Alan J

Well, well, started cold fine, had a good run out today, stopped for coffee and cake (back at home again I'm not reckless) and 45 mins later she would not start. Started eventually but was missing and a couple of back fires. Was wondering about that new distributor cap so whipped it off, studied the inside which looked fine but noticed a bit of soot on rotor arm spring contact to coil. Put a used rotor arm in from spares box, showed it the ignition key and it burst into life. Roared around the lanes again. Back home for more coffee and cake and she started again first spin of the starter 45 mins later. That spare rotor arm was in the car when the trouble first occurred. Ah well, the ignition circuit has had some love and attention and a reassuring compression test has been done. Thankfully I did not start messing around with those needles and the mixture! Thanks to all, happy motoring. Alan

Steve P Unlikely to be floating debris in tank, I had this problem soon after I got the Spartan about 10 years ago. It would stop running every 4 miles or so. It always got me home, but in a series of short hops, restarting after 10 mins at the roadside. I removed the tank and cleaned out plenty of gunge then modified the outlet pipe. I fitted a metal outlet pipe that stood up into the tank approx 25mm. I cross drilled the pipe in the tank with 1.5mm holes so any floaters in the tank would need to balance on the standing pipe or be small enough to get through the cross drilled holes. I have an inline filter in the flex hose between tank and fuel pump that has never collected any gunge. No problem getting fuel to the carbs since. Alan

Pete / Johny Thanks for input, still hoping to avoid headaches! Compression test done today, twice with different gauges just to be sure. One gauge gave 160 to 165 lb sq" over all 6 cyl, the other gauge 170 to 175 lb sq" over all cyl. I have no idea when the gauges were last calibrated, if ever, but at least results were consistent. New plugs fitted today. From what you say Pete the springs may help with the pancake filters, so I will try and get a run out soon, have a leisurely coffee break, then see how she starts before messing with mixture. I will let you know. Alan

TSSC Member 4 Location Gloucestershire Posted 15 minutes ago Blimey Pete, that really is a can of worms then. The car is going like a dream. When I serviced the carbs some years ago I could not understand why there were no springs in the damper, but as I had ordered the correct springs from the Minx list I fitted them. I have no idea what the needles are. No problem with the running of the car since. I had gone into the cabs as it was always running too rich, I suspect that fitting an electric solid state fuel pump some years before was causing my problems so had fitted a pressure regulator/filter and everything seems to be fine with the mixture now. I do have pancake filters, with only wire mesh as the filter. I clean them occasionally. My hot starting problem has only happened the last three runs out after about 40 minutes stops and a bump start has put me right. If I stop for 5 mins for fuel etc. she starts again just fine. All good fun.

Blimey Pete, that really is a can of worms then. The car is going like a dream. When I serviced the carbs some years ago I could not understand why there were no springs in the damper, but as I had ordered the correct springs from the Minx list I fitted them. I have no idea what the needles are. No problem with the running of the car since. I had gone into the cabs as it was always running too rich, I suspect that fitting an electric solid state fuel pump some years before was causing my problems so had fitted a pressure regulator/filter and everything seems to be fine with the mixture now. I do have pancake filters, with only wire mesh as the filter. I clean them occasionally. My hot starting problem has only happened the last three runs out after about 40 minutes stops and a bump start has put me right. If I stop for 5 mins for fuel etc. she starts again just fine. All good fun.

Pete The 1600 Spartan is running on Stromberg CD150 carbs that I was told were from a later 2ltr. However when I had them off a couple of years ago to service them, I found from the Zenith ref catalogue that the ID No 3161 on one of the carbs dates back to a Hillman Minx 1500/1725 from 1967 to 1972. The other carb has no ref no on, but is he same. The coil polarity is correct. The Delco distributor has Powerspark K26 electronic ignition within. I have fitted a new distributor cap today, just because I have had one for about 8 years. I have a new set of plugs ordered, I will do the compression test when I fit them. Should I stick with recommended plug gap of 0.025" using this electronic ignition? It has been suggested the gap should be opened up a little. Thanks for your input. Alan

Thanks Johny, I will start with that. Alan

I have started having similar problem with 1600cc Vitesse based Spartan. Car going like a dream, but stop for more than 10 mins when hot and she will not start on key until cool again. I have bump started her a couple of times and carried on with the day out. The car starts fine from cold, where do I start looking? Alan