Dan Cook

Hi Stratton Jimmer I am in Stroud. Dan

Thanks for this Chris and the detailed advice offered, this is very helpful. I have sanded the wheel arches and they are looking in pretty good shape, will still treat them with rust treatment. I will see what I can do about the rear valance of the car. The car is a Spitfire 6. Regards, Dan

Thanks for the input Colin, sounds like a good plan. Dan

Hi all, I am currently dealing with some rust on my car. I have some bubbling paint around the weel arches. My intention is to take back to metal, use rust treatment, prime and then paint. While I was doing that I thought I would takle the back of the car under the back bumper, this has always had a rough texture. When I started sanding, I have this dark material. I was wondering if this is some kind of filler. Also whether I sould keep sanding and the treat like the rest of the car of whether I should be looking to put something back on this part of the car before painting. Thoughts anyone Thanks in advance. Dan

Pete again thanks for this. Goodpoint about idle screw, forgot about that so I hadn't backed them off. I have done a compression test and all cylinders well within 10 per cent of each other and were in the green section on the meter. There is another issue I have noticed. I did a compression test as cylinder 3 had noticeably more black carbon deposits than any other cylinders. I have checked all of the valve gaps and they are fine. I have held off doing anything as I thought it might be a head off job. I did also check spark was arriving at spark plug. Have changed plugs too and checked plug gap. I know that this could well be idle issue. Tried to rule out carbs first though. To answer question idle really the only issue. It doesn't mis-fire. I think there was a problem with air leaking which probably just compounded issues. But better with thick gasket between manifold and gasket. Thanks Dan

Doug thanks for the link. I have read and downloaded the web pages and found them really useful.

Hi I have Stromberg carbs on my GT6 mark 3. I think I am correct is saying they are CD150SE?! They are the ones with temp compensators on. The car has run pretty lumpy on tickover since I had it. It runs fine under power and goes really well and smoothly when you have your foot down. So I think there is an air leak causing the idle to be rough. If anyone attended the tinker day at club HQ mine was the white Spit/GT6 conversion that Pete started the day with. Since the day I feel much more confident with the carbs and can now remove from the car and strip down in about 40mins! Anyway I am still trying to rule out symptoms as I am going along. The air compensators are closed, I now have some proper asbestos gaskets on the carbs and have fitted the gaskets so the the air hole is unblocked on the butterfly side of the carb. I have a proper air filter box too. I did have heat shield between the carbs and the manifold which I know are not standard, I did take them off when I got the asbestos gaskets, but put them back on again as there was an issue with the front carb (nearest radiator). The manifold is so narrow where it meets the carb that the air hole that I assume goes to the bypass valve and the temp compensator was overhanging the manifold. This is led me to believe that this is why the heat shields were put on in the first place to make a better mating surface for the carb. I have experimented with the fuel/air mixture and have tried using colour tune, lifting piston, inspecting plugs etc. The timing is set to 8 deg before top dead etc. I have set the fuel float level to the recommended level in Haynes manual. I have checked diaphragms for leaks, checked the floats are the right way up. I have damper oil in the pots. I have checked the carbs are balanced with a meter. So to my question. Below is a pic of the butterfly, they don't look particularly worn to me or that the gap around them is a particular issue but I don't have any experience of what constitutes unacceptable wear? I have held them up to a strip light with piston out of the carb. If they are worn can you just replace them I am assuming you don't necessarily need to replace the spindle. The spindle seems OK and doesn't wiggle about when opening and closing. Any advice much appreciated. Dan Cook