[Solex B30 PSE1 Leaking fuel upon stopping engine]

Thanks for all of the information. 
I have blown through all I could find and didn’t see anything obvious.  The idle jet seemed to be clean as a whistle. I did note the very slightest of ‘edges’ when I ran a finger nail along the volume control needle. 
 

on short test run all good for couple of minutes and then threatened to to cut out and needed a bit of choke to keep revs up. Came back home to have a think about it some more 👍👍😳

still got a very definite whiff of petrol vapour in the garage now. 

[Solex B30 PSE1 Leaking fuel upon stopping engine]

Latest news in the saga... I have removed stripped, cleaned and reassembled the carb.

now re-mounted with a thermal spacer to reduce heat transfer.

Got it idling very well but with volume control wound almost all the way in. Does this mean an incorrect idle jet?

Just checked the plugs and it was very sooty. Hoping this is from all of the fiddling on the drive.

Will take for a quick run... do i need to be concerned or just get on and enjoy it?

[Solex B30 PSE1 Leaking fuel upon stopping engine]

I will be trying the heat shield idea. And also i think i can get away with about a 5-7 mm  gasket to try to prevent thermal transfer without needing new studs.

in the meantime, the damn thing is runnng rich at idle and the volume control screw isn’t working! I guess that i must have picked up some particles so it is back to strip down clean and reassemble first. 

[Solex B30 PSE1 Leaking fuel upon stopping engine]

There were a few tiny bits of black (hose rubber?) in the bottom of the float chamber. I have cleaned these out.

none of the body holes are obscured by the gasket except for top middle of float chamber but that has a notch cut out of the body below the gasket.

Given that there is what i think is a vent to air in the top cover, i am wondering where the pressure is generated to push the fuel through when it is stopped and hot. Could it be a simple as an incorrect float level? It was coming out of both the accelerator pump swan neck and the main bridge. 

When full of fuel, the float is sitting proud of the flat surface of the carb body by a few mm.

Although the photo s upside down... the accelerator pump mechanism is clearly very close to the manifold ... should i raise it up onto a thermal block of a few mm to reduce heat transfer.

 

[Solex B30 PSE1 Leaking fuel upon stopping engine]

If one of the. Holes is covered by the gasket... to i just punch a hole?

[Solex B30 PSE1 Leaking fuel upon stopping engine]

Hi thanks for the reply. 

I agree, with your comment about the physical appearance. The carb was repaired by classic fuel systems in Bradford. It does seem to have been done to a good standard. It could of course be the rubber slivers, but yes i did purge a little fuel before connecting to the carb, although the fitting to the carb itself has a stub of about one inch , and that might have caused a few slivers i guess.

 

I have an adjustable filter/pressure regulator fitted and set to just a tad over 1.5 psi. 

So ... check gasket isn’t covering any holes first?

then remove the float valve again, emulsion tube and main jet? And clean out?

 

[Solex B30 PSE1 Leaking fuel upon stopping engine]

I am a. Little frustrated... having just paid for a professional restoration of a b30 PSE1-1 for my herald 1200 , it came back looking better than new. So imagine my disappointment  when after fitting and a little fettling, i stopped the engine and found petrol squirting /dribbling out of the accelerator pump swan neck and also the main opening in the middle of the carb throat. It was enough to produce an intermittent drip from the throttle spindle directly onto the manifold. Also some made it past the throttle butterfly and out of the manifold drain.  

Any ideas where to go looking for the issue? Or should i just revert back to the Weber 32-ICT that had been fitted previously?  The problem with the Weber being that the throttle mechanism would never return cleanly to idle, car often difficult to start from hot and fairly poor economy. I thought that by returning the car to a correctly specced carb i was doing the right thing.

The Solex carb has been assembled with a plastic float and a fairly thick washer under the float valve.

Upon first fitting, the float valve jammed open causing a lot of petrol to flood the carb. I took the  valve out, gave it a good blow through, checked it for correct operation and refitted.

[Regulated voltage for herald 1200]

Fantastic... many thanks. I will read and try to understand but probably when I go through the test process (maybe the weekend) I am sure it will start to make sense. Good stuff 👍👍😀

[Regulated voltage for herald 1200]

Thanks for the prompt reply. For some reason I cannot access the downloads ... get error message resource not found. I will go elsewhere on line to see if I can find the appropriate reference. I have now read the the control box should be adjustable 😀

[Regulated voltage for herald 1200]

I recently had cause to measure the voltage charging the battery and was surprised to find that at around 1500 revs and above the voltage measured across the battery terminals was 15.4 volts. It seemed quite stable at these higher revs and dropped to 12.6 volts at idle. Is this normal? Or does it mean that the old style regulator unit is failing in some way? I was expecting to see it top out at around 14.2v

Just to make sure that this was not due to excess gas accumulation on either anode or cathode, i left car with headlights on for ten mins and repeated check with the same result.

as ever, your collective wisdom on all matters regulator is eagerly anticipated.

[Chrome Petrol Cap required! Herald 1200 1966]

Thanks for the point out. I have now ordered a replacement thank you👍👍👍

[B30-PSE1 jets for herald 1200]

Well I am very glad that you did!! 

[B30-PSE1 jets for herald 1200]

Wow! That is a suburb find... and so fast too. I have been looking everywhere and have drawn a blank.Thank you so much. I should now be on the path to setting things back to standard.

[B30-PSE1 jets for herald 1200]

 

My herald 1200 is running on a Weber 32-ICT and  although it runs reasonably well, the idle return isn’t quite right and it isn’t very fuel efficient.  

Over the years I have acquired a collection of 4 solex carbs (including one later zenith with the econostat and brass vent on top of the float chamber) none of them have any identifying marks that can be read. They all look the same body etc as the B30 PSE1.  One of them is i believe the original carb but foolishly after twenty or so years of storage  i cannot remember which one!! 

Does anyone know what the correct jets are ? And how to go about identifying the right spec for ordering up new parts etc.

I may send them away for a rebuild of one good carb. Spindles a bit worn and leaky etc. 

Thanks again in anticipation of your help and advice.

 

 

[Chrome Petrol Cap required! Herald 1200 1966]

Pleased to say that a quick chat with Mick Dolphin has me awaiting delivery of a replacement cap... so thank everyone for the suggestions

[High cylinder compression in herald 1200]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn’t going looking for problems but was surprised when using it for diagnosing some thing else. My reason for puzzling was that if it means that the head has been off and the valves replaced/refaced etc. Then it is one job. That i can take of my list of planned work.

 

[Chrome Petrol Cap required! Herald 1200 1966]

Thanks so much for the leads. I may get a used pitted one if I can and re chrome it 👍👍👍

[Chrome Petrol Cap required! Herald 1200 1966]

Hi copin

thanks for that. I did see it but coming from Belgium with 30euros postage seemed a bit expensive for a cheapskate like me! That said if I have to I will. 👍👍👍

[Chrome Petrol Cap required! Herald 1200 1966]

Following a test run recently I discover that my fuel cap has fallen off somewhere. I have retraced my steps but to no avail.

Car is a 1966 Herald

Right ho I thought... Iwill buy a replacement. Only to find none available that I can find. Does anyone know where I might be able to source one. Does anyone have one lying around in the bitsa box?

Cheers

David

[High cylinder compression in herald 1200]

850 rpm

[High cylinder compression in herald 1200]

Thanks for the reply. Interestingly I have found the engine to be happiest on shell v max 99RON.  It is running v nicely with 20 degrees of advance at fast idle (without vacuum). Nothing seems to be ‘book values’ any more but I guess that a combination of wear, modern fuel, and now  the higher compression would account for that. 
 

I like the idea of an endoscope and will look out for the next time they are on sale 

 

[High cylinder compression in herald 1200]

I am somewhat befuddled having just tested the compression in my 1966 1200 herald engine.

First a little history with the car. First owned from 1988 to 2014.

during this time the head had a light skim 5 thou if I remember correctly and the head was never modified to unleaded valve seats. The engine was getting a little tired and from memory had around 110-120 psi cylinder pressure.

car then sold due to divorce and rediscovered and repurchased in 2018.

recently had cause to check compression (had a cylinder not firing). Using the same compression tester ( albeit many years later) and found compression to be 150-160 psi.  book value suggests max 133psi.
 

so my question are...

could this just be a faulty compression tester?

if during the years away from my ownership the head was removed and reskimmed could this have such a large effect upon compression?

if so, then would this require a different set up in terms of ignition timing etc?

is there any way to know for certain how much has been skimmed?

and if (it hasn’t been converted to unleaded seats) and I wanted to do this, would it be able to have another slight skim if required.
 

As always, I await the wisdom of the “collective” with eager anticipation.👍👍

 

[Soft top to windscreen weather seal installation]

Thanks for that! I will have to have a chat to see if it is the correct profile ... happy new year... I am hoping to crack on with the car whilst furloughed 😂😂

[Soft top to windscreen weather seal installation]

Thanks for the prompt response again...That is quite different! Any idea where I can buy a strip from? 
regards

david

[Soft top to windscreen weather seal installation]

I have taken some photos. The profile is definitely not the same symmetrical form as that shown in one of the replies. 
I think that the seal was supplied by rimmer bros and came with the car when it was purchased a couple of years ago. 

I have now used some durex lube that helped to seat it in place and am hoping that it might just settle itself in (cold weather doesn’t help).

I am a little worried about the amount of tension being placed on the windscreen frame though. 

now a new issue! 

the third image is showing where the hood joins the b post of the frame on the drivers side. The stitching has torn and I am finding it difficult to re-glue. 
I do not see how I can repair the stitching... does anyone know why this has happened, how to stop it in future and what type of glue might work (have just ordered a marine two part pvc glue). 
 

once again all opinions and views greatfully received