Fouled Plugs

[Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>]

While talking to my friend Dan at work today (he owned the '72 before me) 
I was explaining how the V8 debuggin was going and that I thought I had 
fouled a couple plugs and it was missing... his remark was a declarative, 
"You took the motor from the yellow (72) Scout, didn't you?"  How did he 
know that (I told him, but he forgot)... well, NOW he tells me they used 
to put new plugs in every 3 weeks...

***
Hmm.. somehow this seems like bad news...

I started yanking spark plug wires to see what made the motor run any 
worse.. looks like I could pull TWO plug wires and it ran no worse.. #5 
and #6 plugs.

So, I yanked a few plugs.. #3/4/5/6/7  I didn't yank 1/2/8.. just because 
they were either too hard to get to, or just stubborn...

These are all 8 brand new plugs, with 2 weeks and 110 miles on them.  
Autolite A85.. they didn't have the platinum (good thing, too)

So.. yanked plugs.  Most looked good, the light brown color you're 
supposed to see.. all is well...

Pulled #5, and #6 (opposite sides of motor, one set from the rear).. 
BLACK.  What appears to be OIL FOULED according to the handy dandy 
do-it-yerself fix-er-upper manual.

I take this to be a BAD sign.

These 2 cylinders are NOT the ones w/ low(er) compression.. that was #1/3 
if I remember correctly that were in the 140s.. the others all had 150 to 
165.

I haven't *noticed* any blue smoke.. there is a cloud of smoke in the 
morning when I'm backing out of the yard.. haven't paid much attention to 
it.. reminds me of the typical white smoke I was used to seeing when I 
drove the '72 daily.. the IH startup puff.

I haven't checked to see if it's consuming oil.. it's only been 2 weeks 
and 110 miles!  I haven't had it on a 30 mile test drive yet...

Eldon suggested I may have received 2 bad plugs, which would cause the 
miss, which would cause them to foul...

I have 2 new Autolites on the bench seat.. they go in tomorrow evening, 
then I'll see how long *they* last..

Also, in that 2 weeks, 110 miles.. I seem to have burnt over 20gallons of 
gas.. I emptied my Jerry can into it a day or two ago to get rid of the 
fuel... so guess what?  I'm pulling out of a friend's street onto the 
local "highway", punch the gas and NO-GO.  d'oh.. outa gas.  Walk back 
down the street, "Umm.. can I bum some gas?"  d'oh...

-Tom Mandera, Helena MT
http://www.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout
'72 and '77 Scout IIs