Well the quiz as to why the Spitfire died is over. There were several
good suggestions.
Randall suggested that the float valve was stuck open. (this was
my first thought too). He also suggested that the fuel filter was blocked.
John Pratchi suggested that the diaphragm was ripped.
Jacob suggested that the air cleaners were clogged.
But the winning entry is ---> Mark Joerger for wondering if there wasn't
water in the fuel. ^^^^^^^^^^^^
In fact I thought the floats were stuck somehow, so we pulled the
carb float bowls (with the carbs in situ). Looking into the full-of-fuel
float bowls now removed, I saw that there were two distinct levels of
fluid, like a LAVA lamp that hadn't warmed up! Since water is heavier
that gas, the jet was sticking down into a pool of pure water.
No fuel, no start.
Once we reinstalled the bowls, the car ran fine for another 5
minutes, then died as before. At that point, I used a screwdriver to lever
out the float bowl plugs, and the water/gas came shooting out. After sliding
the plugs back into position, the car fired up fine again.
We drained the fuel tank and refilled, but I decided to leave the
car at home since next weekend I'll have time to drive it around and mess
with it before embarking on the 300mi trip.
Good guessing everyone. It may serve use in the future.
Greg
Greg Meboe meboe@wsunix.wsu.edu
Dept. of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Washington State University, Pullman, Wa.
'85 XJ-12 H.E. (daily) '67 Spit-6 '74 TR-6
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