Black Cat

Thank you gent's, will sleep easy tonight.

The bores were supposed to have been honed before the new rings were fitted. Now completed the wet test First Cylinder Pressure test (Dry) Cylinder 1 104 psi Cylinder 2 110 psi Cylinder 3 103 psi Cylinder 4 105 psi Second Cylinder Pressure test (Wet) Cylinder 1 115 psi Cylinder 2 114 psi Cylinder 3 110 psi Cylinder 4 115psi Slight improovement, oviously a slight leak in each cylinder. The engine runs and sounds OK so unless somebody has any other ideas I'm going to leave it as it is for now. May get a friend who has a garage to check it with his pressure gauge.

All plugs were out when the test was undertaken and throttle was open, the engine was warm and when the engine was rebuilt the bores seemed OK and new ring were added. Will try again with a little oil in each cylinder and see what readings I get then.

Thought I would undertake a compression test on my 1500 1977 Spitfire, the results were as follows: Cylinder 1 104 psi Cylinder 2 110 psi Cylinder 3 103 psi Cylinder 4 105 psi I used a gauge which I brought from eBay so it might not be calibrated correctly but all four readings are well within 10% of each other so on that front I’m OK, my concern is they seem a little low, was expecting 120-150. The engine has been complete striped down and rebuilt and has done under 1000 miles since the rebuild. Should I be concerned?

Thanks Pete, I'll check out the fuel lines before I do anything else.

Hi, Having problems with my distributor on my 1500 Spitfire. The car has had a complete body off rebuild and I also replaced the distributor with a direct replacement one from Ebay, yes I know that’s not always the best place to buy them. The carbs have been professionally restored with all worn components replaced and any parts which need to be ethanol proof have been replaced. I recently took the car to a rolling road to have the carbs set up and they had an issue with the distributor as they were unable to detect any vacuum so all they could do was blank it off for now and set the carbs up the best they could. Took the car out for a run and the car ran OK up until about 60mph when it just lost power and I had to reduce the speed down to 55mph to get home. I’m assuming the reason for the lack of power may be due to the issue with the vacuum and the carbs not being set up as they should be, do you think this is the case? If the issue with the distributor means I need a new one I was thinking about changing it to the 123 electronic one from Rimmer, ref RKC638EL at a cost of £306.00 incl. VAT. The only issue I have with this is how do I know if my Triumph needs a connection for a mechanical rev.counter, as electronic 123 one does not offer this and if so how is one added? Many thanks

I'm happy with what Glen has done on my carbs, I told him all the modifications that have been carried out to the car and using his best judgment he has set the carbs up from the information I gave him, it may not be quite right and I could try and adjust some of the settings myself but I doubt I would get it quite right and this would cost me time and possible money and I'm keen to get the car back on the road and knowing that its booked in for the rolling road at Hanger 111 and they have a carbs specialist on hand to set the carbs up I think I'll let them sort it out. I let you know what the outcome is. Many thanks for your comments

Firstly plenty of fuel, secondly checked the plugs and having earlier cleaned them and checked the gaps they are now oiled up so mixture may well be the problem.

Right, fitted the cards and all the associated parts, clean and checked the plugs, they were quite black with a wet deposit on them from before the carbs were refurbished. Topped up with fuel and after a few turns the car bust into life made some slight adjustments to the mixture to get them in balance and waited till the car came up to temperature, after a while the fan cut in and the engine started to slow and stalled, then it wouldn't start again. I know the carbs are probably still not set up but why did the engine slow and stall when the fan cut in and it seemed to be running quite well up till then?

After nearly two months I have finally got my carbs back from Glen at SU Carburettor Restoration and Exchange and what a great job he has done, they look like new. Glen had not only cleaned all the parts he had also replaced many components as well. Apparently there was wear in the bodies, throttle spindles and the mounting faces weren’t flat. The earlier plastic type jets were fitted along with solid butterfly discs, previous one had been soldered up and this was disrupting the fuel/airflow and new ethanol resistant floats and short flue lines fitted. He also replaced my dash pots as mine were in a sorry state. Because the car has had a few modification to improve performance he fitted AAQ needles along with stronger 8oz piston springs, the previous needles were AAR and as they were not in a bad condition they have been returned in case they might suit better. Hopping to continue working on the cards today but as it’s undercover outside and it’s been raining all morning no chance of that just yet, maybe this afternoon. The few jobs still to do are first fill the dash pots with some 20-50 oil, fit a return spring to the throttle cable, connect up the chock cable and then set the carbs up and hopefully the car will start a lot better than it did before the carbs were refurbished. The car is booked in at Hanger 111 for a rolling road and carb set up later this month and I’m hoping to drive it the short distance there.

Thanks Colin, got one thing the wrong way round at the moment but no harm done. Only fitted the spring the wrong way round but haven't as yet fitted the escutcheon or the handle so should be able to resolve and get it fitted when i grow another hand. Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!”

Hi, Can’t remember if when I removed the window handles at the start of my rebuild if there was a circlip fitted to retain the locking pin in the window handle, firstly are they necessary and secondly if they are which I suspect they are, can you use any off the shelf ones as they don’t seem to be available from the major suppliers and if you can use another type, is there a specific one which is suitable as there are a few available on eBay for other car makes? Also, the plastic escutcheon which sits against the door card, should the flat side be against the door or against the handle? And lastly, dose the small end of the spring go against the door card or is it the large end? Many thanks

Thanks avivalasvegas, I've made contact with Hanger 111 who are based just outside Ipswich and not to far from where I live. They specialise in Lotus cars but hope they can do my Spitfire.

Had a response from SU Cards yesterday and he has quoted me a cost of £350.00 for a complete clean and rebuild to suit my cars modifications including fitting non-wax stats but he has a long waiting list a present. Need to ring him on Monday and see exactly how long the waiting list is.

Yes it the thickness of the top lip, the designed ones which you can get from Rimmer's & Moss and other good quality suppliers just don't fit on the thicker lip.