Quack

I have this ring thing i found in the boot, and i noticed it fit perfectly around the ignition barrel's key slot, so i fitted it for aesthetic reasons. Does anyone know what it is/where it's from/what it's called? I wish to get another one. Extremely vague i know, but hoping somebody knows, as i can't figure out how to describe it in my google searches!

I always use e5 premium but was also using lead additive. I drove about 4 hours over the weekend with no lead additive and all seems well so think I will ditch it

That’s good enough for me, thanks 😂

I imagine this topic has probably been covered many times but i couldn't for the life of me find any direct answers on the forum. I currently use Redex lead replacement with every tank, however i see again and again online that it's just not worth the cost. I'd like to find out how worn my valve seats are already to decide if its worth me continuing to use lead replacement or not, so I was wondering what the symptoms are. I saw that excessive oil consumption is one, which i certainly do have, so wanted to investigate a bit further. I do drive on the motorway a bit, i'd say i maybe do about 3 to 4 hours of 55-60mph driving twice a month, if that makes a difference to my choice.

Yeah I pull out first 1/3 that usually helps the most but still requires a lot of gas for a fair while to keep it from dropping so low it cuts out. full choke certainly doesn’t give me 1200. Once it’s warmed up it runs like a dream but seems just not enough power from the get go to keep it running idle. @NonMember I’m not sure which screw you’re referring to, could you post a picture please if you get the chance?

Just coming back to this quick, since adjusting the mixture the idle is pretty good now once warmed up, however, I now have to sit on the gas for about 5 mins solid when I first start the car in the morning and Rev it hard, otherwise it just bumps around 400rpm and cuts out. I guess this isn’t too bad to deal with and I’d rather have my fuel mixture correct but still a bit annoying!

Yeah it’s definitely just the counter that is buggered for the high revs thing, I took it out last night. Cleaned plugs up yesterday too, going to take for a drive and check their colour later on. Engine still stutters and jumps now and then, or misfires, whatever the terminology is, but adjusting mixture seems to have helped a bit. But again it’s a 50 year old car, the chances of something being clogged up are high, something that I can’t access without pulling the engine apart. Its never going to be perfect but atleast it’s a bit better!

@Josef yep fully agree like others said, most likely tacho just playing up. I think it’s just a coincidence that it was okay for a bit after I fitted the new earth and such. @Iain T yeah when I adjust the mixture on the bottom of the carb, it gets jumpier off I go too far each way. I messed with it quite a bit to try get it perfect. To be honest I do think it stopped some of the jumpiness of the car, I can’t remember how many turns I did either way but I think I ended up loosening it in the end, which would make sense because my spark plugs are covered in carbon so maybe the mixture was a bit rich. there is oil in the dash pot, it gloops when I pull it out. Although i believe Pete said to try put new oil in which I didn’t do so I’ll do that. another point to make is that I have some annoying oil leak somewhere but I’m not sure where. I saw one droplet once on the underside of the car but I put cardboard beneath it for a day and a night, and no oil dropped. I do find my spark plugs get oil on the threading though so it’s probably some internal leak. I go through 2 litres of oil a month 😂 anyway Don’t know if this would affect it but thought I should mention. cleaned the air filter too, or atleast as much as I could, it’s nothing outrageously dirty, the car still stutters when I have the air filter off anyway.

And the high revs issue seems to be continuing today….was fine for a couple days now back to square one! played around with adjusting fuel mixture but no difference really, car still very rough as seen in video and the revs count whilst driving is again way higher. Stuttering always seems to be much much worse after the car has been driven. bordering on deciding that I simply no longer care and just enjoying the car. IMG_3530.MOV

Yeah that seems to be working so far as I scratch them off with my nail carefully, that tool would be a blessing

Yeah the paint job has never been great anyway, not too bothered about that more just the bumps of paint I’ve added, sanding concerns me because it messes up the paintwork and I don’t know how to reapply the finish to get it shiny again

My dreadful attempt lol…not much of an artist 😂 what’s the best way to smooth these bumps out and blend them in once dried? Polish?

Yep that’s right, I believe he was most likely lying or fitted a second hand battery, my one has been running fine and tested well in all the voltmeter tests

Yeah I thought the same @Waggercouldn’t be Vitesse due to the recline. No clue but the fella sold them for £10 a piece! Couldn’t say no! and maybe Josef. The battery was always fine though, no drain, it was the alarm that it buggered, however the alarm now works again, so must have again been related to the grounding that was messing it up? Who knows. Anyway the alarm is getting removed just incase it was the cause of the problems.

Also bear in mind that I have them reclined a bit so they look even further tilted

Yeah for some reason they seem to be. The passenger seat is more tilted back that the driver. I think there’s a little bracket you can remove underneath to reduce it but I decided not to mess with it

Just come back from a lovely drive. Fitted the solenoid and the ground, car started up more beautifully than it ever has. Revs also appear to be lower so maybe the grounding was the issue! Will drive longer tomorrow and get back but so far all is well! Thanks to everyone for the help, Iain and Pete as always I owe you both big time. As a bonus, also fitted some new stag seats in today, much comfier and fit the vehicle better IMO!

Ok went for a rear plate bolt as you suggested, goes straight to battery negative

Could I use this bolt? The damn cable doesn’t fit on the rear bolt.

Okay just adding a new ground. Turns out the original ground was fine, as I can start the starter motor with a jump from positive to starter motor anyway lol but none the less I’m adding an extra earth just incase. is this a good place to earth from engine to chassis? IMG_3484.MOV

Roger roger...thanks for the guidance. Will get a new strap fitted + the new solenoid and see how i get on from there

Yeah i could definitely give it a clean up, but because of the position of it, i'd much rather spend a tenner on a new rubber cased one that can go from the battery ground directly to the starter as others mentioned, just for the peace of mind that i wont bugger my solenoid or any other bits again....not for a long time anyway. Do you suggest i remove this old one if i add a new one direct from battery to starter, or shall i clean it up and leave both on?

Think best to take it off and do what you said Josef and Chuck a new one on from battery ground IMG_3399.MOV

Not sure if video loaded for you but yeah can see in the vid i have a braided one going from battery to bolt on chassis, however none visible going from engine to chassis/battery. I'll add one in. However for now, need to figure out why im getting sparks when i give power to the starter motor, as this was never a problem before yesterday! Was hoping you'd just say that sparks are due to me tapping it and not properly connecting 😂

Okay so I did that and something is certainly happening for sure. Not sure whether it’s good or bad news, the starting motor is clearly able to move somewhat but I’m guessing the sparks are a bad sign? also in terms of the ground, the fact that with the battery negative ground cable plugged, and then a jumper from battery positive to motor doesn’t do anything, but grounding on the starter DOES….shows…that my battery negative ground cable is bad? IMG_3396.MOV