johnnyj

Hmmm. Lots to think about there Pete. I'm not sure what to do with the needles, although the graphs produced in that chart you sent me look great. The problem is that I don't know what the graph line should look like for my car. Maybe it is trial and error, or worth a chat with a carb specialist or even a dyno session. I'd still like to find a Triumph carb/tuning expert in Northants. By the way, I have a pile of TR7 SU HS6s from TR7s in my shed and I took one to bits today and had a look at the needles. They were BDM, too. So, it strikes me that BDMs are common to the Triumph slant four running HS6s, but as you say on a 6-pot it might be very different. I wonder if anyone else reading has any ideas? I am tempted to find a pair of original Strombergs and fit them, and keep the SUs for my TR7 restoration. Anyway, thanks again and here is a pic now that the pipes and Smiths valve have been tidied up. Cheers John

Hi Pete The needles in the carbs are BDM, but I can't tell what type the springs are. Do you think having BDMs fitted, rather than BAM /BDB would make much of a difference? I have re-mounted the Smiths emission valve so it is now upright, and changed the hoses for good measure. Likewise I have changed the rubber fuel hoses around the fuel rail and to the main metal fuel pipe, as at least one of them had cracks which went right through. Anyhow, I had another go yesterday at the timing and carbs. The car runs beautifully, with more power and smoother delivery. However there is still a nasty flatspot under load at, say, 35mph when accelerating. It coughs and pops but only under load/heavy acceleration. If I can cure this, I reckon it is solved. Cheers John

Good idea. Watch this space...

That's interesting Pete, thank you. I have had a look through my paperwork and unfortunately the receipt for the carbs (which were new/exch) a couple of years ago doesn't say which springs or needles they have fitted. So I'll order what you suggest and see how we do. As regards the air filter arrangement, as you can see in the picture below I do run it with foam filters, so perhaps a different type of sock might help. I don't know which air box would fit as presumably the distance between the carbs is different from vehicle to vehicle so the holes in the box wouldn't line up with the holes in the carbs. I do have a garage full of TR7 spares however so I'll try a '7 airbox and filter. Of course, I could just take the SUs off the Bond and use them on my TR7 restoration when the time comes, and buy a pair of original Strombergs for the Bond. I did have a pair of K&Ns on them a while back, and had the same problems. Thanks for the heads up on the Smiths valve - I didn't know that, so I'll re-plumb it so it is upright! Thanks again for all your help, I'll keep you posted. All the best John

Thanks Pete. I did spend some time on the car yesterday, resetting the static timing to 10 degrees BTDC. It ran much better after that, although the fluffy flat spot has now moved so that it occurs in low revs in fourth. One thing I noticed is that the Haynes Manual says the rotor arm should point to number one cylinder when that cylinder is on its compression stroke. But it doesn't - when the timing marks are correctly lined up and the number one cyclinder is on its compression stroke, the rotor arm points towards the coil, which is about 45 degrees out. Is that a clue? I also spent some time setting up the carbs as you suggest, and it really sounds sweet now at idle. It pulls away smoothly (not like before), but as I say tends to pop in the later rev range on the move. The SUHS6s are running individual trumpets with foam "socks" as filters, but I don't know if the springs were changed. I did notice another thing, however. When stationary, when you rev it up and then take your foot off the throttle the revs fall too low for a few seconds and it nearly stalls. Then it picks back up to a normal RPM idle. If I remove the dampers from the dashpots, this doesn't happen. Too much spring damping? It is much, much better but something still isn't right. Thanks for all your help John

Thanks Pete, that is invaluable info. Just wondering where the rev counter cable should screw into, if it is not the dizzy? I didn't know that the piston lifers are just a 2mm job, so I'll try that. Also I'll set the timing to 10 deg BTDC static. When you say set the needles to 2 turns below the bridge, do you mean the jets? Sorry to be dim. Also, which springs do you mean? The throttle return springs, or the springs in the dashpots? Cheers John

Hi Pete I checked the leads yesterday and actually they were correct. What did happen, however, was the rotor arm fell apart under the dizzie cap when I turned the engine over - I mean totally disintegrated. I have had this before, so luckily had a spare. Putting that on got the car started. Anyway, the car started and after much carb tuning ran beautifully at idle. A quick road test however showed that it was horrible under load, at low revs. It is all "fluffy" when you try to pull away, and you have to slip the clutch to get any traction otherwise it stalls. Yet on the drive it revs smoothly up the rev range and sounds nice. When tuning the carbs, I have noticed that the method of using the piston lifter to check for correct mixture (i.e. listen for a momentary rise or fall in revs) is really inconclusive. The left hand SU in particular can appear to run nicely but then cause the car to almost stall when the piston is raised in this way. Something else I have noticed, as I started to think about ignition timing. The Rev Counter has never worked in my car, and I discovered that it is because the dizzie doesn't have a cable take-off point (the cable to the gauge is just lying around disconnected in the engine bay). That gave me a vague recollection of a previous owner saying something about (and I don't remember which) the car having either a dizzie or entire engine out of a Triumph 2000. Some T2000s had that strip-style speedo and no rev counter, as I recall. Not sure if that might be why I can never get the car to run right on Vitesse-spec settings? I am thinking of putting in electronic ignition, preferably one of those PowerSpark complete distributor jobbies. The only issue is that I am not sure if they have a rev-counter take-off, either. Anyway, any ideas much appreciated! Cheers John

Thanks Pete, I'll try all of that and see how I go. The insulator post is a hot contender - I am not sure it is correctly assembled. From the bottom up I have a nylon "top hat" washer facing upwards into the spring, then another on top facing downwards. On top of that I have the condensor and LT leads, then a washer, then the nut. Cheers John

Hi everyone and thanks for all the input. Here's an update: I blew the carbs through with compressed air, then changed the coil, condensor and points. It took me a while to do this job (hence the gap in replying) because stupidly I decided to change the thermostat at the same time, due to everything getting rather hot. I say "stupidly" because of course the bolts in the thermostat housing were seized solid and sheered off in the water pump housing. A new water pump housing, various hoses and many flushes of brown rusty water later, I now at least have control of the running temperatures. Amazing how a quick and well-meant job, which should have cost about a fiver, can turn into hours and hours of swearing and a big parts bill. But that's oldies (the cars I mean, not my age) for you!! Back to the original problem. It still didn't run right and was backfiring on the over-run, so I suspected the timing. Using a strobe I checked the timing and found it to be out, so adjusted that a few degrees by turning the dizzy. It made it a bit better, so I then moved onto the carbs which I have never been able to get right despite them being for all intents and purposes brand new. I followed the standard procedure for a "blank canvas" reset and got the mixtures about right plus the two SUs sucking about the same, but just as I was about to adjust the mixtures to bring the idle down to accaptable levels the engine just stopped and won't now start again. Now I am in the horrible place where I don't know if it is timing or carbs, and which to do first. I am thinking of starting with the valve timing, then setting up the ignition timing, then the carbs. Oh, I will change the plugs, leads and dizzy cap for good measure. But it seems odd to me that the car just stopped like that, which is what it did when out on the road at the start of all this. I am starting to wonder about fuel pump issues. Anyway, there you have it - I hope the update gives some clues and isn't too much of a mammouth read. By the way, if anyone knows of a good old-fashioned Triumph tuning expert who would be willing to come and help me in Northants, I'd be ever so grateful! ALl the best John

Thanks Pete. I replaced the points today, as they looked quite pitted. I also blew the needle valves in the float chambers (and everything else in the carbs) through with air, cleaned up the inner dizzy etc so I'll take her on a run tomorrow and see what happens. I think in the meantime I'll order a new condensor and coil, just for good measure. All the best John

Hi all My Bond Equipe 2L MKII has always run well, but recently has developed a fault. Having got it out of the garage for the first time this year and put in fresh fuel, I took it for a 10 mile spin. It ran fine until I tried to pull away from a stand-still at a junction, then it died half way across the road (not much fun at a major cross roads with big lorries hurtiling towards you!). The car then wouldn't start for about 5 minutes, after which it would run fine again for about 10 minutes, but stalling again at junctions as above. I can't think what could be wrong, although in the back of my mind is the fact that the fuel level was empty before I re-filled it, so I wonder if some muck from the empty tank was sucked up into the carbs. Another clue (possibly irrelevant) might be that I had just washed the car, and then it started raining whilst on the run. Incidentally I am running SU HS6s on the Bond, which were brand new about 5 years ago. I hope someone might be able to help! All the best John

Hi I had the same problem with my 2 litre Mk 2. I tried putting a Vitesse sports twin bok system on it, but it was difficult to mount and hung too low at the back. In the end Jigsaw Racing in Corby sourced and fitted a single box solution, which looks and sounds a treat. I hope you get it sorted! All the best John