Tigers,
Some personal reminiscing, that may (or may not) be of interest.
There has been some chatter about the S.U. fuel pump. I have lived with
them for longer than I can remember ( a common malady), and thought
some real-life experiences may ring a chime with the LBC owners.
My first exposure to the S.U. came with my early new 1952 MG-TD. The
car had both the carburetors and the fuel pump made by S.U. I learned
that "S.U." stood for "Skinners Union"since the 1905! NOTE: The
"Skinner" was NOT an occupation, but the patent and company owner,
George Herbert Skinner.
The S.U. carburettors were "sidedraught" with a vacuum operated piston.
Similar to the 50's Zenith Stromberg's that used rubber. The "jet" was
an orifice that was metered by a tapered needle rod which opened the jet
by a vacuum operated diaphragm or the later large piston. Good mixture
control, but NO accelerator pump for instant enrichment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SU_carburetor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith_Carburetters
The fuel pumps were also diaphragm device with electrical points. These
do get dirty, and worn from arcing. The recommended procedure was to
regularly clean the points with a "business card".
The MG pump was under the bonnet, the Jaguar pump was under the
passenger floorboard, with access through a snap plate in the floor.
The carbs were pretty good on both the cars, less the accelerator pump.
The fuel pump, such as on our Tigers, was a little more ornery. One
fine day I was tooling north on the 405 freeway and the tell-tale sign
of a failed fuel pump was a slowing down of the car. Well, at 60+ mph,
in the fast lane, things happen quickly. I pulled to a stop into the
median, jumped out of the car, ran to the traffic side of the car,
flipped open the hood, and hit the thing with a bumper shoot! It
started, and I got back into traffic from a dead stop.
In the Jag, I did much the same thing, but on the street. And, I did not
have to get out of the car.
Of course many British vehicles used SU components, including this very
fast machine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Spitfire_variants:_specifications,_performance_and_armament
Steve
--
___
Steve Laifman
Editor - TigersUnited.com
<http://www.TigersUnited.com>
_______________________________________________
Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
Tigers@autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/tigers
http://www.team.net/archive
|