Project Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - the waste of time Olympics - 23/08/24

[lanciamatt]

I'm glad you finally had some good news for once

[Zelandeth]

Yeah, any carb fed car with conventional ignition I'd expect the idle to wander very slightly.  The drop under electrical load is entirely normal.

 

Generally greater idle speed stability was one of the benefits quoted of electronic ignition setups...sounds normal to me!

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Sounds like you are getting somewhere. I'm glad you didn't listen to me when I was one of those voices suggesting you binned it off

 

I'm guessing mojo and enthusiasm is creeping back up again? If so, good stuff.

 

I imagine the trick with these is to keep tinkering, and don't become complacent when they do work.

 

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

[Guest Hooli]

I imagine the trick with these is to keep stop tinkering, and don't become complacent  and  make a note of the working settings to readjust it to every month or so,   when they do work.

 

 

FTFY

[rainagain]

Time to experiment with some Blue Peter-style shite radiator blinds; cardboard, bin bags, gaffer tape and zip ties are your friend!

This, I still block off half my front grill every winter. I use old black plastic sandwich trays cut to fit and then tie wrapped to the grill. I find the engine heats up much faster

[captain_70s]

Well, spent ages driving around town this eve in stop/start traffic and it didn't die. Having said that is also didn't get very hot:

 

 

As the needle started to get towards the 1/3rd mark I started to loose the idle. I could further destroy it by adding electrical load but the car wouldn't quite die. If I turned it off it'd fire back up on a single spin of the starter.

 

Applying a tiny amount of throttle would raise the engine speed but the idle would remain lumpy until about 1,000rpm. At this point the rpm would surge slightly and the engine would smooth out. When the engine is cool it runs beautifully. Once you've gotten enough heat in the engine to come off the choke it idles perfectly.

 

Then it was dark and rush hour so I parked up at home and set about trying to fix the rear light issue...

 

 

My faffing made it even harder to get a decent connection. Seemingly the inside of the bulb holder can work loose from the outer bits that clip in to the rear panel and provide the earth, they are known for being shit. I'll dismantle one in daylight/when I can feel my fingers and see if I can improve the contact or just hard wire an earth in.

[Captain Furious]

Save any further idle adjustment until you have done the valve clearances.  That sorted the idle on my Mk2 Granada right out when no amount of carb or timing adjustment would have any effect.

[captain_70s]

Clearances will be getting done when my rocker gasket arrives. I did check them not very long ago but I was half-arsing it because cold, it also does seem a bit tappety. Although frankly it's hard to get with the rest of the hideous noises the thing makes.

[SiC]

Better it's a bit cold than far too hot! </LookingAtThePositives>

[Captain Furious]

Noisy tappets are generally safe, it is closed up clearances which will affect running because it can mean the valves are not closing completely on the compression stroke.  Valve seat regression can happen in a fairly short space of time on old engines running unleaded without hardened seats.  I was told by the previous owner that mine had been converted to unleaded, i'm not saying he was lying because he seemed a straight up bloke, but he'd possibly been misled by whoever sold it to him.  I found 4 out of 6 exhaust valves closed up to the point that they had no clearance at all.

 

Resetting them made an absolute world of difference, I think it had been running on 4.5 out of 6.  It was starting to get a bit lumpy again on its last outing though so i'll have to do them again in the new year, and start chucking some lead replacement snake oil in the tank.

[Eddie Honda]

Don't always trust what the gauge says, take the actual temp for comparison.

 

My 82 Volvo has Smiths Instruments and the sender is a combined temp/warning light thing. It used to always head low 1/3, until I replaced the sender, then it started reading bang in the middle.

[N Dentressangle]

Agree with setting the tappets properly. It makes a world of difference on old engines like this, especially in terms of a smooth idle.

[big_al_granvia]

rear light clusters are just an almighty pain in the balls, try working on caravans that have the effin things sitting for most of the year getting rusty, clean up and more vaseline than delmonicas and the polo lounge. getting bloody close to fitting these things as being new they shouldnt let water in, https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/demon-tweeks-stop-tail-and-indicator-lights-249568/

 

should be mot compliant, 

[captain_70s]

 

Test drive video currently uploading...

[SiC]

This is a clear case of car karma. You fixed one car (Dolly) and this meant you needed the Acclaim became the sacrifice to the British car gods.

[captain_70s]

 

Part 2, somebody tries to kill me at 4:45.

[barrett]

Well avoided!

 

Those two minutes of cranking to get the damn thing to go were pretty painful though, is that normal?

[captain_70s]

It was certainly faster to fire the last time.... Although it is 2C and damp, hasn't run in a few days, etc. I've also no idea as to the actual quality of the condenser/points aside from that they work.

 

The problem is it fires just enough to disengage the starter but not enough to actually run... Now I've fiddled with everything I also have no idea what sort of choke I need for any given conditions.

 

To top it off the wiring to the starter overheats and causes it to cut out. Also sometimes it doesn't engage properly, not sure if I'm missing some teeth on the flywheel...

[vulgalour]

Given your recent updates, it is probably reasonable to assume in one or more places there is a problem with the earth, probably to the starter if you're getting overheating issues there.  I'd also get the starter off and inspect the teeth on it, it may well be worn out if you've had problems with it engaging.

[captain_70s]

I'm going to get underneath tomorrow before work and have a prod around, attack everything with engine de-greaser and a wire brush.

 

I'd like to think the starter isn't fucked as it was brand new before the car was laid up. Having said that it is also the fourth brand new starter I've fitted since buying the car...

[vulgalour]

That's either really bad luck with the starter motors or there is damage to the flywheel as you suspect.  Hadn't realised you'd been through so many of them.

[captain_70s]

The first one with the car was worn out.

 

The second one had a built on solenoid (a hi-torque one for Spitfires or Midgets or something) which died.

 

The third got covered in oil/petrol from leaks.

 

The current one sometimes makes hideous noises when (not) engaging.

 

To be fair I have to fit alternators at very nearly the same rate and the 1850 also needed both replacing while in my ownership so I just assume it's my curse.

[lanciamatt]

At least the neighbours don't need an alarm clock

[N Dentressangle]

I couldn't live with that starting problem.

 

Doesn't sound like the starter's knackered to me -seems to spin the engine fine. It will fuck it up fairly quickly making it work like that, though!

 

Assuming you've set the tappets right, you've probably got a fuel or ignition problem causing the starting issue, but then you probably know that...

 

Over-advanced timing can cause issues too. Just got to be a methodical work through, I'm afraid.

[Guest Hooli]

My Midget always started first flick of the key & it was basicly the same lump.

[SiC]

I guess giving a stab of the accelerator when it just starts to catch doesn't get it to continue running? My MGB needs a tickle of the throttle (even on choke) for it to get going.

[lanciamatt]

It sounds to me like it's only firing when you release the key. If you have gone back to points is it still on the balast resistor or normal 12v coil?

[captain_70s]

12 volt coil, think Dolly 1300s came with them as standard.

 

Today I popped out and cleaned all the engine earth points and made a start on de-greasing as working on the car is a messy nightmare at the moment. When it came to starting it was on the starter for about 30 secs on and off and then fired when I pushed the choke in. Potentially I'm over choking the engine given that I'm used to having to have the choke out all the way until the car is fully warm and it now runs on minimal choke not long after starting...

 

Also dismantled the dodgy rear light connector and sorted that but it's just a shit design so I'll look into replacing them. There were a couple of minor coolant leaks, a seepage from one side of the thermostat housing and from the top hose. Both are now cured.

[captain_70s]

The Doloshite has taken me to work. No problems aside from catastrophic oil burning at anything less than half throttle.

 

Will it take me home at 23:20? PLACE YOUR BETS.

[davehedgehog31]

The Doloshite has taken me to work. No problems aside from catastrophic oil burning at anything less than half throttle.

 

Will it take me home at 23:20? PLACE YOUR BETS.

In the spirit of Kiltox' maroon collection.

 

FTPs;

 

Failure to set off at all - 11/2

FTP en route - 17/2

 

Starting;

 

<10 seconds - 66/1

10 - 60 secs - 13/10

60-100 secs - 11/10

>100 secs - EVS