Cleaned and shiny but no get up and go.....

[jagnut66]

Hi, 

The original 4 speed gearbox is back on and she will select gears, a little reluctantly on occasion but I put that down to me rather than Hetty at this stage.

I have given her a good clean, removing all the wintertime cat paw prints and settled dust / dirt -- Sandy 'claimed' Hetty as her bed of choice whilst she was on axel stands -- the car not the cat! -- and scrubbed up the white Webasto sunroof (so that it looked white again). A large rug covers the roof and boot lid of the car at present, in an attempt to keep it that way.

However, the 'test' drive was very underwhelming. 

No matter how I tweak the carb or the position of the distributor, she won't seem to go above 25mph.....

She sounds okay, her running even improved (became smoother) with my tweaking of the dizzy and she does rev.

She starts off okay but as soon as you reach a certain speed it's as if there's a limiter fitted. 

It may be something silly but so far I have been unable to fathom it.

Of course there is one test, which I don't have the equipment to do (but I know a man who will), which in a way I'm dreading being suggested because it might provide an answer which would mean the Herald being off the road for quite some time........

Best wishes,

Mike.

Edited May 12 by jagnut66
additional text added

[DanMi]

It hasn't run in a while so could it be muck in the fuel lines, such that it can supply a little fuel but not enough for power

[Pete Lewis]

i would have a look at the short fuel hose out the top of the tank , these go hard ,nicely hidden and suck air but

wont leak fuel so no boot whiffs .

Pete

[Morgana]

Does it maintain higher revs? If you keep it at 2000 for a while does it stay there? If there is a lack of fuel then the float chamber won't be topped up as quickly as it's being used and it'll choke out after a period at higher revs.

Have you got the Solex? If the hose mentioned above is pliable, take the pipe out of the carburettor and see if it squirts a good volume while turning over on the starter, and doesn't tail off after the first few revolutions.

Listen for air leaks. You can spray WD40 around the junctions of the carburettor to see if there are any bubbles or a change in engine note indicating air getting past a gasket.

Rule out all of that, and I would think it's time to clean out all the carburettor orifices.

[jagnut66]

10 hours ago, Pete Lewis said:

i would have a look at the short fuel hose out the top of the tank

All the fuel lines both rubber and copper have been replaced, one of the first jobs I did, to make the car E10 proof. I also rebuilt the fuel pump (for the same reason) at the same time. 

7 hours ago, Morgana said:

Does it maintain higher revs?

She doesn't have a rev counter, so I can't reply with exactness. What I can say that she sounds like she's revving her nuts off when the choke is out, not that she ever needed much and I don't like leaving it out too long anyway, the choke seems to act in the way it did before.

It's when the choke is in and the car settles into idle. She still revs when I depress the throttle but there doesn't seem much life in it, by which I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised by the gutless performance.

Having listened to your comments however, I now have an idea on how I shall proceed.

I shall disconnect the fuel lines and give them a blow through with my air line. I have also bought this:

https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjuyovYrYuGAxX8kYMHHW2cCvEYABAOGgJlZg&ase=2&gclid=CjwKCAjw9IayBhBJEiwAVuc3fux0n8f8WO1SuvR0peeTZsE2h9pfwbUoScMKdJynKxYwZG78m--hZhoCn4gQAvD_BwE&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESV-D2CDq2Ps-SWRYWq8fTQw4FAQGU86qeBuOZT2OdCfemtH_npDLzatgO2epvYEIW38xxccMz0FROjUm1O-uyCvNEBbua2MeBtnlHEniKFV47Yj0xZaZ82w&sig=AOD64_1Z_-A1Q35RnL0F4VhQH7emERxT-g&ctype=5&q=&nis=4&ved=2ahUKEwiupYTYrYuGAxV8hv0HHVlCBkoQ9aACKAB6BAgIEEQ&adurl=

Which I am hoping will clear things out. Once it is delivered I shall do the above and report back.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and pointers, keep your fingers crossed........

Best wishes,

Mike.

[Pete Lewis]

have you considered a compression test ,is the basic engine state at fault 

there is little to go wrong with the solex apart from a blocked slow runing jet (on the side )

as  the fuel lines have been replaced then i dont see a carb/fuel cleaner will do much to help 

worth a check you have the pump lever the right side of the cam lobe , easy to get it wrong 

Pete

 

[Morgana]

No need for exactness - if it maintains the revolutions one would expect when, say, changing up a gear then it would be a way to check fuel is being delivered in sufficient quantity rather than draining the float chamber faster than it's coming in which would indicate poor fuel delivery. Just methods to logically discount what might be causing the problem without unnecessary specialist test equipment.

Have you checked for Pete's dreaded rubber slivers behind the needle float valve? Mine played up no end a few months ago and I had to whip the carburettor cover off to blow through the valve half a dozen times between Bristol and Cornwall before it cleared due to some random gunk.

Is there a leak at the exhaust manifold gasket? I had a problem with 'gutlessness' I put down to a lack of enough back pressure after it improved greatly when the leak here was fixed. I ended up making my own bronze nuts as the brass ones available were not keeping tension on the studs, and the bracket to hold the exhaust to the gearbox was missing allowing vibration.

As Pete says, there is very little to go wrong with the Solex and my experience has been one of incremental improvement including flattening the base where it had warped from excessive tightening of the mounting nuts, allowing air past the manifold gasket, and getting an original fuel pump to reduce the wild overpressure of fuel coming in that was overwhelming the needle valve.

 

[jagnut66]

10 hours ago, Pete Lewis said:

have you considered a compression test ,is the basic engine state at fault 

This is my 'worst case scenario', which I touched on in the original post, as it will mean Hetty is off the road until I can afford an engine rebuild.

So, yes, I have considered it but am hoping it proves to be crud in the fuel line / tank. 

10 hours ago, Pete Lewis said:

as  the fuel lines have been replaced then i dont see a carb/fuel cleaner will do much to help 

This was just after purchase, well before the car was taken off the road due to the clutch.

7 hours ago, Morgana said:

Have you checked for Pete's dreaded rubber slivers behind the needle float valve?

I will do this whilst I'm blowing out the fuel line.

Best wishes,

Mike.