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Re: Hesitation on the move

To: James Carpenter <jc_carpenter@softhome.net>
Subject: Re: Hesitation on the move
From: Patrick Barber <sailnbail@earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 22:54:47 -0500
James Carpenter wrote:

> Hi there,
>
> I have now got 800 miles under my belt since the engine bottom end overhaul
> and 1300 miles since I got it back on the road after a 8 month spree of
> work.  It has reached the stage that I am not  busy fixing everything
> although there are still things that occasionally fall off.  Anyway so I am
> now starting to use the revs a bit more, but I can't the car will not rev.
>
> These are the symptoms, if I accelerate full throttle away in third from1300
> RPM the car tanks along passes all the euroboxes until it get's to about
> 4200RPM when all acceleration goes.  I thin change up to fourth and the
> acceleration is back.  There is loads of power right down low in the rev
> range, but it just hit's a wall at 4200RPM and will not go above it.   The
> only gear it is possible to get over this in is first of revving the engine
> by hand, first is not nice.
>
> This was accompanied by a smell of petrol after changing up, but I swapped a
> needle valve in the carbs and put some better hose clips on today.  I think
> the petrol smell is better, but I still think it could be hesitating
> (traffic was so bad to day I did not manage to get onto the duel carriageway
> to test).
>
> My initial idea was a float chamber was flooding making the mixture over
> rich, but I am not so convinced.
>
> Any Ideas...
>
> Very cheap fixes would be warmly received.

I ran into a similar problem with my spitfire 1500 last summer.  A mechanic
friend of my told me to make sure the point gap was correct.  He also went on to
say forget about using a feeler gage and use a dwell meter as they are far more
precise than a feeler gage.  After setting the dwell correctly, the engine top
end went from 4700 RPM to over 6000.  Just a minor adjustment, can't get any
cheaper than that.

Let us know what you find.



--
Patrick Barber, Allen Park, MI
70 Spitfire MkIII FDU89984L
74 Spitfire 1500 FM14774U (Organ donor)
Visit My Triumph Website at http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/pit/7864/Triumph/




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