Karl Gilchrist wrote:
>
> I've now got the Alpine back from the workshop who embarked on a
> estimated $250 tune up. Along the way they rebuilt the Strombergs and
> fixed the gearbox leak (which involved a partial rebuild of the gearbox)
> and the final bill was $1200 (US $800)and whats worse it AIN'T RUNNING
> RIGHT.
>
> Accleration is fine but at idle its VERY LUMPY with RPM's (by the Tacho)
> flucuating from 850 rpm to almost 0 at which point the engine trys to
> shake itself to bits and either stalls or the revs pick up to around
> 850 again.The engine also runs on when turned off. Has any one got any
> ideas how to solve this problem. I remember someone once saying that a
> simaler problem could be caused by worn distrubutor bushings. Is it just
> that the idle speed needs to be increased. Perhaps a timing problem
> (given the running on).
>
> Any advise would be greatly appreciated as I'm not sure that without it
> the workshop will be able to get things right.Karl
Ouch! That's a lot of gas money. I had this problem with my car before
it started overheating but that's another story. My friend who was a
Sunbeam owner and also a mechanic told me to check both the distributor
and the timing chain. He told me that a worn timing chain will cause the
valve timing to change during idle speeds which could make the car
misfire and to be retarded at high engine RPM's which will rob you of
HP. The loose bushings in the distributor cause the timing to fluctuate
which will also cause the engine to run irractically at all RPM's.
I checked the timing chain by grabbing the fan (engine off please!) and
trying to turn the the engine back and forth while watching the movement
of the TDC mark on the HB. If you feel slack (loose movement before some
resistance is fealt) your timing chain is worn. By watching the timing
mark, you can see how much your timing is changing when your engine is
running.
The distributor was checked with the enging running and a timing light.
With the engine idling (or trying to idle) look at the timing mark. The
timing should not change (theorectically) if it changes more than a few
degrees, the distributor bushings are probably bad.
The timing chain was worn so I changed it and I also replaced the
distributor with a rebuilt from Sunbeam Specialties. That fixed the
problem. Of course, the carbs must be adjusted correctly for it to idle
right. I got mine to idle between 800-850 RPM.
Any other thoughts?
Sergio
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