yorkshire_spam

A bit controvesial and not trying to start an arguement... I love the concept of the program, but I just can't watch it. Tim annoys me more than I can say and the whole thing seems really false and stage managed for the cameras. I can't even watch it when it's Triumph or Land Rover related (my 2 classic car passions) I've tried. I've thought that maybe I'm being harsh and judgemental and re-tried. Nope, I just can't get on with Tim or the program "style".

I've just had my 1500 head done by Peter Burgess. Excellent service, reasonable price and a nice bunch to deal with. (See my blog linked below)

I checked my blog, turns out it was 2013 when I removed them!

Yep, they are long gone! I think I got rid of those in about 2014.

I had my pair of HS4 carbs cleaned, faced and re-bushed by CarbEx, then I rebuilt them with new spindles etc. They've been attached to the existing engine in the Spitfire and I've tuned and tested them. I'm happy with how the car is running on them. The engine rebuilt has now reached the stage where I think it's time to swap over and get the new one up and running: The engine is my old 1500 "spare" that dropped a valve on an event in 2015 (and smashed a rocker, drove the valve guide out of the head and dinked the piston and the bore) After rebuilt it is now: +60 overbore New pistons Maxspeeding Conrods Duplex vernier timing gear Newman Fast Road cam 10.2:1 compression ratio (head skimmed after headwork done) Peter Burgess "Fast Road" specification head Crank polished (no grind needed! Win!) Piston/Ring/Conrod assemble masses matched to within +/- 1gram across the set Sometime in the next few weeks I might actually have time to swap the engines over! By the way... it's purely a "vanity" engine build, I have no justification for all the money I've put into it, I just figured I'll only do a very small number of engine rebuilds in my life, so I'd like to do one "properly", so I indulged myself and spent last years bonus pay on it!

How about this spanner? It has a very specific purpose in my garage:

The way they un-aged Douglas digitally for the early scenes in the film was pretty impressive - I've seen some hamfisted attempts at that sort of thing in the past, in this case it was pretty convincing and didn't have too many tells.

This! A thousand times this! I don't do Twotter or Instantgran and use Faceache less and less, forums like this are indeed a lifeline!

Google search for just the reg turns up 2 images, the one above attached to somebody's linked in profile and this one on the tr-register site.

Dave Walker? Cambridge?

Anyone else notice the tidy looking (white? silver?) Spitfire driven by Michael Douglas' charater Hank Pym in the Antman film?

Greetings Tom!

Looks like you made a nice job of fitting the pipes and hangers - it looks nice and professional! I'm on the wheel barrow style as well, although mine are on the Spitfire

I can just about get my 1500 engine to turn over by hand - gripping the pulley/fanbelt. Easier with the plugs out.

How smooth it runs, how it revs up, does it misfire, stutter or back fire. It's kinda hard to describe, listen for the "goodness of the running" 🙂 Sorry. I highly recommend reading through this set of pages on adjustment and tuning: http://sucarb.co.uk/technical-hs-type-carburetter-tuning-general A bit of care and following that lot will get you to a really nice state of running if nothing is wrong/faulty.

Never had much luck with a colourtune on my Triumphs, by the su guide and by ear always seems to be better (although I had great success with it on land rovers oddly) A flow meter type thing is very handy for balancing the carbs and will give you a bit more confidence than the old tube+ear method if you are new to this stuff. I managed for years with the cheaper gunsons jobby before getting a nice snail shell type.

Hi Luke! You can get a 1500 on twin hs4 running really nicely without everything having to be 100% spot on, you just have to work through things carefully. Once it's running "well" you can look at finessing it to "Great". First thing is first, before you try and tune the carbs, the ignition side of things needs to be in good shape. Do you have (or have access to) a timing light? Set the timing, make sure the plugs are clean, in good condition and that the gaps are about 25thou. (Feeler gauge, plug spanner/socket required) Good move going for the electronic ignition, if it starts and runs then that's probably ok. Check which carb needles you have. Regardless of (minor) mods the car will run pretty well on standard or something "mildly modified" like AAQ or AAT. Are the needles in good condition? No need to buy loads of different ones, just check yours are in good shape. Take the top (dome) off the carb (3 screws each) and carefully remove the pistons - pistons are matched to domes, don''t mix them up. After turning the car over but not starting, pull the choke cable as you stand by the engine and look down the "jets" (the bit the needle slots into) and look for the height of the fuel in the jet. 3/8" to 1/2" is fine. Much higher - might have flooding/rich running issues, much lower it might run lean. Anywhere in that range is fine. Turn the LOWER hex on the base of the carb until the jet is level with the bridge (no choke etc.) then turn them back down 12 flats or 2 complete turns - this is your starting point for tuning. Operate both the choke and the throttle and CAREFULLY watch the mechanisms - the 2 carbs should move in unison and by the same amounts. Watch for anything sticking or jamming. Check that at full pedal movement the throttle butterflys are fully open (about horizontal) Check that with the choke full in the cam that pushes the throttle when choke is "on" isn't touching the bolt head that it acts on. Should be a small gap and roughly the same on both carbs. Also check that the jets return smoothly to the default position when they choke is off. Before you refit the pistons springs and domes check that the needles are fitted evenly into the pistons, both the "holders" should be flush with the piston bottom. When you refit them make sure you put oil in the damper (engine oil is fine) Once refitted, push them up and let them drop together, you should feel even resistance/damping pushing them up, and they should drop together and land with a nice metally "clonk". At this point... start it up, let it come to temp (don't try tuning unless it's at the middle on the gauge) Once it's warmed up and no choke it's time to tune! There are loads of great guides to tuning SU HS series carbs out there, so I won't repeat it all here. Sorry for the essay... Cheers, Sam

I know somebody who advocates brass/bronze wedges when trying to lift the head off a slant 4 type engine... luckily my 1850 head slid off of it's own accord when I managed to get the studs out.

🙂 I did debate with myself putting a piece of rubber hose around the head or wrapping it in tape, but in the end I decided to take it gentle but be confident in consistent position/results.

Sadly not adjustable in situ, nowhere near as posh as yours John, but it does the job.

Homemade tool of the week:

Spitfire 1500 has a blanking plug rather than a tap fitted to that hole. If coolant isn't peeing out then I'd bet the block is stuffed up solid with silt/sand/rust/crud.

Nice to see the TSSC taking such a responsible cautious position. BRAVO!

I have one like that AND a huge "vintage" Skyes one. I use the new one far more than the Skyes one (in fact I can't remember when I last used it). I used to also have a "flaremaster", but sold it because I was so impressed with the new handle type one. @daverclasper whatever you do avoid the nasty horse-shoe ones - utterly useless and very poor quality/consistency in the flares, even if you buy a branded one. Nasty nasty nasty evil objects:

Part of my issue with wrecking head studs might be my lack of patience... I soak em in plus gas, try the "double nut" method and as soon as I start to strip the threads out of the nuts I give up and weld a nut onto the top of the stud and use the windy gun on it. Doesn't take long, but does ruin a couple of studs in every set I've done.