Fellow Triumphers:
I am getting my 1960 TR3A back on the road after a few-year absence,
and I'm trying to fix a problem I've had the whole time I've had the
car (17 years - Wow! Am I feeling old!).
The car runs rich.
Symptoms - black smoke out the exhaust pipe, especially on
acceleration. Black deposits in tailpipe. Spark plugs quickly
coated
with dry black deposits that rub off easily.
I have turned the jet adjusting nut all the way up as high as it will
go. This is the nut that is supposed to be turned down 12 flats (2
turns) as an initial setting. In other words, I've got the carbs set
as lean as they will go, and it's still too rich.
Other info that may or may not be relevant - Engine compression very
good and consistent by cylinder. Correct jets and needles in carb.
Carbs recently rebuilt with throttle holes rebushed. Needles
installed so that needle shoulder flush with bottom of carb piston.
Engine runs well - idles fairly smoothly. Gas mileage 22 mpg. Very
little oil consumption. Jets centered correctly.
Issue #1 - float level: I initially set the float level as described
in the book, using washers under grose-jets so that when the float
chamber lid was held upside down, the distance from the lid to the
cut-off lever was (I can't remember now - was it 7/16"?). After
running car, I went back and added another washer to increase that
distance by approx 3/32", in order to lower the fuel level, thinking
maybe it was set too high. Didn't seem to make any difference good
or
bad.
Issue #2 - the jet fits in a brass piece that's held in the carb.
When I lift the piston and look in the carb, I notice that this brass
piece and the jet are approx. 1/16" below the carb throat, even with
the choke all the way off. I'm guessing that if this brass piece is
supposed to be flush with the throat, the fact that it's recessed
would cause a rich mixture.
Has anybody out there had a similar problem? Anything else to try?
Are the jet and the brass piece supposed to be flush with the carb
throat? Is there any more positive way to check that the float level
is correct? I will appreciate any ideas that you have.
Warren Allen
1960 TR3A
Winston-Salem, NC
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