I have to admit, my Italian tune ups, thrash her through the gears after she has warmed up a bit to cure a hesitancy/miss are not really working. The car will run OK for the rest of the day, but the problem is back the next day. So feeling rather ashamed of my self at how I was treating the little lady, I decided to do a proper job. She had actually got to needing a 10 Kilometre + warm up, before she would run nicely, so it was definitely time.
Took her for a 5 kilometre run, without trying to get her to clean up. She started & idled nicely, but still exhibited the old problem down the road.
Parked beside the shed in the bright light & started checking.
Checked for air leaks in any of the inlet system or hoses, & found nothing.
The electric pump is low down on the right suspension tower, with the inline filter just before it. No crawling under the thing for me. Removed the hose from the suction side of the pump. Petrol poured out gravity fed from the tank through the filter. No problem here.
Removed the Flo Rite foam air filters, & checked the pistons & dampers. Dampers were giving nice resistance, & the pistons were falling smoothly & quickly. No problem here.
Removed the SUs dashpots & pistons. The throat of the carbs are wet with fuel, but no overflow from the main jets. No problem here.
Turned on the ignition. The pump clicked a few times & stopped. No fuel overflowing the main jets. Probably no problem, but may be with the vibration of the engine running.
Removed the float bowl tops, perfectly clean in the float bowls. No problem here.
Removed the floats. No fuel in either of then. Removed the needles. They are the type with a rubber tip. No sign of any marking on the rubber, & no dirt or debris in there. No problem here.
Blew back through the seat out the inlet tube into some cotton wool. No dirt or debris. Still no problem found here.
Reassembled the float bowl tops. Turned upside down, just the weight of the float shut the needle & prevented me blowing back through the needle & seat. No problem here.
Reassembled everything, & fired her up. The thing is running beautifully smoothly both with & without the air conditioning switched on. No problem here.
The suction is equal on each carb, although very slightly syncopated on the back carb. This probably indicates some difference [perhaps a couple of thou] in the valve clearance between No 3 & No 4 inlet valves. Not enough to worry anything, but I'll do the valves clearances as part of this process.
The old knees couldn't handle much more leaning over a fender, so I left a plug reading for another day.
Took her for a run. No sign of any hesitation. As I actually found nothing wrong, & she was warm, I'm not betting I have fixed anything, although I find it not uncommon to correct without finding some minor problem, when everything is set properly. I'll check tomorrow when she is cold.
That was yesterday.
Today I took her for a trip to town, 26 kilometres away. She started & idled perfectly. I gave her no warm up time, & drove off. She behaved perfectly for 1.5 kilometres of gentle driving. After half a kilometre of moderate down hill overrunning in 5Th there was a slight hesitancy for a second or so, which could have been because she was not warmed up. However it is 27C here today, so shouldn't need much.
Behaved perfectly for the rest of the trip.
I wonder If I have corrected it or not. I'll go through the rest of the procedure over the next week or so.
Any suggestions?
Hasbeen
