Losing power when going uphill

[Johno]

This is a question from a chap I know rather than my industrious self! Who hasn't finished his rebuild. A bit Pearl harbour in my garage at the mo.

Anyhow chap I've recently spoken to says his 1300 mk iv losses power and almost dies when going uphill. Any takers?

[Paul H]

My Vitesse would “ hesitate” going up hill , the problem as sorted by retarding the timing . Just one idea to start looking at 

Paul 

[johny]

Can we get a bit more background? Has it suddenly started doing it, has he done anything on it recently, has he checked plugs/timing/mixture /valve clearances etc recently....

[Mark B]

As above really, but fuel starvation, weak fuel pump, blocked fuel filter, springs to mind.

[ahebron]

I will chuck in to low float levels.

[Clive]

Will the car hold a decent speed on tbe flat? As in 70 (or more) 

Uphill will be using a lot more fuel. And any shortage gradually kicks in. My dad's mg did that years ago, do 80 down the motorway, it would gradually lose power. Take it our of gear for 39 seconds, and it recovered. That was a blocked fuel filter. A herald I worked on for a friend had a split hose sucking a bit of air, similar issue but that was much more severe.

[Stratton Jimmer]

Years ago I briefly had a Corsair 2000E which would completely stall going up long steep hills (e.g. the climb up the A417 from Gloucester to the Air Balloon. It was a failing fuel pump that was the cause. There was no problem if I reversed up hill!

[Pete Lewis]

a[art from all the std settings being wrong i would take a guess at the fuel starvation route from sucking air or poor pump performance 

the supply is not keeping up with the demand    

that can be naff hose connections blocked lines wrong /duff fuel pump 

has someone fitted an insulator to a std pump ??  and so on 

Pete

[Josef]

My exhaust down pipe partly falling off the manifold (cause the corner cracked and one of the stud / bolt holes broke) manifested as loss of power when going uphill, or at least that was when I really noticed it. Exhaust manifold gasket leak could do something similar. You would expect some loss of power under all conditions there, but the engine working hard would make it more dramatic. 

[Wagger]

If it is not fuel starvation then check the valve timing. I timed a Dolly 1500 camshaft two teeth retarded by mistake when doing a rebuild some years ago and it was horribly gutless on any hill. Correcting it made it almost fly.

[Pete Lewis]

18 hours ago, Johno said:

Any takers?

where abouts is the car homed 

Pete

[Johno]

Pete hi, on a street in bath, not used for a few months.

[ahebron]

7 hours ago, Josef said:

My exhaust down pipe partly falling off the manifold (cause the corner cracked and one of the stud / bolt holes broke) manifested as loss of power when going uphill, or at least that was when I really noticed it. Exhaust manifold gasket leak could do something similar. You would expect some loss of power under all conditions there, but the engine working hard would make it more dramatic. 

The original Fiat 500 (Bambina) was known to drop the exhaust manifold from the head due to fixings stripping or just falling out.
On a sub 500cc 2 cylinder engine losing the back pressure from one cylinder was a real performance killer.