Well, I spent a productive day in the garage yesterday - first time in a
long time.
On the advice of several of you (Joe Curry, James Carruthers, Livia and Wilf
Haasper, Clark Nicholls, and others whom I am apologetically forgetting...),
I pulled out the Haynes manual and started at step one for tuning the SU
HS-4s. When I got the car started, it was doing that rpm zoom-up thing
again. But when I loosened the little thingies (technical term) that
connect throttle to throttle shaft, all of a sudden the rpm dropped. So my
problem was not with the carbs after all, but with the linkages.
However! I did notice that once I got idle and timing pretty well set
(around 1100-1200 rpm and about 10 degrees advance), it would still drift a
bit - run for a couple of minutes at the above settings, then slowly drift
down to about a 600-700 rpm (a few degrees advance, sometimes even retard)
and run there for a few minutes before slowly drifting back up to where it
was before. But even though it's drifting, it's nowhere near as bad as it
was before.
One of the things I had to do was to remove the dist and install a new
o-ring on the shaft and then install the proper locking plate. I had been
trying to use the locking plate from my old Lucas dist with the Delco dist
and they're just not the same. That actually helped cure some of my timing
problems.
So tonight I drive it to see how she runs. I'll likely still have to work
on the mixture, although using the damper lifting pins, it seems pretty good
(slight - VERY slight - rise in rpm then settle back to where it was
before...). I have a Gunston Colortune that I might try again, but I'll
definately be looking at the plugs as I think they're the most accurate
indicator of mixture condition.
So it was a good day. If she runs well tonight, that will make yesterday a
GREAT day!
Thanks again to all those folks here who have been so helpful and
encouraging.
George P.
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