Mark,
2500 miles in almost a month? that averages out to about 30,000 miles a
year. Keep us posted on how well your car holds up while putting that
many miles on it.
Your fuel problem sounds like something I experienced while trying to
set up a pair of SU HS2's on a 1500 engine. I thought I'd see if I
could increase the performance by going to different needles. So I got
a pair that were used on a MGA 1600 engine. In full throttle
situations, I would experience a dead spot on the power curve when I got
to about 4500 rpm. Letting up a bit would regain power but pressing
back down would cause it to drop out again.
I finally resorted to using the stock needles for the 1300 Spit engine
and it works just fine now.
Regards,
Joe
Mark Gardner wrote:
>
> Spitsters - I've had my '79 for almost one month now, and have
> accumulated just over 2500 miles. I spend most of my time on a high
> powered motorcycle, and was concerned that I would not be able to get
> used to the lower power level available in the Spit. I asked the PO
> where he shifted for best acceleration, and he told me he never went
> above 4000. This seemed a little silly on a 6k redline engine, but he
> should know, right? Besides, a friend of mine had an old Capri that
> responded best to short shifting, and my experience with old British
> motorcycles made me a little wary of running older pushrod engines near
> redline (don't ask ;^).
>
> Anyway, I've realized that there is value in running over 4K, but here's
> the problem. At anything over 4500 RPM in third, the engine falls off
> sharply. At 4500 it takes quite a while, at 5500 it happens
> immediately. Lifting the throttle, engaging the O/D, or shifting to
> fourth all stop the periodic hesitation/surging cycle. I presume I'm
> not getting fuel to the carburetor. Is this why so many of the spits I
> looked at have elctric fuel pumps? If so, is the new pump plumbed in
> instead of or in addition to the existing mechanical pump?
>
> Thanks in advance as always,
>
> Mark Gardner
--
"If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort."
-- Dave Weinbaum in National Enquirer
|