The Long Old Road Ahead (Time to Strip!)

[Sparky]

Huh? Detail please.

[Simon350S]

Just got back

Zero mixture control apparenlty....

Zero effort from the garage I'm thinking too....... Its till parked where I left it at 9am this morning and I've had no phone call from him as I requested before he even started on it. He says hes checked the fuel pressure regulator and its all ok.

The guy who rebuilt them has well and truly screwed them over by the looks of it, there is just no other explanation.

Some times they work ok, like before I went away, other times they are like a sack of shit and flood the hell out of the engine, sometimes front carbs, sometimes rear carbs.

Looks like something is sticking inside of them, I have no idea what it could be, there's so many balls, springs, washers jets etc... inside of them, any one of them could be causing the issue and I HAVE NO IDEA.

If I had time to learn then fine you know, have a bash n all, but I don't! Time is the one thing I really have so little of.

I'm not happy just bolting on my spare pair, they are too much of an unknown and the risk of fuel leaking is worrying the hell out of me. I know the tops have been off several times so there's a good chance they'll not seal good at all.

Hey ho.

Not sure where we go from here

So far, 4 companies phoned from across the UK.

Not one can help in my time-scale!

Just about to leave to try and collect the car. Hope she makes it home.....

OK

Home now..... phew...

She's not running 100% on throttle now either and the fact that they did try something is evident from the dirt on the drivers seat!! C**ts!

Oh well, bit more searching to do on the internet now me thinks

Clicky

Everyone I've phoned has said its a no go, too much work on, not willing to take the responsibility of not getting them done it time and missing the wedding etc......

The guy in the above link though has said yes. 2 days turn around @ £40 per carb and he'll reuse the gasket kit thats just been put on them. He wants both sets of carbs to make sure that if any other parts are screwed he can be sure he has the spares required.

I'm SO not sure about this. It seems cheap, the other place I've spoken to wants £150 per carb....

Do I risk it or not, thats the question.... He said they wont be 'factory new' finished but will be as good as he can had clean them. For that price no re-plating of parts, which I'm neither supprised or bothered about!

I could end up with 2 sets of broken carbs though, or worse no carbs back in time at all... He recons I'll have them back by Wednesday.

I'm going to think about it tonight, maybe by the morning I'll have decided and then can take them off the car and courier them across to him.....

Edited October 22, 2009 by Simon350S

[rocket63]

Can you take the carbs off the black beauty and just swap them over mate?

[Simon350S]

Unfortunately not dudes.

It's not a turbo car and the carbs are different. Nice thought though!

The more I think about it, the less I want to send them all away, but do I have much choice?

Fuel injection is the future, no wonder the automotive industry binned theses pieces of crap years ago...

If I had more time I wouldn't even be considering rebuilding them, it's just throwing money away and a completely pointless task.

But I NEED this car working...

Edited October 22, 2009 by Simon350S

[910Esprit]

Fixed jet carbs (which these are) are infinitely more simple that fuel injection, especially when it stops working properly!

Anyway, sounds to me that you're dealing with idiots. There are no significant wearing parts in the carbs other than the spindles/seals (and maybe the needle valve tips). They just need methodically dismantling, cleaning and assembling. (what, maybe 20 parts per choke?) How can they be 'unrepairable'? Even a hamfisted buffoon would have difficulty achieving that. In reality, there will be one small issue - such as a mis-placed O ring, or ball bearing. Once that has been resolved, they will be fine.

After all you managed to get through your MOT emission test, which is by no means guaranteed on one of these cars.

Don't give up!

cheers Steve

[slewthy]

Si, S'pose your S3 being a turbo and mine not would rule out you borrowing my carbs for the big day?

Mine aint going anywhere for a while and I'm not a million miles away from you.

Turbo vs non turbo probably a problem though.

Just a thought.

[Simon350S]

They may well be simple and it could just be a misplaced ball bearing or o-ring, but for exaclty that reason there is simply nothing I can do with them. I don't know where ANY of them are supposed to go, hence why I gave up in the first place when a washer fell out of a hole and I had no idea where it came from and never found the corresponding paired one. I soon realised I could screw up big time and that they may never work again. Who'da guessed I'd be in this same situation anyways....!

Cheers for the offer Simon, but as you said, being that the turbo and non turbo carbs are different its a no go. Thanks all the same, very nice thought and offer...

Well, I've made my decision.

I will try the other carbs in the morning, if they work and do not leak, they stay. It would be a miracle though as their origin is a complete unknown....

If that fails I will throw the opportunity out to anyone who KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING (this is essential as a fix must be as near as guaranteed as possible)

You will have to be free this weekend with all neccesary equipment, mixture, balancing etc, and on the basis it will cost me £80 to get these carbs rebuilt now, plus £30 at a guess each way for courier, totalling £140. I will put another £100 on top of this for the lucky winner along with a couple of pints, this is to include cleaning and rebuilding of carbs and setting up on the car following reassembly and a quality job MUST be assured....

Watch this space. I will advertise this up seperately tomorrow following the outcome of my attempts first.

I'm desperate now guys and I've had enough!

Edited October 23, 2009 by Simon350S

[robertcosta]

for whats its worth I rebuilt my turbo carbs and they immediately flooded, petrol everywhere!

Pulled them apart about a zillion times. Then remembered I swapped the floats for fresh ones and they were out of spec! I think jamming on the walls of the carb float chamber. Put the old ones back in and all was well.

[Simon350S]

Well yesterday saw no mechanical works on the car, but Steve the trimmer came up to finish off the carpets, so that's 1 job knocked on the head. Luckily this meant I had to remove the seats so hopefully that'll help with the wiring trouble, although I have completely lost the workshop manual with the wiring diagrams in…. D'oh…

Yesterday saw 6 hours of intensive wedding shopping which is VERY tiring I can assure you.

Following a fab day and night with Lisa and because she is in work today, I thought I'd have a bash on the car.

A thorough search on the forum found this topic about float setting so I thought I'd have a bash.

Removed the boost pipe and plenum cover, switched on the fuel pump and witnessed fuel happily draining out the trumpets on cylinders 3 & 4… Not a good sign…

I removed the cover and tried adjusting as per the instructions but I could never get the 27mm fuel height required…

Oh well I thought, maybe its close enough, lets have a look at 1 & 2..

Switch on the pump and petrol started pouring out of 3 & 4 again??? Tested the float and valve into a bucket and it does indeed shut the petrol supply off.. must be a shitty new needle that's my only thoughts, or maybe the float is sticking?

Off with the cover, lets have a bash with one of the spares.

Bolted it on, instant fuel level reduction and no more leakage… Hooraaa!! Adjusted the level to the requisite 27mm and headed off to 1 & 2 carb.

Hat off, fuel level about right…. BUT….!! The slapdash repair from the guy who screwed the carbs up in the first place has disappeared. Only a few small fragments of it was remaining sloshing around in the petrol, I can only assume the rest has lodged itself into the many orifices of the carburettor. Not good!

Spare cover number 2 used to replace this now useless cover and with a quick adjustment we now have both carbs holding a steady 27mm fuel height.

Time to start her up…

Quick flick of the key and she sparked into life, a little coughing on application of a light throttle but this seemed to go with the use of a bit of choke.

Take her out for a short drive I thought, 1 ½ hours and ¼ tank of petrol later and I've just got back in.

She's running pretty good, could probably benefit from a little light tuning in the mixture department but she's good to go. I did the entire wedding run as a practice to see how it'd go and it was lush.

Now got a wet and slightly numb bum from sitting on the floor for so long, due to a few holes in the floor that need blocking up and new door seals that are required.

Have no idea where the rest of that shitty repair putty has settled but at the moment its making no real difference. Hope they last, when the honeymoon is over maybe I'll get them professionally refurbished although that's not cheap. Maybe straight into injection? Who knows.

Thanks for the words of advice, they ended up motivating me to achieve a self fix. Its hard work when you get so many knocks, hopefully onwards and upwards now!

A few shots from today

1 week tomorrow and this will not be a photo of a lonely car, it will be bustling with people, horses, video men, photographers and of course the Lovely Lisa

Almost there guys

Edited October 24, 2009 by Simon350S

[rocket63]

Massively glad you percevered and got it sorted. Well done Si.

[Bibs]

Good man Si. Oh, you left your lights on mate...

[Advantage]

Good stuff, well done you.

[silverfrost]

Good effort Simon,

Always use all availible resources Glad you got it sorted mate and wish you both the best of luck for your special day

Regards danny

[Simon350S]

Cheers guys.

Need to find the wiring diagrams in the morning. Got to fix those fans!!!!

[internets]

Fantastic news Simon Now have a well deserved beer

Look forward to seeing her in all her glory

[ramjet]

Well done Simon. I think I remember a previous post where you were told 'Declared Unfixable'. Some people should not be let loose on other peoples machinery. Idiots!

As for the fans, why not just jury rig a feed to them and run it through a switch? It means you'll have to manage them, but a quick way to get it ready for the day?.?

Can Lotus help with an explosion of the carbies?

Castle looks awesome. Have NOTHING like that here in Australia.

Edited October 25, 2009 by ramjet

[Simon350S]

Well thats the fans problem found.

Checked all new earths. All good.

Removed cover from fan unit under front hood and check for any problem wires. All good.

Check fuse last.... Gone! 35amp fuse blown?

New one fitted and all sparked into life, interior and cooling. Problem is the interior fans make the fuse scalding hit, propper burn the finger hot.

I can run in on its lowest setting with the fuse sligtly more comfortable than warm but on setting 2 & 3 its burning hot. Fans are spinning freely with no real issues to see at all? Cooling fans on their own generate minor warmth, nothing to write home about really.

Very confusing, unless the fan motors are on their way out but not sure how they can be and still work perfectly?

Need daylight to carry on with this one me thinks!

[ramjet]

Glad to hear you are working it out Simon.

If you are getting excessive heat, I would suggest that your interior fans are packing it in. You will get increased current through them if the winding insulation is starting to fail. A mate of mine that lives next door (electrical engineer) told me that the function of a fuse is to protect the wiring, not the component that it is feeding, so knowing that, your fan wiring is at least that hot as well if the fuse has not blown. I would avoid using the interior fan if you can until you can get it tested by an auto electrician.

Big day is this weekend coming isn't it?

[Simon350S]

Yup 4 1/2 days to go.

Going to finish off the interior as much as possible today.

The wiring is staying cool which is the strange thing, although I've noticed thismorning that wiggling the fuse a little makes the fans come and go, maybe the holder is loose/dirty which could be causing a high resistance between the holder and the fuse itself?

I'll disconnect 1 fan at a time and see if that makes any difference, maybe only 1 of them is on its way out?

[ramjet]

Simon, a bad connection between a wire and the fuse holder could definitely be the issue. I would check there straight away. Especially if wiggling it causes intermittent power.

Liz says best of luck for the day too.