Project Project Capri. Back on the road! New earths.

[N19]

2 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

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.

You're right, it's a complex topic. Like you, I can get a car running and functioning, but you need to know what you're doing to get it 100% spot on.

If you haven't already, give Martin at CapriGear a ring. He's decent and has spent many many years working on the cars, and will usually be quite happy to chat and give advice on the phone. A long way away from you, albeit, but he can give ideas...

[danthecapriman]

9 minutes ago, mat_the_cat said:

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?

I didn’t know that tbh, about the filter holes! Learn something new every day! 
Tbh, I’ve also got my doubts about the quality of some filters. Some look good, some look cheap and nasty. But I’m convinced I once fitted an inline filter and the paper filter stuff inside it started to dissolve and get sucked into the carb. I think it was on my old Granada. The crap in the carb looked suspiciously like very very wet torn up filter paper.

[derskine]

6 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

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.

At least I’m not alone!😁 

What carb is on yours?

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!

Mine is a 32/36, it seems to be on mine that when the second choke opens, it happens?

[danthecapriman]

It’s been a week or so since I’ve done anything on this. Mainly because of other thing’s going on and, of course, it’s the height of summer so it’s naturally been pissing with rain non stop!

However, I took the liberty of ordering some new ignition parts and firing the parts cannon at the car in the hope of curing that irritating stumbling issue!

So, when I did a quick ‘refresh’ of the engine when it was out of the car I put new HT leads, plugs, rotor arm and dizzy cap on. All the old ones were well used and needed replacing, but I just bought cheap bits to replace them. They did the job, and let the engine start & run but with the stumbling issues could they be a bit suspect?? This time I bought more expensive better quality parts so hopefully they’ll help!

Fitting them all is easy, as long as you remember which lead goes where…      
I got a set of Champion plugs this time (made in GB!) as the last few sets of NGK plugs I’ve had looked a bit crappy compared to how they were. Maybe it’s just me!? I’ve also made absolutely sure they’re all gapped properly. 
The old NGK plug’s actually look to be a far better colour now too, the cars been driven a bit now and it’s still got that second, newer carb on too so it’s definitely running significantly better than it was. All are the same with a light brownish grey colour.

Nothing seemed particularly obviously wrong with the old parts until I got to the dizzy cap. The cheap old one could be fitted and clamped into the correct place but if you grab the cap you could twist it slightly in both directions! It wasn’t a huge amount but that surely could alter the timing slightly. The new cap is a very tight and definite fit and will not move at all when it’s on. 
 

Anyway, with everything fitted it starts and idles as well as ever. I’ve run it up to temperature so the choke is off and so far I’ve been blipping the throttle, revving the engine and haven’t noticed the stumbling or cutting out issue at all. It seems very responsive now which it didn’t before. 
I’ll have to try it on the road at some point but fingers crossed!

[Wibble]

47 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

It’s been a week or so since I’ve done anything on this. Mainly because of other thing’s going on and, of course, it’s the height of summer so it’s naturally been pissing with rain non stop!

However, I took the liberty of ordering some new ignition parts and firing the parts cannon at the car in the hope of curing that irritating stumbling issue!

So, when I did a quick ‘refresh’ of the engine when it was out of the car I put new HT leads, plugs, rotor arm and dizzy cap on. All the old ones were well used and needed replacing, but I just bought cheap bits to replace them. They did the job, and let the engine start & run but with the stumbling issues could they be a bit suspect?? This time I bought more expensive better quality parts so hopefully they’ll help!

Fitting them all is easy, as long as you remember which lead goes where…      
I got a set of Champion plugs this time (made in GB!) as the last few sets of NGK plugs I’ve had looked a bit crappy compared to how they were. Maybe it’s just me!? I’ve also made absolutely sure they’re all gapped properly. 
The old NGK plug’s actually look to be a far better colour now too, the cars been driven a bit now and it’s still got that second, newer carb on too so it’s definitely running significantly better than it was. All are the same with a light brownish grey colour.

Nothing seemed particularly obviously wrong with the old parts until I got to the dizzy cap. The cheap old one could be fitted and clamped into the correct place but if you grab the cap you could twist it slightly in both directions! It wasn’t a huge amount but that surely could alter the timing slightly. The new cap is a very tight and definite fit and will not move at all when it’s on. 
 

Anyway, with everything fitted it starts and idles as well as ever. I’ve run it up to temperature so the choke is off and so far I’ve been blipping the throttle, revving the engine and haven’t noticed the stumbling or cutting out issue at all. It seems very responsive now which it didn’t before. 
I’ll have to try it on the road at some point but fingers crossed!

Sounds really promising Dan! I wouldn’t be able to resist going for a quick spin now to be sure. Engine bay looks mint!

[danthecapriman]

13 minutes ago, Wibble said:

Sounds really promising Dan! I wouldn’t be able to resist going for a quick spin now to be sure. Engine bay looks mint!

Hopefully I’ll have a bit of time this weekend or possibly next week to give it a spin round the block. It certainly seems happy enough at the moment though so fingers crossed.🤞

I think the new king lead for the coil - dizzy cap might possibly be a bit too long!😁 I’ll have to try and loop it around somewhere and lose the excess length.

The silver hot paint I put on the exhaust and manifold is already starting to fail though. There’s tiny bits of rust coming through the silver. Not the end of the world really. Same on the exhaust system, little bits of rust coming through the paint. 

[Wibble]

Funnily enough the king lead on the Cortina is also too long and routed accordingly! 

[danthecapriman]

Did a bit on this today. Which isn’t easy at the moment as most of my tools etc are packed away!

All I’ve done is added a couple of extra earth leads. 
The original one just bolts to a flat part of the lower engine block casting with a little spur off to the inner wing. It seems ok but it’s old now and it occurred to me that more can’t hurt and putting them in different places might make a better return path than trying to go through gaskets, bolt threads etc etc to get to the single factory one!

Firstly I’ve separated the original body inner wing connection, ground that down more to bare steel then cleaned the cable end and bolted it back tight. 
The next extra earth is a big thick copper braid, which I’ve slipped on under one of the starter motor mount bolts then cleaned the paint off a patch of the inner wing next to the chassis leg where there was a convenient unused hole for a bolt already, then bolted them up tight. 
The final extra is a short length of copper cable with insulation (actually intended for a Mini!) but it’s a nice thick piece of cable. I wanted this as close to the plugs as I could so it’s fitted between the lifting eye on the head and an unused hole one the bulkhead where some cars seem to have what looks like an earth attached anyway. Everything is cleaned to bare shiny metal and tightened down with a washer and spring washer.

You can just see them in the pic. I’ve also tied the comedy long king lead back for fear of it ending up in the fan blades if I don’t! I’ll make a tidier more permanent job of it later.

 

Fires up and runs well, and no signs of the hesitation and splutter either.

 

It could do with a bit more petrol in soon, but I think a longer road test might be called for. Which I might just about be able to get in before the road salt wankers start spreading that shit all over the place! Once that’s down I’ll be shut down for winter. As far as driving it goes anyway.

While it was sat running today I had the heater on. The new mk3 matrix is miles better than the tiny old mk1 type this used to have from new! While it’s not exactly the best heater, and nothing compared to the raging inferno the Volvo can put out, it’s noticeably a big improvement. And, it now works on all three position settings which it didn’t before because of a broken control cable. Absolute luxury!!