Huge yank shite - odd jobs.

[Crusty Sills]

Let me know if it will help. It's only taking space up in the shed and the other half will be more than happy for some the of crap useful and rare parts to leave the house.

[Skizzer]

Don't give up on it, baby!  Since your vacuum repair fixed it when cold but not when hot, it does sound like something's expanding and causing a leak, probably a tiny one somewhere obscure.  

 

Outsourcing the problem sounds fair enough given where you are with it - you've made massive progress and there's nowt wrong with getting help.  Certainly better than starting to hate it and lose sight of what you've achieved - and it's a lovely, lovely car.

 

Edit:  Or how about drop in the engine from a Porsche 924 with a new headgasket for trouble-free running?  Oh, hang on...

[tooSavvy]

Hmm.. and there's this guy does a Porky H.G.

 

 

TS

 

kerchinggg...

 

TS

[Squire_Dawson]

Walk away from it for a few days and don't think about it. This happens to all of us now and again. I would say take it for a run and see how it behaves - my knowledge of automatic transmissions is limited, but isn't there a 'kick down' connected to the carb or throttle, or some such arrangement?

 

As for the rusty headlamp actuators, how about some Kurust, primer and then some handiwork with a glass fibre kit?

[danthecapriman]

I thought about dropping in a pinto, but then again maybe it still wouldn't be driving far but for other reasons!

[alf892]

The carb was set up by a local guy who does a lot of work on all sorts of classics. A Jaguar trained 'old school' type mechanic.

Trouble is, altering the mixture seems to make sod all difference to it! I've tried it with the mix screws all over the place and even the idle speed adjusted right up so the idle speed is as high as I dare try it and it makes no difference. Every time it goes into gear, revs drop as it takes up the gear then continue to drop until the engine just stops running. Restart it, try again and it's the same every time.

The only difference I seem to have made is blocking up the holes in the vacuum tank has stopped it happening when the engine is cooler. Now it's ok until the engine gets hot.

The carb has the correct mount plate, all bolts are tight. I've tried spraying the base and various other places to see if there's air leaks, I can't hear any obvious vac or air leaks either.

It's getting me down at the moment! I really am beginning to get sick of the sight of the thing. I've been emptying time and money into it for the last year and I've only been able to use it 3 times so far, and only one of those was a fault free drive.

I hate having to pay for things like this, but at the moment it seems like the only option I have left is to let someone else look at it and just throw more money at it. Anything just to get the thing fixed.

I've even toyed with the idea of getting rid of it! I really really don't want to though, and believe me I'm no quitter with things like this but this ones got me well and truly out of ideas and patience.

I can see why you are getting pissed off then!

As others have said it is still a lovely car so spending a little to get the love back will be worth it

[eddyramrod]

I so understand where you are with this, Dan!  However, I believe there are different answers to our issues.  Mine: I'm taking a hit and letting someone else have a go, because neither I nor anyone within reach can find the problem.  Yours, is clearly much, much simpler, and it should be well worth paying someone to spend an afternoon on it, and getting it fixed.  Not to mention your car is worth at least ten times what mine owes me, and is a hundred times cooler.  Have a few days of not thinking about it (difficult, I know, when you have to walk past it every day just to get in your house) and look at it next week.  It's going to be a rough weekend anyway, just pull the cover over it until Monday.

[danthecapriman]

Thanks Eddy.

All the talk of getting rid of it is (probably!) just hot headed crap! It has really been wearing through just lately. I don't think I'd ever actually get rid of it. It took a lot of time, money and effort to get the thing bought and over the pond to just give up on it. It is literally my dream car! But that makes it all the more annoying too that it just won't play ball, inspite of all the work I'm putting in to bring it back to life.

I'm well aware of how lucky I am to be able to have something like it aswell, I know a lot of people who would love to have something like it but can't for whatever reason.

 

Oh well, I'll go and have a chat with the specialists I was on about earlier and see what they say. I'm confident it's the right way to go now though. I think I'm just going around in circles and entirely probable I'm overlooking whatever it is that's causing it, so maybe another set of eyes on it will pay off.

[Inspector Morose]

I know this sounds a bit left field but is the box over full of oil? It can cause these sort of symptoms especially when hot.

[Taff]

I thought about dropping in a pinto, but then again maybe it still wouldn't be driving far but for other reasons!

 

 you bell-end. A-series is the only natural choice...

[eddyramrod]

 I know a lot of people who would love to have something like it but can't for whatever reason.

 

Yeah you certainly do!  Right here, for one!  However... as you say, a fresh pair of eyes may be just the thing.  Your car might be huge but it's pretty simple, there's only so many things it can be.  Good luck.

[hauserplenty]

It could be the choke, but the fact that the mixture screws make no difference could mean a manifold gasket leak, or a problem with the timing chain. The choke should be wide open once it's warm. Maybe the electric choke spring isn't working?

In any case, the car's worth throwing specialists at. Sometimes you hit the wall. You tend to know it when that happens...

[danthecapriman]

Cheers guys!

 

The auto box doesn't seem overfilled but I can't keep it running long enough to cycle through all gears then go check the level. I have to run it, select a gear then it cuts out then restart it then select gear then... You get the idea! It has been through all gears quickly ish this way and seems ok. Though this would explain why it's worse when hot, the oil expanding a bit and increasing pressure?

 

Today I went to have a chat with a conveniently local classic car specialist. They seem a good bunch and are very well established, they are a big name around the south in classic car circles too.

They had some seriously nice cars in the workshops too. So it looks like they don't piss about!

Basically they said they will take it in and give me an hour inspection of the car for free. Then come back to me about how best to approach the running issue, aswell as the other bits and pieces I asked them to do. Seems pretty fair to me.

It's booked in Mon 29th June so hopefully it should be the first step to being fixed.

 

As it stands, I think im going to have them give the car a thorough going over and see what else it needs or will need soon. Then get the bits I want done by them in one hit, they will also do the MOT while it's there. I think it's going to be worth the initial expense to bring it up to a good reliable standard, then try to keep it that way myself. Thinking about it, it's probably not been up on a ramp for a proper good looking at for years so it should do the car a bit of good too.

[tooSavvy]

.. they will also do the MOT while it's there. I think it's going to be worth the initial expense to bring it up to a good reliable standard, then try to keep it that way myself. Thinking about it, it's probably not been up on a ramp for a proper good looking at for years so it should do the car a bit of good too.

 

Ensure the MOT rust probe (skankey screwdriver) & bodgewaffle iron (hammer) don't visit the underside/paint.... 

 

TS

[garethj]

Don't worry, we all run out of patience from time to time, other than Mr_Bo11 of course as his shite repair threads have proven.

 

The fact that the mixture screws don't make any difference is a warning, I've had that on a carb was leaking air from various places and everything else was adjusted to try and cure it.  The other problem is that you don't know what's happened in the past, so if some twat has fitted an idle jet that's too small there's no way of knowing without getting in amongst it.

 

Is there any smog equipment on the car?  During the early-mid '70s there was lots of stuff on the carb and distributor that held the revs up during gearchanges (on manual cars), throttle dampers and goodness knows what else.  Is swapping to a new but simpler carb and distributor an option?

[twosmoke300]

As already mentioned , mixture screws not making any difference is a sign of an air leak somewhere . I'd remove and blank all vac take offs from the fannymould . Servo , cruise , dizzy , headlights , the lot. See how it runs then .

Does the gearbox have a vac feed?

Are the carb butterfly shafts worn ?

[danthecapriman]

This car is from just before the smog stuff. The only sort of emission control it really has is a pcv valve and pipe going from the rocker cover back into the inlet. The valve and rubber grommit it seals in are new as is the rubber pipe.

Carb and dizzy are just basic items, even the points and condenser are no longer a factor as it's now electronic ignition. The vac advance on the dizzy is sealed and the rubber pipe is new.

 

The auto box does appear to have two small diameter vacuum pipes going down to it. I'm no expert on gear/auto boxes so I've no idea what they are for.

I may have a look tomorrow (weather depending!) to see if I can warm it up and try to check the auto box oil level as best as I can. I haven't topped it up since I've had it yet even though the sump gasket weeps a bit. It's a good idea to check though.

 

I'll still be taking into the specialists though. It might give me a chance to get some of the odd jobs done on my other chod, they have really taken a back seat since this arrived, and they need a bit of tlc too. I haven't even had time to wash them since the Mercury arrived! It really has taken up just about all of my spare time!

[Inspector Morose]

Ah vacuum kick down! The units on the box can fail but you'd see clouds of burnt ATF if that was the case. Could be the pipes though. Clutching at straws there.

That classic car place seems the best bet. A garage with a ramp and another pair of eyes can help,a long way in solving the most insurmountable problems!

[danthecapriman]

This is the place it's going to. http://www.classicsbyjswl.co.uk

They had loads of nice stuff down there ranging from mk2 Cortina, P6 right upto a mint Jag XJ40. In another unit there was an old sports car having a new aluminium body made!

They seem a really professional outfit, so I'll see what they say.

[cort1977]

Best of luck getting it diagnosed.

 

I was thinking about your vacuum units today instead of working and got to thinking that if replacement is impossible a suitable* repair might involve a steel plate patch held on with JB Weld or similar.  

 

It would look shite obviously and might kill all nuns and kittens in the area but on the other hand no one would see them and it would be cheap.

[danthecapriman]

Ok, mini update regarding the vacuum light actuators.

This place http://crittercreekcougar.com/shop/headlight-vacuum-actuators-3/got back to me, they said yes they can supply me with rebuilt units, and yes they can post them to the UK. Bingo!

Now, the catch. You knew it was coming. They are f*****g expensive! $700 a pair plus shipping!

 

Now, I know this isn't the autoshite way but if it was any other car I'd just bodge it or do something else to make it work. But not on this car, it's my dream car and I've always wanted something like this so I'm going to do it properly and get a pair. All I need to do is get one off the car, extend the pushrod to it's max and take a photo of it next to a tape measure, then get some part numbers off them so they can match up the correct one to rebuild for me.

I've been thinking about it over the last few days and pretty much come to the decision that I'm going to have to spend some good money (again) on getting these parts and having the work done to bring the car right up to scratch and be reliable.

I think it's the best thing to do so I can get the thing on the road and give it some use, and at least use it instead of getting covered in crap working on it all the time.

[hauserplenty]

It could have been worse...

...if you had bought an Audi and/or spunked the rest of your hard earned on coke and hookers...

I will be checking for updates, as that car is extremely rare even over here.

And those actuators, well that's just highway robbery.

 

"They're great cars!"

[danthecapriman]

It could have been worse...

...if you had bought an Audi and/or spunked the rest of your hard earned on coke and hookers...

I will be checking for updates, as that car is extremely rare even over here.

And those actuators, well that's just highway robbery.

"They're great cars!"

Coke and hookers eh? Hmmm!

 

Are these cars that rare then? I know there's not that many over here but no idea about back on home turf. Obviously were not talking rare as in Cord rare! I don't think cars like this have the same sort of classic status in the US that they do here do they?

 

I realise there's not been any pics for a while either so here's a few of the bolloxed actuator. Since I've had it off the car and given it a good look over it is worse than it first appeared.

There's rusty pin holes all over it, especially around the seam in the middle. If you blow into either of the ports it doesn't hold air at all. The seal at the top under the dust boot leaks and I think the spring and seals inside are gone too.

 

 

[hauserplenty]

A "minor swear free rant," if you will...

 

Early Ford trucks are still around, but the cars are quite rare indeed. I don't remember the last time I saw a Marquis from that era, unless I was watching Hawaii 5-0 of course. Even then it must have been the early 80's. Classic status seems to elude the early 70's cars, perhaps because they are seen as "embargo" cars, thus signifyng the end of the hot-rod era.

[Bren]

I remember the solex 4A1 carb on my vauxhall royale looked like a minature hadron collider.

 

I got hometune (remember them?) mechanic was instantly perplexed and fled without doing anything.

 

Carbs can be very complex and do not take kindly to "messing".

[danthecapriman]

Ok, heard back about the vacuum actuators.

A pair are now being stripped and rebuilt for me to as new condition. There's a 30 day turn around on them so I'll not get them for a while yet. Total price incl priority international postage comes to an eye watering $1000 (Canadian dollars)!

Like I said, not cheap but it's going to keep the car original, which is what I want and will make a big difference to how the car looks, and rid it of a big vacuum leak.

 

So my wallet has taken a beating this month, and there's more to come in the next few weeks once the car goes in to the classic specialists place.

Fingers crossed within a month or so it should be sorted.

[Taff]

a thousand dodgers, ooof!

 

this is autoshite, are you sure you couldn't have modified a Allegro rear damper to do the same job?

[alf892]

Blimey.............I would have hand carved them from a block of solid unobtainiam for that!

 

Looking forward to seeing this up and running now.

[purplebargeken]

This is not the AS way. Cable ties and gaffer tape if you please. 

[purplebargeken]

Just reminded myself as to what the car looks like. It's a stunner and well worth the expense. A thing of beauty that is