Project Project Capri. Back on the road! Running like a scouse watch!

[danthecapriman]

If it’s not that check ball problem and the carb is still playing up, then it could still be plugged up somewhere? 
Or.  
The butterfly valve spindles could be worn letting excess air through weakening the mixture, or, as has happened with this carb before, there’s a big air leak somewhere. Last time the base gasket let go. 
 

Or it’s something else!😆

[juular]

I'd be thinking you've sorted it by cleaning that shite out of the float bowl.  Lean looking plugs, bogging down when you try to give it some beans.. yeah. It's been getting starved of fuel I think!

 

[LoftyvRS]

I can't offer any help or guidance on the carb issues but I approve of the VGG references you use in the posts! A fellow fan here.

[Mr Pastry]

Put some petrol in and see if it squirts properly now - it sounds as if you have found the problem.

The spindle bearings would have to be very badly worn to make any significant difference to the mixture, and that would mainly affect idling, so don't worry about that.

[danthecapriman]

Refitted the carb this afternoon, started well, idles well. Once choke was off tried revving it - much better! No stumble or hesitation. 
Put it in reverse to back out of the garage, which was a pig before and caused it to stall a lot. Now it’s absolutely fine. Throttle is much more responsive now too. 
Later this evening when the roads have quietened down a bit I’ll get it out for a drive around the estate and see if the problem has gone for sure. Looks promising so far though.

Went and got a new pack of petrol filtre’s too. Just the usual clear plastic in-line type. Looking in the old one I can’t see any bits of crap in it but since it’s in bits anyway it makes sense to just put a new one on.

Strangely, ran into a new problem though. After refitting everything the choke mechanism is now hitting the bottom of the air filter box stopping the choke coming off fully! Easily fixed by stacking a few penny washers under the air filter box to lift it up a touch higher. Always something…

[artdjones]

4 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Im still surprised the accelerator pump diaphragm wasn’t torn up tbh.

They have to be very high quality because they are flexed dozens of times whenever the car is taken for a drive, especially round town. So not a total surprise it was ok. I think the crud is what's left over when everything in the petrol that can evaporate has.

[danthecapriman]

49 minutes ago, artdjones said:

They have to be very high quality because they are flexed dozens of times whenever the car is taken for a drive, especially round town. So not a total surprise it was ok. I think the crud is what's left over when everything in the petrol that can evaporate has.

That crap in the float chamber was almost like sand. But if you scoop a bit out and squash it between your fingers it’s like a brownish paste. I think you’re right, rather than grit or rust that beat the filter it’s very old fuel that’s dried out into a more solid material and stayed in the carb. 
If that’s what you can see, there’s bound to be some of it in the little chambers and passages inside where you can’t see.

Makes you think, how many times all these tiny bits in a car get used and the stress they get put under in the heat etc. I was thinking the other day about the distributor. Imagine how many times the rotor arm goes around in an average trip, how many times the points open and close, the distance all the little bearings roll! 
It’s very good stuff (or was!) to be able to do that for half a century. Even the carburettor in general, I know it’s far from a perfect way to meter fuel and air but what a fantastic design they are, especially considering their age. Who came up with it!? Clever fucker!

Forgot to mention earlier too, that burn I got on my arm… you’d be surprised (not) how much it stings when you get petrol in that!🤬

[artdjones]

1 minute ago, danthecapriman said:

That crap in the float chamber was almost like sand. But if you scoop a bit out and squash it between your fingers it’s like a brownish paste. I think you’re right, rather than grit or rust that beat the filter it’s very old fuel that’s dried out into a more solid material and stayed in the carb. 
If that’s what you can see, there’s bound to be some of it in the little chambers and passages inside where you can’t see.

Makes you think, how many times all these tiny bits in a car get used and the stress they get put under in the heat etc. I was thinking the other day about the distributor. Imagine how many times the rotor arm goes around in an average trip, how many times the points open and close, the distance all the little bearings roll! 
It’s very good stuff (or was!) to be able to do that for half a century. Even the carburettor in general, I know it’s far from a perfect way to meter fuel and air but what a fantastic design they are, especially considering their age. Who came up with it!? Clever fucker!

Forgot to mention earlier too, that burn I got on my arm… you’d be surprised (not) how much it stings when you get petrol in that!🤬

Yes I've had a 205 sitting around for years. The diaphragm had split on that, but there was plenty of sandy stuff in the chamber as well.

Those shallow burns and scrapes seem to hurt more than a deep cut. And scar up more. I've got a noticeable scar on the base of my thumb which came from pushing against a camwheel during a timing belt change. It was literally just in the skin and hardly bled. Whereas the cut I got on the other side of the same hand which resulted in a flap of flesh hanging off, 14 stitches and two weeks off work can hardly be seen.

[danthecapriman]

Just driven it up the road and… it’s still playing up.🤬

Exactly the same problem at exactly the same time. 
It’s definitely not the carb as I’ve tried two identical carbs on it today now.

It does seem better than it was but the improvement is tiny. Also the hotter it gets the worse the issue seems. 
But again, if you blip the throttle it often stumbles (almost like a misfire) but usually recovers itself ok. Gentle acceleration is fine. But pulling out of a junction or dead stop is difficult to avoid it stumbling and spluttering.

Since it’s had two carbs and the problem remains it can’t be that. Fuel filter is full so it’s not the pump.
Which means it’s got to be ignition related? Timing? 
Fuck only knows. 
Tbh I’ve had enough of the fucking thing now so tomorrow I’ll take it to my garage and see if he can come up with anything. A second set of eyes might be helpful. 
It’s at the point now where I’m getting very pissed off with it and losing interest so I don’t think me carrying on is going to be much use! 
All I want to do is drive it!!

I’ll just have to take it down to the garage early and try to baby it as best I can. I think it’ll be ok.

And since it’s the day for good news the house sale has just fallen through! 
Supposed to be getting a date to move anytime now, everything is done except final signing of contracts and the cunt buying this house has pulled out, potentially collapsing the whole chain.  
Just about everything is now packed, boxes of stuff everywhere and now the house is going’s to have to go back on the market and start over. Nearly six months completely wasted now after it sold. 
 

Shit. Shitty shit shit.

[danthecapriman]

Well, it fired right up this morning and drove down to the garage easy enough. Didn’t stall or cut out. 
You could still feel a slight hesitation if you try accelerating hard, even cruising then changing gear and accelerating you could feel it was there. But if you’re gentle with the throttle it seems fine.

Thats the furthest the cars driven since 2016. About 4 miles from home!! 
Everything else is working as it should though.

Maybe it is something as simple as bad mixture adjustments?

[juular]

56 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Well, it fired right up this morning and drove down to the garage easy enough. Didn’t stall or cut out. 
You could still feel a slight hesitation if you try accelerating hard, even cruising then changing gear and accelerating you could feel it was there. But if you’re gentle with the throttle it seems fine.

Thats the furthest the cars driven since 2016. About 4 miles from home!! 
Everything else is working as it should though.

Maybe it is something as simple as bad mixture adjustments?

Could there be an issue with the tank and or lines dropping bits of crud into the fuel? It sounds almost like some of the particles that you found in the float bowl have made their way further into the carb and it's disrupting the fuel delivery at higher load.

Plausible that the mix could be off, pull a plug and see how the electrode looks?

[danthecapriman]

2 hours ago, juular said:

Could there be an issue with the tank and or lines dropping bits of crud into the fuel? It sounds almost like some of the particles that you found in the float bowl have made their way further into the carb and it's disrupting the fuel delivery at higher load.

Plausible that the mix could be off, pull a plug and see how the electrode looks?

It’s possible I suppose, but the tank was spotless inside when it was refitted. Fuel lines front to rear are mostly that plastic tube which was all ok. Metal pipes in engine bay were all good and cleaned out before refitting. Rubber hoses and filter are all new. 
The carb that’s on it now is a different one to the one I opened up in the pics on last page. It’s the same carb type but almost brand new borrowed from another car that’s never been used. Basically it’s about a year old but never filled with fuel or used. 
I’ve got a new set of plugs but just haven’t fitted them yet, so that’s an option? Maybe a dodgy plug in the car now. 
When the cars back I’ll pull a plug and see what it looks like. They looked like it was running lean to me last time, but maybe if they adjust the carb with their gas analyser it might show an improvement/better colour once it’s driven back home.

It did feel like some sort of fuel issue though. 
My only other thought was maybe it’s something to do with the electronic ignition? But if it was that then surely it’d be a constant problem not just at a certain point?

[juular]

5 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

It’s possible I suppose, but the tank was spotless inside when it was refitted. Fuel lines front to rear are mostly that plastic tube which was all ok. Metal pipes in engine bay were all good and cleaned out before refitting. Rubber hoses and filter are all new. 
The carb that’s on it now is a different one to the one I opened up in the pics on last page. It’s the same carb type but almost brand new borrowed from another car that’s never been used. Basically it’s about a year old but never filled with fuel or used. 
I’ve got a new set of plugs but just haven’t fitted them yet, so that’s an option? Maybe a dodgy plug in the car now. 
When the cars back I’ll pull a plug and see what it looks like. They looked like it was running lean to me last time, but maybe if they adjust the carb with their gas analyser it might show an improvement/better colour once it’s driven back home.

It did feel like some sort of fuel issue though. 
My only other thought was maybe it’s something to do with the electronic ignition? But if it was that then surely it’d be a constant problem not just at a certain point?

Electronic ignition does tend to be an entirely working or entirely broken thing. 

Is the vacuum advance attached and working properly? Do you have a timing light to see what's happening when it's given a bit of throttle?

Regarding the mix, if you think it might be a bit lean, how about giving it some choke and seeing if that enriches the mixture and improves things?

[rusty_vw_man]

Have you got an air leak? These can cause a hesitation/stumble when you open the throttle quickly. Can also get worse with heat as gaps open up.

[danthecapriman]

19 minutes ago, juular said:

Electronic ignition does tend to be an entirely working or entirely broken thing. 

Is the vacuum advance attached and working properly? Do you have a timing light to see what's happening when it's given a bit of throttle?

Regarding the mix, if you think it might be a bit lean, how about giving it some choke and seeing if that enriches the mixture and improves things?

Vacuum advance is connected and working. Tested it by sucking the pipe off the carb base! It does move the little arm and base plate.

Ive tried putting a bit of choke on - doesn’t seem to make much, if any difference I don’t think.

Ive got a timing light… somewhere! It’s packed away in a box somewhere waiting for the house move.

11 minutes ago, rusty_vw_man said:

Have you got an air leak? These can cause a hesitation/stumble when you open the throttle quickly. Can also get worse with heat as gaps open up.

Could well be. 
Although the carb has been replaced now so that got a new carb - manifold gasket & light coating of sealer. Unlikely the old gasket and new gasket have both failed to seal, but not impossible? 
Inlet manifold - head gasket was replaced a few years ago when I had everything off the car. It’s not the best gasket imho but I can’t see that having let go!? Maybe worth spraying some stuff around it though, see if the revs go up at all.

 

Im pretty sure if it was a timing issue it’d do it all the time and not intermittently or only at a certain time/revs?

Could it be a crappy quality dizzy cap or rotor arm? They’re both new but could be questionable quality wise. I’ve checked both and they are clean and working but maybe if they’re just crap Chinese parts maybe they aren’t doing their thing at a certain time?

[Steviemillar]

Two things to consider Dan before throwing in the towel on the fueling side. 

There is a cylindrical filter fitted to the fuel pick-up into the tank that's attached to the sender assembly, I have had these clog up after running a while to the point that the car just cuts out. I have had this on a 3.0 Ghia with a twin-choke 38DGAS carb fitted and found the problem when I changed the fuel tank out which was grotty inside.

However, appearances can be deceptive as I have just changed the fuel tank on my 2.8i Capri as part of eliminating poor running issues, ok so it has the Injection gubbins attached but same basics apply. My old tank appears spotless inside (its the original one from 1984 I believe), but the fuel that came out of it was cloudy and after allowing it to settle for a few days,  the bottom of each clear plastic container the fuel was in was covered in dirt. A new tank is £200 so well worth considering if you're still running the old one.

These suggestions may have been posted before, apologies if they have

[danthecapriman]

7 hours ago, Steviemillar said:

Two things to consider Dan before throwing in the towel on the fueling side. 

There is a cylindrical filter fitted to the fuel pick-up into the tank that's attached to the sender assembly, I have had these clog up after running a while to the point that the car just cuts out. I have had this on a 3.0 Ghia carb and found the problem when I changed the fuel tank out which was grotty inside.

However, appearances can be deceptive as I have just changed the fuel tank on my 2.8i Capri as part of eliminating poor running issues, ok so it has the Injection gubbins attached but same basics apply. My old tank appears spotless inside (its the original one from 1984 I believe), but the fuel that came out of it was cloudy and after allowing it to settle for a few days,  the bottom of each clear plastic container the fuel was in was covered in dirt. A new tank is £200 so well worth considering if you're still running the old one.

These suggestions may have been posted before, apologies if they have

I’ll have a look I think, 

Although my tank and sender are different to most mk2 and mk3 tanks & senders. And different to Mk1 ones too I think. The senders are not available new, not sure about the tanks. 
Although I’m lucky enough to have a new old stock sender somewhere.

[Steviemillar]

The early Mk2 sender is on the side that faces the diff isn't it whereas the ones I have been working with are mounted to the passenger side of the tank.

I would be surprised if the fuel pick-up doesn't have the filter on it.

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Steviemillar said:

The early Mk2 sender is on the side that faces the diff isn't it whereas the ones I have been working with are mounted to the passenger side of the tank.

I would be surprised if the fuel pick-up doesn't have the filter on it.

That’s it. The early ones are smaller and have an elbow bend pick up, the later ones are a shallower angle pickup. 
I’ll check the spare one I’ve got, but I think the filter is just a basic sock filter over the pick up tube end.

I know that was clear when I fitted it… but it’s possible it’s picked up some crap since it’s had fuel in and been working again.

Heres the inside of the tank and one of the pick ups when they went back on the car.

[rusty_vw_man]

3 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Although the carb has been replaced now so that got a new carb - manifold gasket & light coating of sealer. Unlikely the old gasket and new gasket have both failed to seal, but not impossible? 

Worth putting a straight edge across the manifold mount - I have had more than one that were not quite flat, so the gasket wasn’t clamped tight in the centre, although it looked okay. 

[derskine]

I was going to comment the other day, but it looked like you had fixed the issue so didn't feel necessary...

My Capri (1.6 pinto also) is doing exactly the same thing.

Runs like an absolute bag of shit until warm, and when warm, foot to the floor and it'll stumble/pop bang etc.

I haven't had much time to have a good look into it, but I did rebuild the carb and it also didn't help.

I expect you will probably fix it before I do, but I was erring on an air leak somewhere for mine.

 

[N19]

Re air leak, excuse me if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs, but get a can of carb cleaner and spray it methodically all around the different bits of the carb, manifold, hoses etc... the point at which the engine picks up will be where the leak is. I did this a few years ago leading me to discover a loose nut holding the carb to the manifold causing a leak if the carb rocked slightly!

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, rusty_vw_man said:

Worth putting a straight edge across the manifold mount - I have had more than one that were not quite flat, so the gasket wasn’t clamped tight in the centre, although it looked okay. 

Good shout. I’ll try that, since it’s easy to do I might try it on the inlet manifold - head join too, just need a replacement gasket.

57 minutes ago, derskine said:

I was going to comment the other day, but it looked like you had fixed the issue so didn't feel necessary...

My Capri (1.6 pinto also) is doing exactly the same thing.

Runs like an absolute bag of shit until warm, and when warm, foot to the floor and it'll stumble/pop bang etc.

I haven't had much time to have a good look into it, but I did rebuild the carb and it also didn't help.

I expect you will probably fix it before I do, but I was erring on an air leak somewhere for mine.

 

At least I’m not alone!😁 

What carb is on yours?

5 minutes ago, N19 said:

Re air leak, excuse me if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs, but get a can of carb cleaner and spray it methodically all around the different bits of the carb, manifold, hoses etc... the point at which the engine picks up will be where the leak is. I did this a few years ago leading me to discover a loose nut holding the carb to the manifold causing a leak if the carb rocked slightly!

I’ll give that a go too before I start pulling anything apart. 

I’ve just driven it home and it’s definitely better that it was, but still playing up. 
It’s a particular nightmare on hills! Just came up a short steep one and it really did not like trying to go up it. Of course you need to apply more gas which is exactly what causes the stumbling and farting problems!

[danthecapriman]

It’s now back from the garage.

Carb & emissions. Unfortunately these couldn’t be adjusted. Their only emissions tester is for their MOT bay, as such it’s set up to carry out a timed 30 second test for MOT’s and it won’t run long enough to let a car be tuned until the system resets. Obviously moderns don’t need tuning like old stuff does so everything is geared towards that. They said they couldn’t guarantee they could do it and get it right so decided it best to leave it be. Which means the problem I was having is still there!

They also got it up on a ramp for an inspection. I asked them to do this as, although the cars MOT exempt I decided it was best and responsible to get a professional to cast a second set of eyes over it and make sure I’ve done it right, not missed anything etc etc.    

Everything checked out with the exception of the front strut top mounts. These were fine but the 3 per side mount bolts on the inner wings weren’t tight enough. Maybe I’d done that or maybe it has all settled and moved as the cars been sat on its wheels and driven? But they’ve tightened them up for me.
Everything else was spot on apparently, all down to split pins all fitted where needed, etc. So I must be able to some things right after all!!😆      
Headlight aims and a few other bits & bobs have been checked and adjusted.

The other thing I asked them to check was the brakes. I did all these at home and they worked by hand as I was going around doing them but obviously I wanted to know they were good!  
They did an MOT style test on them as well as a visual inspection, and they are spot on apparently.

Another job they did for me (which I didn’t ask them to do but they didn’t charge me for it!) was the gear selector felt a bit sloppy, especially trying to get it into reverse. So they stripped the selector out, cleaned up the mounting collar & lock tabs and refitted it tighter than I could do it.

 

Drive home was fine, still has that annoying hesitation and splutter at times (especially that hill!) but it made it fine. 
The front end feels much better now too, definitely notice the strut mounts being tightened! And there’s much less vibration and thumping through the front now too. 
The gear selector is lovely now too, much tighter and more ‘definite’ when selecting gears, which is nice. 
And, the big thing of course, is that I know it’s safe now too! Some people might think I’m being a bit over the top, but I think for the sake of what it cost and a few hours of it being away, it’s well worth doing. I’m not going to be MOTing it now I don’t have to so this is easily just as good on a car like this. 
 

So next things to do? 
1) I’ll try to have another look at the spluttering problem. Air leaks, etc. see what I can find.

2) Ive got some better quality ignition parts coming. Sparklators, lightning hoses, etc, so I’ll fit those and see if that helps.

3) Tracking. It’s not great as it is so I’ll get the local tyre place to do it at some stage.

4) Assuming I can’t sort the spluttering problem, I’ll have to find an old skool mechanic/garage to look at it instead.

Overall, a shame the carb couldn’t have got sorted, but I’m very happy with everything else! I’m my own worst enemy for not having confidence in myself and the things I do so it’s actually great to hear I’ve done this well and properly! 
The car was a big hit at the garage too! They loved it and said it’s absolutely lovely. Loads of attention on the road too, people looking, I even had some woman say ‘it brought back some good memories to see it’ as I was waiting at some lights! 
My dad followed me in his car on the way home too, apparently it looks absolutely fantastic on the road.

Good times!!

                               

 

[Wibble]

I’m not surprised It got attention, it’s bloody awesome. Glad the garage helped out and backed up the quality of your work. Hats off to you! Hope you sort the running issues.

[artdjones]

3 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

It’s now back from the garage.

Carb & emissions. Unfortunately these couldn’t be adjusted. Their only emissions tester is for their MOT bay, as such it’s set up to carry out a timed 30 second test for MOT’s and it won’t run long enough to let a car be tuned until the system resets. Obviously moderns don’t need tuning like old stuff does so everything is geared towards that. They said they couldn’t guarantee they could do it and get it right so decided it best to leave it be. Which means the problem I was having is still there!

They also got it up on a ramp for an inspection. I asked them to do this as, although the cars MOT exempt I decided it was best and responsible to get a professional to cast a second set of eyes over it and make sure I’ve done it right, not missed anything etc etc.    

Everything checked out with the exception of the front strut top mounts. These were fine but the 3 per side mount bolts on the inner wings weren’t tight enough. Maybe I’d done that or maybe it has all settled and moved as the cars been sat on its wheels and driven? But they’ve tightened them up for me.
Everything else was spot on apparently, all down to split pins all fitted where needed, etc. So I must be able to some things right after all!!😆      
Headlight aims and a few other bits & bobs have been checked and adjusted.

The other thing I asked them to check was the brakes. I did all these at home and they worked by hand as I was going around doing them but obviously I wanted to know they were good!  
They did an MOT style test on them as well as a visual inspection, and they are spot on apparently.

Another job they did for me (which I didn’t ask them to do but they didn’t charge me for it!) was the gear selector felt a bit sloppy, especially trying to get it into reverse. So they stripped the selector out, cleaned up the mounting collar & lock tabs and refitted it tighter than I could do it.

 

Drive home was fine, still has that annoying hesitation and splutter at times (especially that hill!) but it made it fine. 
The front end feels much better now too, definitely notice the strut mounts being tightened! And there’s much less vibration and thumping through the front now too. 
The gear selector is lovely now too, much tighter and more ‘definite’ when selecting gears, which is nice. 
And, the big thing of course, is that I know it’s safe now too! Some people might think I’m being a bit over the top, but I think for the sake of what it cost and a few hours of it being away, it’s well worth doing. I’m not going to be MOTing it now I don’t have to so this is easily just as good on a car like this. 
 

So next things to do? 
1) I’ll try to have another look at the spluttering problem. Air leaks, etc. see what I can find.

2) Ive got some better quality ignition parts coming. Sparklators, lightning hoses, etc, so I’ll fit those and see if that helps.

3) Tracking. It’s not great as it is so I’ll get the local tyre place to do it at some stage.

4) Assuming I can’t sort the spluttering problem, I’ll have to find an old skool mechanic/garage to look at it instead.

Overall, a shame the carb couldn’t have got sorted, but I’m very happy with everything else! I’m my own worst enemy for not having confidence in myself and the things I do so it’s actually great to hear I’ve done this well and properly! 
The car was a big hit at the garage too! They loved it and said it’s absolutely lovely. Loads of attention on the road too, people looking, I even had some woman say ‘it brought back some good memories to see it’ as I was waiting at some lights! 
My dad followed me in his car on the way home too, apparently it looks absolutely fantastic on the road.

Good times!!

                               

 

Did the idle jet and the various idle passages get blown out? It's amazing how much that can affect normal running as in normal use the engine is often running on the transition between the idle system and the main jet.

[danthecapriman]

1 minute ago, artdjones said:

Did the idle jet and the various idle passages get blown out? It's amazing how much that can affect normal running as in normal use the engine is often running on the transition between the idle system and the main jet.

No, not beyond me blowing down a length of vac hose I shoved into the jet openings! I did blow hard though as I almost passed out 😆

Ive got no compressor and I can’t find any cans of cleaner at home.

But, it’s got a borrowed second carb on it now that’s basically new. Exactly the same carb type though, and it’s still hesitating and spluttering. It’s better but still doing it. 
 

[N19]

I suspect what you need is a backstreet garage where they'd see you, shout inside for old Bert to come out, and he'd spend 5 minutes with a flathead screwdriver, 13mm spanner and his ears, and have it working perfectly... but finding those Berts is a challenge!

[mat_the_cat]

On 8/21/2023 at 11:19 AM, danthecapriman said:

But, there was some mank in the float chamber. Stirring it up showed loads of tiny particles floating around in the bottom. I’ve been running this with an in-line fuel filter for its entire 21 odd year life, so clearly some stuff can still make it past a filter.

I don't think it's the issue in your case, but it's quite interesting (to me at least) how the filters work. It's not as simple as the filter stopping all particles larger than say 5 microns; rather the filter medium will have a range of hole sizes, some bigger, some smaller. Most of the holes will be in the order of (say) 5 microns, so the chances of any larger particles getting through a new filter is low, as the probability of them hitting a large enough hole is negligible. But what happens as the filter clogs up is that more and more of the smaller holes get blocked, and a greater proportion of the (now restricted) fuel flow now goes through the larger holes. So when people leave a filter for too long, thinking that all that could happen is it starts to starve the engine of fuel, the're actually increasing the risk of doing harm.

Like others have said though, you seem to get deposits forming from old fuel - I wonder if it's stuff that has previously been dissolved in it which crystallises as it dries out?

[danthecapriman]

31 minutes ago, N19 said:

I suspect what you need is a backstreet garage where they'd see you, shout inside for old Bert to come out, and he'd spend 5 minutes with a flathead screwdriver, 13mm spanner and his ears, and have it working perfectly... but finding those Berts is a challenge!

I think you’re probably right tbh.  
I’ve said it before, but I can do many things myself (so I get pissed off when I can’t!) but getting old cars tuned up properly is a skill and I don’t have it. I can get them good enough to idle and drive normally but getting them running right and efficiently is another matter entirely. 
Trying to do it by ear is a lost cause here as my hearing is absolutely fucked anyway. One ear is significantly better than the other (damage from an accident!) but I’ve always had trouble with my ears even as a kid. Listening to load music probably hasn’t helped either!

It was funny actually today, as the guys in the garage weren’t Carburetor guys. By their own admission they said nobody here is old enough really to have worked on them. Everything since the late 80’s more or less has some form of fuel injection and you just never see them anymore. In this case I’ve actually got more experience than they did with carbs! On the other hand if you sat me in front of a modern fuel injection system with a fault I wouldn’t know wtf to do with it. I doubt I could even turn on the diagnostic machine!😁

But, I’ve got a few suggestions from you lot to try and the parts I’ve ordered so if that fails and the parts cannon method fails, I’ll have to look for old Burt. There’s a few places I can think of in this general area so hopefully it’ll get sorted one way or the other.