noob needs help with mileage - only 10 MPG!
Why are we talking engine swaps? This comes down to valve adjustment and carburetor before anything.
35% leak down? No valve adjustment is going to cure that, neither will a new carb. No way to adjust cooked valves. Sorry.
But hey, what do I know. I suppose it's worth a try though I believe it would be an exercise in futility. Why not get your feet wet and give it a shot? Would be interesting to see the results. I've been known to be wrong every so often... Can't say I have a whole lot of experience adjusting valves but again, there is really no way to adjust out that much leak down. There is a sealing issue that is causing bigger problems than a valve adjustment.
I still believe you would be wise to go grab that CL engine since it may help you if you need it for parts. $100 and a few hours time loading it up aint gonna put a big dent in your life. Heck, might even be an adventure.
As far as the apartment thing - I used to live in apartment in Queens, NY. I had no garage. I built a little workbench inside. I worked on diffs in there and all kinds of crap. I took apart a 440 once, had a transmission on the floor for years there. (yes, I lived alone) I was out in the freezing cold fixing stuff on my old car and truck in the street more times than I like to admit. No one said I was the brightest bulb but when you have a passion for something, then you do what you can to feed the need. I gained knowledge, experience and tools over those times when I was learning. No other way to do it. It killed me when I had to take it somewhere to have something fixed but yes, I did realize that some things were beyond my capability at the time.
If he's asking stuff like this here, he probably has never done anything like this which would mean he has no tools or experiences to go on. Tough call on what to do - there's always the worry about screwing up something worse or not knowing how to do this or that. I understand, we've all been there at some point.
I say get involved though and start doing
something though rather than relying on a bunch of internet goofballs taking guesses at some mystery problem. Bottom line to me, at some point either him or his guy is going to have to dig into that motor and figure out why it runs like crap.
Get started!
