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Spitfire Mk4 1300 1974 running problems


SpitfireJAGS

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I bought a Spitfire Mk4 1300 1974 about a year back, the car is pretty much a restoration project but I managed to drive it all the way from the top of Scotland down to North Wales without any problems the day I bought it. I used it for several weeks and decided I wanted to restore it. I immediately set to work and started to strip the interior out for some welding and repainting of the floor. The car has now been sat for a few months untouched and due to circumstances I need to move it which I thought would be no problem. I tried starting the car up after doing the usual checks and it just didn't want to start at all, on investigation I found that the coil connections had deteriorated and so I bought a new coil and some spark plugs to get her going again. With the new coil and spark plugs she started up, but would splutter and struggle to accelerate. Hunting down possible problems I found that the fuel inside the tank had the usual stale issues, the petrol had gone jelly like and was mixed with water (tasted very acidic, note to self I really need to buy a siphon). I emptied the fuel tank and gave it a thorough clean found it to be rust free (Hooray). New fuel in, pipes blown through, fuel filter changed and carbs cleaned I decided to check the tappets and found them quite far off, so adjusted them with the good ol' Gunson click adjust till they were all perfect. This time she started easily and throttled at idle nicely, on taking her for a test spin carbs started spitting and the throttle was very woolly, just got her back home (Barely) and started again. Cleaned everything through a second time and still had the same issue so decided to treat her to a carburettor service kit from Rimmers. New jets, new needles, gaskets, float needle the lot, fit the carbs back and began tuning, whilst tuning the car seemed to run well but all the problems returned once again as soon as I pulled it out of the garage (perhaps she's scared of the daylight?). Tried rebalancing the carbs and tuning multiple times and receive the same results. There's only about 10 litres of fuel in the tank, I'm reluctant to fill it up more as I have already wasted about 40 litres by leaving it sit although I can clearly see in the tank that it is reaching the suction pipe. I have also noticed a very small amount of bubbles coming through the fuel filter but have checked the fuel lines ect and found no leaks. Has anyone had this experience before or have any suggestions? TIA.

 

Problem: hesitation on load and refuses to rev.

Tried: New fuel, new carb service kit, tank cleaning, fuel filters, tappet adjustments, fuel line cleaning, fuel pump gauze filter cleaned.

 

I love my spitfire, I just don't know why it doesn't love me.

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I agree with Jim. Spit-back and woolly throttle response are just as likely to be ignition problems as fuel. If it is fuel, it's too lean. Richen it up a bit. If it's ignition, it could be points, rotor arm, dizzy cap, or just timing way out. I've had Triumphs sit and idle sweetly with thirty degrees retard (wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding but idled fine). Another good candidate, though, is a seized centrifugal advance in the dizzy. Ignition timing bang on at idle makes it way too retarded when driving.

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Things I have had myself leading to roughly those sorts of symptoms are:

• Erroneous gap on one spark plug

• Failing points/condensor

• Splits (often inconspicuous) in breather pipes or not connected

• Incorrect operation of cold start mechanism causing jet not to return to its warm running position (SUs)

• Failing electronic ignition unit.

• Crack in distributor cap

• No oil in dashpots

Hardly a comprehensive list of all possibilities but ones of which I've had the experience.

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dont forget the dreaded rubber slivers every time you refit a metal pipe to a hose (esprcially nasty cheap fleabay stuff) you stand a good chance you cut a small slice of hose off and it floats about and ends up jammed in the back of the float needle valve 

these little sods breed like rabbits 

if the condenser has an orange wire treat it as suspect  see dizzy doc   Delco condenser: 829111,829107,1861709,1866049,18655972, 1869704,1882239, Lucas Condenser 484249, 400308, 407044, 54411935 / DCB105, 54413006, 23D4 22D 23D DM2 25D DM6 DM4 lucas distributor, Lucas condenser number 423871, GDC101. Condensor 405833 for Ford 8 and Ford 10, Lucas condensers from Distributor Doctor

do you get any spits and back fires ???

bubbles in the filter is air getting in a joint somewhere , it may not leak fuel 

an air gap in the filter is pretty normal   but you dont want bubbles 

Pete

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