Well, the end of the woes with my Midget may have finally arrived. You may
recall (well, probably not), several months ago I had recently replaced my
clutch (and a few other little things, such as the camshaft and timing
gears/chain). Upon reassembly, the car would consistantly run rich no matter
what. The worst fear was that the cam was not correct or not timed correctly.
I checked the timing (thanks everybody) and found it to be reasonable. So,
fears somewhat lessened, we turn our attention back to the carb once again.
After fiddling with everything, I gave up :( and took it to a Santa Clara
British Sportcars (close to home). The car was fitted with an MGB needle
(?????) which allowed it to get around but it still ran filthy rich at speed.
After mumbling about this for a while and dealing with other things, I
decided to let someone else have a stab at it. Well, to shorten the story
a bit, the needle was switched back to the correct needle, a bunch of vaccuum
leaks were corrected, and the timing was set closer to normal. This helped
a bit but things were not all well. The only thing left was the "jet" that the
needle in a Z-S carb seats into. Sooo... early this morning it's back off
to the shop to swap carb bodies (with new jet already fitted). Wonder of
wonders, the thing works. All this work was done at Eurotech in Diamond
Springs (CA foothills) (after the MGB needle incident, that is). Les (owner,
etc.) does excellent work and really cares about what he does - has an
immaculate shop too. As an additional plus, I got to play with a rear
subframe/assembly from an E-type - looks like a real pain to change those
brake pads.
Anyway, the point is....It was the carb after all! I guess having the cam
reground just amplified some problems that existed all along. Thanks to
everyone with the suggestions and advice about checking the cam timing, etc.
See you at Palo Alto (Blue 1979 MG Midget 797 YGM)
Rich Hill
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