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Re: a few caqrb questions

To: british-cars@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: a few caqrb questions
From: "Jim Muller" <jimmuller@pop.mail.rcn.net>
Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2001 20:45:23 -0400
I had asked
> >What can I deduce about mixture or float settings...

Fred Talmadge very kindly responded with:
> Are you running any kind of cam, headers, high compression, or big valve 
> type of motor?

Good questions.  Sam Smith at McLean's BritBits raised similar questions.  I 
don't know the answers.  The PO-once-removed had supposedly rebuilt the 
engine and done all the body restoration, and the PO was too little of an 
enthusiast to know.  If the body is any indication of the engine, it was 
well done and well cared for.  Presumably it was running well at one time, 
but the PO had some trouble with it and let two differnet "Brit-car 
specialty shops" make it worse.

The headers seem normal; the intake mainfold matches a spare that came with 
the car.  One "feature" was a flow-through straight muffler mounted 
longitudinally instead of the normal transverse silencer.  It was way too 
noisy for my tastes so I replaced it.  The car still has a pronounced low 
frequency roar inside from about 2200 to maybe 2700 rpm.  Compression is 175 
to 180 psi.  A hot cam could cause low rpm bogging.  I don't know what it 
would do for the sound though.  The silerncer swap seems to have made little 
difference to the performance, but most likely I really can't tell.

The dizzy has a vacuum-retard device but no line connected.  (I think I know 
where it should go on one of the carbs, a fitting currently plugged, but I 
don't know how well-calibrated it would be.)  So I've set the timing to 4 
deg BTDC, actually 2 deg later than spec'ed static timing on the premise 
that 95 octane gas isn't available.

Beyond this, I dunno'.  Set the timing, set the valves, check the plugs, 
rebuild and do the prescribed routine for the carbs, puzzle over the mush...

Thanks for any (more) input you can offer!

Jim Muller
jimmuller@pop.rcn.com
'80 Spitfire (Percy)
'70 GT6+ (Nigel)

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