Yes, my Better Half winced whenever asked to flick out the valve stem collets while I depressed the springs manually. Hey, I only slipped on odd occasions!

Then, fast and furious competition taught me I could bounce them out with a careful blow on a socket (box spanner?)
SWMBO really threw up objections when faced with putting the collets back in . . . I had to call on my sons!

Cheers and best wishes,

 

This is the first time I've heard of another blacksmith bouncing valve collets out with a plug socket, I discovered this trick when a teenager many years ago and mostly do it in secret. The only damage I've ever done is burring up the plug socket I've mostly used. And maybe a couple of lost collets that esaped into that secret place under the bench where the trolls live.

Ray

 

Curiosity got the better of me, after reassembling the distributor, I static timed the engine.

then I pressed the button…. And she started, 1st time!!

but…. Only for a few seconds.

now she starts intermittently, again only for a second or two…

couple of times I got her to run a little longer, and revved her then she died.

theres no vacuum line fitted so I blocked off the tube on the carb.

also my tachometer (rev counter) doesn’t work.
suspect either the spade terminals are corroded or the generator is dead, the latter being the worse news I could get due to the location.

any tips?

 

You just need to check through it methodically, easiest things first - fuel pump working, float chambers full, connections on coil, inside distributor, etc. You need to find oiut if it's fuel or electrics but it's usually a problem with the last thing we messed around with. It might be an idea to hang a test light on the coil alongside the live feed, just in case it's a bad connection on a fuse or wherever.

Ray

 

Last thing I messed with was the "everything"

Everything is scavenged or new, all cobbled together in a frankenstien engine.
Have spark, have fuel, new Coil. - is wired to the feed wire, + is wired to the distributor (is this correct?).

New floats, new needles and jets.

Idle screws set to 3 turns as that seems to be where it starts most successfully.

Are there any other adjustment screws? mixture? etc?

T I A

 

Congratulations! Must be a huge relief to finally get it running. Sounds like a possible fuel delivery problem. To check the Tach you'll need to get the engine running long enough to get a reading from a volt meter at the Tach generator. You can remove it to check but you're right it's a pain. The manual has a good section on how to check it.

 

If your car is negative ground than you have the coil wired correctly. If your car has HD6 carburetors the air mixture screw is by the bottom of the carburetor where the float bowl attaches.

 

NGL - was a tad emotional, someone was cutting onions.

 

Joy, accessible from the top? Will go look at a diagram..

 

Check in your manual on how to initially set the air mixture screw. You have to remove the carburetor piston and suction pot to set it. If it is not set correct both carburetors could be out of balance. One rich and one lean or both too much in either direction.

 

OK, so its the mixture screw I was messing with - #15 in this diagram...
Visible from the top, one on each carb...

SU HD6 Diagram

So how does one adjust idle?

 

BTW. Do one carburetor at a time. You don't want to mix up the pistons and suction pots. They are machined to fit the carburetor they are on, they can't be swapped.

 

I believe number 15 is the idle speed screw in your diagram. I'm not seeing the air mixture screw!

 

The air mixture screw is mounted on the collar I circled. It raises and lowers the jet bearing number 13 in the picture

 

Yeah having watched "living with a classic" videos on YouTube, the Moss Diagram is definately wrong.

Problem is all the videos i watched need the car to be running to do any adjustment.

Back to the drawing board I guess.

One last question - static timing - at 10 Degrees BTDC or at 0 degrees DTC?

I did at 10 BTDC

Wondering if my timing is the issue still?

 

Timing depends on which compression ratio your engine has. 7 to 1 is zero BTDC. 8 to 1 is 7 degrees BTDC. 9 to 1 is 5 degrees BTDC

 

Those are for an S Type engine. I think the MK2 has different timing

 

If timing is off it would run rough or the idle would increase. Did you rebuild the carburetors? They can be tough to put back together properly especially centering the jet. If it is off the piston won't operate properly causing it to drag. Also I would disconnect the fuel line at the filter and turn on the key to see iff you get a steady stream of fuel. If it stops then there is a problem with fuel pumps

 

rebuilt with a service kit, initially the float height was off on the rear so it was flooding. Brand new (old stock) fuel pump, brand new fuel pickup line and filters.

9:1 compression motor - out of 2 Mk II’s but can’t verify. (Block was in when I got it, head from a barn find Mk II)

new plastic floats, needles and jets. Etc