Hello all,
Today was a glorious day in western PA. The sun was out, the birds were
chirping, and my MGB was running! Thanks to everyone who offered me advice
or a kind word - Trevor, Paul, David, Ray, and anyone else I might have
forgotten.
Here's what I ran into: the vacuum circuit wasn't exactly right, so I
fixed it up. I reset the carbs to factory specs, and paid careful attention
to the idle screws. The car would run when choked, but when the choke came
off, it would stall. Often when choked the idle would be excessive - 4000
or so! So, I tried to reset the fast idle screws, but found them to be
agents of misery. I replaced them with the spring-loaded suckers from an
old set of HS-4's. From there, it only took some time...When I got the car
idling OK at choke, I started to play with the settings for the slow idle.
After shutting the choke off, the car would stall, so I figured that it
needed more gas - so I turned up the mixture screws until the car, which is
now warm, starts without the choke. Some fine tuning and ignition
advancing, and I was running!
The car ran like a scalded cat, and the exhaust lacked the former smoke
from running rich. I enjoyed the car a ton, but without plates I couldn't
go very far. It was neat to have neighbors waving and motorists staring at
the car! I managed to give the whole family their own trip around the block
tonight, top down, and they loved it! I'm still smiling!
The only things that need work are the gauges. Oh yeah, and the brake
and turn signals stopped working today too. I'm hoping that's related to
the skunked alternator. When the gauges get back on the ball again, I might
have to reset the off-choke idle. It seems a touch high, and the car wants
to "chug" when starting...Maybe I'll retard the timing a touch too.
Anyway, thanks for all the help! When I was shining the car up with
baby oil tonight, after all the runs, I couldn't help but thinking that
getting the car running wasn't as much of my accomplishment, but the members
of this list...You guys should be proud! Anyone who wants to stop by
Latrobe to see the car and BS, we'll share a beer and take a drive! - I mean
that too!
Michael S. Lishego
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/3706/
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