I know that a number of people out there have been avidly following the
story of my adventures with the Red Roadster. Both of you will be pleased
to know that I have now made another Great Leap Forward in roadster
technology by replacing the carbs with a set of SUs!
Yep, on Friday I received all the parts to replace the Webers which were
on the car with a set of stock 46mm (Hitachi)SUs. Saturday, at great cost
to my back, I removed the old manifold and carbs and bolted on the new
ones. I had to install new choke and throttle cables and heater hoses
as well. Then I fiddled with the settings a bit and was ready to go
for a drive. Sunday I tweaked the mixtures some more and installed the
air cleaner and breather hose.
I'm extremely pleased with the results. The throttle response is now
excellent, and top end (at least up to 5500 or so, don't want to go
much higher with a new engine) is still fine. I can cruise down the
road at reasonable speeds without the car sounding like it's on its
last legs. It's like driving an actual sports car!
There are, however, still a couple of minor problems. The worst is that
the car diesels like crazy when shut off. I thought this might go away
when I drove it enough to burn off some of the carbon accumulated from
the Webers, and maybe it will. My other theory is that it's the result
of low-octane gas. I'm just running regular unleaded now. There's no
ping at all, and I'm running pretty aggressive timing (20 degrees BTDC
at idle, no vacuum advance yet.) Would higher octane fuel help the dieseling,
even though it doesn't seem to be otherwise needed?
The second problem is a minor coolant leak. The exhaust and intake
manifolds are held on mostly by big washers, and coolant passes through
the intake manifold into the block. Not a great design. Oh well, if
it didn't leak a bit it wouldn't be a proper British car knockoff, right?
Would anybody like to buy a set of 45DCOE9 Webers? I plan to hold onto
the manifold and air cleaner, since they are rather valuable and may become
rare. If I ever decided to use that setup again, though, I'd get the
proper Mikuni/Solex carbs. So I guess the Webers are for sale.
Wayne
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