Hello,
My '65 Spit is having problems. A little history first.....I
originally had a Herald 1147 engine in the car. Thought it would be a good
idea to have an actual Spit engine, so I had one rebuilt that I just had
sitting around. When I first put it in the car, it didn't run great, but I
put that down to the 'newness' of the engine and it was drivable. Now,
about 2000 miles later, it is getting worse and worse. It had NO power
going up hills but would pull OK on flat roads. Then it got to the point
that it was difficult to get to speed on flat roads.
Yesterday, I started with a compression check (115 across the
board). Since 90% of carb problems are ignition, I set my sights on the
ignition system. First, I put in new plugs (no change). Then, new points
and condenser (no change). Next, new cap and rotor (no change). Then, new
coil (no change). Set timing at each of the three different settings I
found in various books (no change) (17btc, 13btc, 8btc).
Well, it seemed that the ignition was not the problem, so I moved on
to the carbs. First, I thought that there might be a leak in the intake, so
I put in a new manifold gasket, new gaskets on the carb spacers (both sides)
(no change). Next, I re-centered the jets (no change). When I would try to
set the mixture, no matter what I did, the front carb seemed to be spewing
fuel and the rear had very little. I checked the bowls and there was an
equal amount of fuel in each. These carbs were purchased (new) as being for
the Spit, but they were actually for a Midget when I received them. They
worked fine on the Herald engine. I took a set of Spitfire carbs (from the
engine originally), put in new needles and throttle shafts and installed
them (no change).
Now when I drive the car, anything over about 1/4 throttle has no
effect. As you can imagine, this gets me nowhere fast. The mixture setting
on the carbs seems to have no effect. I'm at my wits end - maybe the car
would make a good planter?
One more thing is that it seems to be running hotter than normal.
When the guy re-built it he was unsure of the cam timing, but I set it by
the factory book so I think that's OK. Does anybody have any ideas to save
me before my wife kills me?
Thanks,
Randy Joles
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