Glen,
Before buying needles, I would think about a few other things.
Is the jet fully home, flush against the adjusting nut? My SU's don't
return by themselves, so every time I pull the choke, the bonnet gets
popped so I can make sure the jets are all the way up.
Is the needle base flush on the shoulder of the piston?
Here's one from left field, but are you sure the exhaust system is clear?
If the car has been sitting for a spell, and some little critters have
decided to live in your muffler, excessive backpressure would cause a
overly rich condition. Flaking rust inside the exhaust system could do the
same thing, I suppose.
If the engine is stock, with a stock exhaust system, the logical choice of
a needle would be the one that comes with the stock rebuild kit. The SM
needle is the stock needle, according to Moss.
Are all 4 plugs equally sooty? If not, one carb might be OK, and the other
out of whack. The darker plugs point out the offending carb, obviously.
Before I started buying a load of SU needles, I would exhaust all other
possibilities. To me, it sounds like the running rich problem is not the
needle.
Good luck.
At 08:12 AM 3/3/99 -0800, Glen Murdoch wrote:
>
>After about 5 years I have finally started up a '62 TR4. After doing the
>initial tuning I find the engine to be running rich (as determined by the
>smell of unburned hydrocarbons, spark plug condition, and exhast rhythm.
>
>The mixing nut has been fully adjusted up. So I'm thinking the next step
>is to change to a leaner needle.
>
>Which brings me to my question do I want to go with (SL)s or (RH)s (moss
>catalog designation). Currently I have (SM)s installed. My first thought
>was to use the (SL)s but they appear to be shorter than the (SM)s which
>would allow more fuel into the mixture.
>
>The carbs are in good shape grose jets have been installed and the float
>bowl level checks out. Timing has been set at 4%BTDC per the manual, a
>compression test indicates 150 on all cylinders.
>
>Any thoughts or comments.
>
>Thanks in advance
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Henry Frye - thefryes@iconn.net - Connecticut, USA
Stag MkI Getting Sorted Out
TR3B Driver
TR250 X 3 The BIG Project - Will Be Worth the Wait
Homepage http://members.iconn.net/thefryes/
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