(NZ) Southern Classic

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by I16

Hope you don't mind - a link to the local paper.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-heral...uthern-classic

That’s great! And the Datsun is lovely......

[Colin McKay]

A different story for me sadly, mystery problem still unsolved meant poor qual and only 1 lap in each of the 3 races, pointless trying to keep up when it won't rev over 6k and splutters out of every corner but is annoyingly fine in the paddock. Team Delta has now replaced everything in fuel system, ignition, even the manifold gasket so we'll see what the morning brings. Remind me why I do this......?!!!

[delta]

Before anyone says anything , yes we have changed the coil.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by delta

Before anyone says anything , yes we have changed the coil.

Colin, its part of the game, we all do that for fun. And beer… Remember the Latin version for fighting spirit.: Numquam admittere clade!

[Colin McKay]

Originally Posted by delta

Before anyone says anything , yes we have changed the coil.

Ah, but perhaps that's not the whole story of the coil!

[Gerard C]

Croissant stuck in the carb's throat? Always the same question when driving there, what happens to an inverted carburetor…*E.B, any idea?

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

A different story for me sadly, mystery problem still unsolved meant poor qual and only 1 lap in each of the 3 races, pointless trying to keep up when it won't rev over 6k and splutters out of every corner but is annoyingly fine in the paddock. Team Delta has now replaced everything in fuel system, ignition, even the manifold gasket so we'll see what the morning brings. Remind me why I do this......?!!!

Anything possibly connected with your dodgy fuel tank leak or have you somehow fixed that? (Or have I mis-remembered what that was about?)

[Gerard C]

Where did the car spent its winter? Any mouse there? Ignition kill switch? Keep an eye on the CV joint……

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

A different story for me sadly, mystery problem still unsolved meant poor qual and only 1 lap in each of the 3 races, pointless trying to keep up when it won't rev over 6k and splutters out of every corner but is annoyingly fine in the paddock. Team Delta has now replaced everything in fuel system, ignition, even the manifold gasket so we'll see what the morning brings. Remind me why I do this......?!!!

Reminds me of a story about a brand new Bedford CF chassis based Motorhome we were PDI' ing for a customer back in the '70s.

On test it wouldn't pull more that 40mph and the chief mechanic suspected tight valve settings ofter a test drive. (Bear in mind this thing had been delivered to the location on the road and may have done around 300 miles since the coach built body was dropped onto the chassis.)

So he had whipped the rocker cover off and adjusted the tappets (seemed a bit tight) and arrived back on the forecourt just after the family buying the thing had turned up to collect it. They watched him leap out, grab a fire extinguisher and spray the engine bay from which which smoke and a suggestion of flame had appeared. The reason for the fire was that the very thin running-in oil had seeped out of the rocker cover gasket and dripped directly on to the hot exhaust manifold below. The exhaust was extra hot because the engine was running very lean at the 40mph maximum speed the thing could manage.

We agreed to attempt the delivery again the following week.

Not finding any obvious problems, the following week the family took delivery and immediately set off for a weekend away to try it out. They didn't get far and were back first thing on the Monday morning.

The thing still would not do more than 40 mph and took about an hour to half fill the tank. Not happy.

The fill problem was an easy spot in the end - the manufacturer fitted flexi pipe for coachbuilt bodywork to tank connection was simply too long and so easily kinked in the middle. Simple fix. But the running problem had us stumped for a while.

They had managed to fill the tank in the end so, having failed to come up with any other discoveries, we had to drain it all out before peering into the tank. Looked OK. A few flakes of red oxide paint around from the inside of the tank but nothing unusual ... until we took it off the chassis and realised that the gauze filter over the end of the pickup pipe was jammed on right into one corner of a gauze material. So it was trying to pick up fuel through multiple layers of gauze all folded up and stitched with the pipe rammed tightly in to one corner. Once the filter was removed the problem was solved.

We put everything back together (without a tank pickup pipe filter iirc but I may be wrong), tested it and delivered it to the customer and so far as I can recall we never heard from them again.

No great surprise since they told us they came to an agreement with their children (both under 10 iirc) every year about what they would do with family weekend leisure time. So each "project" only lasted a year. Or in effect, a summer season.

Not saying your problem is the same, Colin, but that CF appeared to run just fine up to whatever revs represented 40mph in 4th gear and absent a flow measurement device the flow of fuel to the carb (electric pump iirc) looked more than adequate when tested.

Just thought I would mention it in case it prompted some ideas.

[Gerard C]

Aaah, Colin is in trouble with his RV. Sorry, didn't understand. May be you can look for a conflict between the wiper motor and the overdrive switch; I've heard about that once. Or twice. If not, remove some water from the rad to avoid any leak and add some water to the battery because you never know…

Originally Posted by grantp

So far as I can recall we never heard from them again.

I have a suggestion for you but guess you won't like it… Anyway, they must be grown up adults if they've survived! Was your garage located in Essex?

[Colin McKay]

Thanks for all the suggestions, we've been through all the obvious. The combined brainpower of 20 FJ luminaries has failed to come up with anything new so out again in an hour and see what happens. New dizzy probably next on the job list.

[Mike Harte]

Colin, I don't know if you have had a look/tried replacing a) the condenser and b) the dizzy cap?

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Aaah, Colin is in trouble with his RV. Sorry, didn't understand. May be you can look for a conflict between the wiper motor and the overdrive switch; I've heard about that once. Or twice. If not, remove some water from the rad to avoid any leak and add some water to the battery because you never know…

I have a suggestion for you but guess you won't like it… Anyway, they must be grown up adults if they've survived! Was your garage located in Essex?

The story does have an Essex feel about it but no, we were a long way from Essex and the new vehicles were indeed new. Delivery mileage, though delivery could be quite a few miles.

The used vehicles, on the other hand, sometimes had some issues ... especially the VW campers that spent entire winters in stock being moved around to "refresh" the display on the forecourt every 2 weeks or so. A story for another time on another thread. Maybe.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

Thanks for all the suggestions, we've been through all the obvious. The combined brainpower of 20 FJ luminaries has failed to come up with anything new so out again in an hour and see what happens. New dizzy probably next on the job list.

Well in that case it is either something so obscure that if it is ever discovered it will be purely by chance OR it's one of the first things to be checked but the one that is so obviously NOT the problem that it never gets checked because it can't possibly be that.

However, iirc, Iain's already dealt with the "it's never the ...." possibility.

I reckon it will be fuel feed related being upside down or something. You did fit a southern hemisphere specification carb I assume?

[grantp]

Thinking about it Colin, the Kiwis are usually pretty nifty with fixing stuff so see if you can get dispensation for an engine swap. Someone might have a spare V8 lying around. Shouldn't take much to make it fit. They could probably get you up and running with the alternative motive power for the afternoon ...

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Aaah, Colin is in trouble with his RV. Sorry, didn't understand. May be you can look for a conflict between the wiper motor and the overdrive switch; I've heard about that once. Or twice. If not, remove some water from the rad to avoid any leak and add some water to the battery because you never know…

I have a suggestion for you but guess you won't like it… Anyway, they must be grown up adults if they've survived! Was your garage located in Essex?

Hehe. The engine technology involved was probably comparable ...

I did hear another story related to a Bedford CF.

A large American family arrived in England for a holidy and picked up a rented Bedford CF based family sized mini-bus as a hire car. They drove from London to somewhere north for about 200 miles and looked around for an office for the car hire company providing the rental to complain the the vehicle would not do more than 40 mph and was very noisy.

The staff were most puzzled by that and could not replicate the problem - until they realised that the driver thought the vehicle was an automatic and had driven all the way in second gear.

I'm not entirely certain that this is a true story but it would not surprise me if it was.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by grantp

A large American was very noisy and drove from London to Somewhere north. The puzzled could not replicate the problem automatic in second gear. I'm not entirely certain that this is a true story but it would not surprise me if it was.

What??? Yes they are large because of the fookin food and they fart like heck because of Mexican beans… I've been reading about Somewhere but can't remember… when! Now we know the family name was Puzzled it will help to reassemble the whole. I wouldn't be surprise either but can't remember by what I could be surprised… What?

[Gerard C]

Colin, if you've done all the obvious things, go for vicious things. Sometimes cleaning the battery terminals is not enough when "green" is inside. Same for the + wiring feeding the coil. Try to retrace the story of your car since she was in good shape. Step by step forgetting none. Bear in mind that even tough a fantastic invention WD40 can't be used everywhere… Try to enjoy.

[delta]

We had troubled day . No luck with Colin which has really cheezed me off. How can the car run well last weekend . Only thing Colin did was refit the rebuilt starter motor . The only thing we have not changed now is the fuel pump. I have spare set of carbs on my spare engine so will put them on next week . As for me I just want to get Lotus to Invercargill so I’ve been nursing the gearbox but still got two P3 places . Will have a real good go next weekend . I can’t speak highly enough about this place . For me it’s just the best . I don’t want to come home .

[L-G Sjöberg]

Have you checked that the weights in the distributor move freely. I had one distributor where they seemed to have decided by themselves to stick when the engine was run up under load whereas everything looked fine when revving it unloaded. .

[Colin McKay]

New battery, dizzy, rotor, points, condenser, leads, coil. Bypassed fuel regulator, filters clean, float levels checked, pump delivers loads of fuel, ignition, valve timing & clearances checked. What's left? Not a lot! Car back in container until Thurs so going to forget about it till then. We'll change pump & carbs for no good reason other than we can......and say a little prayer!

4DNF's and a DNS, I've had better days!

[E.B]

Sorry to read of your troubles, Colin. A long way to go (not to mention expense) for hassles like that. Hopefully next meeting is better for you and mechanically perfect. Fingers crossed for you.

[I16]

Hope all your gremlins are cured very soon.
Invercargill is a great place with lots of history going back to 1956 for International Motoracing .
Teretonga was completed in 1957. Ask a few Kiwi's how Teretonga translates from Maori - most will not know. You can confidently say that "swift south" is the most favoured answer.

[Mike Harte]

Colin, one other thought that you have probably crossed off the list, but is there a one way valve somewhere in the pipework? I suffered fuel starvation when running under load once, but with no problem when we were bent over the engine.

Turned out that the valve was partially blocked which caused starvation when under load, but also allowed fuel to run back towards the tank.

[grantp]

Fuel system breather? (Following on from MH's comment.)


A dodgy earth wire? or something similar in cabling (thinking about the starter change).