress.

Now, that stumbling/misfiring thing.  Most under load and going up hills 
it would feel a bit as if at least one cylinder was misfiring, or 
perhaps more than one.  Well, of course, the obvious culprits are 
distributor caps, spark plugs and/or wires.  So I dug out the records 
for the car under me.  I had wires, caps, rotors and plugs replaced just 
after buying the car. That was roughly thirty thousand miles and eight 
years ago.  And the wires, plugs, rotors and caps were all the very 
highest of "high priced spread":  all Bosch or OEM!  OUCH!

So I have gone shopping for the stuff as I know I can, given a decent 
mildish day, do plugs, wires and caps myself.  OUCH! Again.  So I 
decided I'd do the plugs first. The car has sat, largely undriven, or 
sporadically started and driven a few miles...like one or two...since 
fall of 2013.  I did pickle the fuel, and filled the tank when I put the 
car in the garage, but I know what gasoline can do, so I figured it was 
the plugs.
The best deal for Bosch plugs for this car that I found, by the way, was 
Amazon since I have Prime free shipping.

Now, as it happens I have begun training with a new group in a small 
private gym that is just about thirty miles, across pretty open, hilly 
and rurual roads, so four days a week I'm driving the car sixty miles.  
And the stuttering/fumbling/misfiring has become very muted to 
non-existent.  Every day I drive the car, it gets better.  So it appears 
for now at least that my running problem with the engine was fouled 
plugs and just giving it a basic, Maine version of an Italian tune-up 
may have cured that problem, and I have NOT so far done anything.

Naturally, I have had one stone bruise that has decided suddenly to 
spread in a six inch wide "u" up the drivers side of the windshield.  
It's one of those "granite ball bearings" that they use to "sand" the 
roads here in winter, and now facing mandatory state inspection this 
month, I have to get the windshield replaced.  I have an appointment for 
the windshield magician to come here next Wednesday and they say the 
windshield for the car is no problem. We'll see.  The glass company is 
Safelight, so they probably just make one when they need it. It's an 
insured claim and will cost me fifty bucks.

Now, if I could only get the speedometer to work consistently. I am 
really tired of checking speed by tachometer.  It's sooo easy for this 
car to go ninety in a forty mile zone.  I'm thinking of getting a 
gps-based speedometer once the new windshield is in: about forty bucks 
and far preferable to shipping the cluster out to Hollywood speedometer 
or someone like that and losing use of the car all summer.  I'm not sure 
how many bucks I want to throw at the speedometer issue now, as I have a 
hunch the issue is temperature related and once the ambient temp here is 
higher....say well above freezing...the speedometer will resume reading 
consistently. It's done that before.

Gotta get the wrench to look at the timing belt when it goes in for 
inspection, too....not quite half way to replacement by miles, but by 
age.....dunno so much!

Roger