The 'E' Type Forum

Hi Folks..another newbee here in search of guidance!

I recently purchased a 64 series one 3.8 roadster and have just returned from the Le Mann classic which was my first real trip in the car.
The car behaved impecably on the way down,though a day into the trip and I noticed the ignition light was staying on.This might be irrelavant to the question I am leading up to,but perhaps some background info will help..either that or bore you to tears!
As I was at the event,I picked up a new regulator suspecting this might be the cure for the non charging issue,though having fitted it sadly not. I then went in search of a dynamo (type c45..not really an anorak).I was very fortunate that the Lister team had a spare c40 on their truck and let me have it..for a reasonable drink ofcourse. I had to space it out a bit but it done the trick and got me home.
Approaching my question..on the way back,I noticed the car would lose power at high revs especially up hill,I could feel the car holding back almost as if I had fuel starvation..spluttering and backfiring on steeper inclines. I found that if I backed off the throttle slightly the power would even out and luckily get me to the top of every hill. As soon as the car was level again or heading downhill the power would come back again.
Finally..my question! Do any of you know what the problem may be? Do you think my problem was related to lower ignition output from the c40 dynamo,or have I got fuel pump or carburation problems from the tripple SU's? I had no other electrics on and amp meter was showing reasonable charge.
Thanks in advance fo any help or advice.

Mike

Mike, first thing to check is the fuel filter, take it out to inspect it, it gets blocked from the inside so you cannot see any blockage without taking it out.

Steve.

It doesn't sound like an ignition problem - and if you were able to get to max revs and full throttle without misfiring on the level or downhill then I'd say definitely something in the fuel delivery related to vehicle attitude.

A possible fit for your symptoms would be restricted fuel delivery. Uphill under hard acceleration will give you a reasonably sustained period of maximum fuel demand, which would be difficult to achieve on the level except for brief periods of full bore acceleration.

So its possible you were getting just enough fuel for normal conditions, where brief episodes of full throttle might cause the float chamber levels to drop, but probably not for long enough to reach misfire point - and then a longish uphill stretch at full throttle or close to it leading to enough of a level drop to cause the misfire.

So like Steve suggests I'd check the filter on the bulkhead first. Also worth checking to see if there are any other filters in the system - POs have been known to add extra filters, in the piping in the boot for example. Then as well there is (or should be) a second filter on the pickup in the tank which sits inside the little sump sticking out under the boot floor. For a quick check without draining the tank you can get at that filter by removing the fuel pump (assuming you have the in-tank pump) or pickup plate (with external pump) and attached pickup pipe, but this won't tell you if there's lots of crud in the little sump ready to cause a recurrance (common problem) so ideally you need to drain the tank and remove the sump to clean it as well as the filter (this has been covered on here in other threads - have a quick search).

Before you did that though I'd check the fuel delivery rate (disconnect the flexible pipe where it joins the fuel manifold at the carbs, run the pump and collect the fuel in a container). I can't tell you exactly what the standard delivery rate should be, probably in the region of 1 litre/minute but others on here might know. If it looks low, it could be the in-tank filter, a blocked, kinked or crushed fuel line, or could simply be a tired fuel pump.

Don't forget to check the three SU gauze filters as well!

Cheers chaps I will investigate the fuel filters to see if there is an issue,I seem to remember a similar problem with my Healey 3000 which is also running tripple SU's.
I will keep you's posted.
Oh on a separate note,the clock is not working in the E-Type,it seems to have a good live feed coming out of the fuse box but no other wires going to it,does it get its earth from the rev counter? I have tried another clock I got from Ebay but still no joy.

Thanks again for all your help.
p.s its great to see so many other members with such an eclectic mix of cars!

Send the clock to Mike Ecke and he will modify it to make it work accurately and constantly!