The 'E' Type Forum

I have a crazy dilemma with my Series 1 1966 etype 2+2.

The car is nearing the completion of a 7 year painful restoration. People involved were not honest and parts went missing and work was incomplete. Both the companies involved are now in liquidation so no real surprise there.

The car is now with a different restorer who are uncovering a range of issues.

I discover today that the original etype carbs (I have in pics with their green tags) were swapped out (maybe to sell on who knows) for what appears to be XJ6 carburettors (the rear one has number AUD 357R) although maybe not all of them as one out of the 3 carbs has the fast idle adjuster the other two just the holes with no threads for the assembly (see image).

So the two main issues are; 1) the pots are taller, although I don't have any bonnet closing issues. 2) manual choke is only operating on one carb.

The parts for fast idle seem to be available although there is a question over the brass arm that attaches to the rod.

My big concern is whether the restorer (good with engines and carbs) will be able to make these carbs work in this scenario or will this be another downer in my terrible saga with this car and I will need the full etype carbs. The car does run although there are some other issues around oil pressure and a leak of water around the head gasket to the outside only (so called newly built engine)

Obviously I am fuming about this but under the circumstances I will have no way of getting my carbs back or any retribution. When I do publish the story about the restoration on this car, people on this forum will be aghast!

All help or pointers in relation to what problems may be encountered gratefully received.

Chris, that tag could be spurious, but the lack of choke controls is bad news as all three carbs are controlled by the choke lever, adjusting the tick over and richening the mixture. I can’t imagine the engine starting without all three carbs being correct for choke. Though you say the present people have got it running, did they explain how they managed that?
You say they are higher but no problem with the bonnet, how about a measurement for others more knowledgeable to help in that respect?

Sorry to hear of your problems, let’s hope there will be better help from others. Good luck

Geoff

Hello Chris , check you have all three jet lifters on the bottom of the carbs - these are available from Burlen but you will need to wait a few weeks for them. The shoe assembly with rod which goes up through the hole you show is also available. The dashpots (with pistons as they are matched) are available from HS series carbs which turn up occasionally and are the same as E-type (but these can be bought later on ). No need to go replacing everything in sight. Take them off as a unit with the cylinder head and sort out whats missing to make the engine run properly and look at your water leak at the same time.

Barrie
Don't rely wholly on Burlens website - ring them up and discuss what you need

Guys this is a great help and it sounds a bit more promising.

I will post up my discussion with Burlens to show others that may be interested in the interoperability.

I think you are right to worry about the pots later if we can get all running.


Thanks
Chris

Chris this post will give you some info your after...Steve....viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16986&p=139376&hili ... ht#p139376

Hi Steve,

Yes I found that link and it was again really useful.

Thanks
Chris

Just had a quick look on a certain auction site and there are several HS8 carbs / dashpots only - available . They don't make much money compared with HD8's. The HS8 was a cheapened version of the HD8 and used on XJ6's among other cars. For us E-type owners interest they utilised the low top dashpot which the 3.8/4.2 mk10 HD8's didn't have (they had the high top version)

Barrie

Hi Barrie,

Thanks for your comments. I am having a look out now for the low dashpots.

Firstly what do we think would be the right price, secondly are they prone to wear i.e. some will work and some will not and finally is the HS8 pot definitely interchangeable.

In other news I spoke with Burlens and they were extremely helpful.

It looks like my rear carb is XJ6, the middle carb is probably my original but with a tall pot and the front will be the pair for the rear XJ6. The XJ6 of this era was a two carb automatic choke setup. Burlens have all the choke assembly and fast idle parts to change these carbs but it wont be cheap. Obviously a lot cheaper than sourcing etype 4.2 carbs though.

Don't you just hate criminals and their behaviour!

Thanks
Chris

Chris...post in our wanted section for parts your after....you may get lucky.....but detail what your after with photos if poss......Steve

Chris, look here as a set was on offer, whether they still are who knows, but they might be a help or solution to your needs. Frustrating to have to go this way but worth considering.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18291

Geoff

Thanks for help.

I have managed to obtain two shorter dashpots on eBay so just need one more now.

On the hunt for all the additional parts particularly for the manual choke operation as this is only present on one carb.

Longwinded diatribe based on guesses from your post and pictures. For summary see below.

Dashpots.

Pity I didn't get into this thread earlier; you can simply use a lathe to take 6mm or so off the tops of your dashpots. I've done this. If you run short of threads you can just tap it out. 11/16 24tpi UNEF.

HS8.

HS8 carbs are a totally different design. You can't mix and match with HD8s and trying to get a set of triple HS8s to work would be tricky as among other things they have a totally different choke mechanism. More trouble than trying to correct what you have.

Chokes.

The fast idle arrangement with the brass levers and rod/shoe pushrods is pretty much unique to the E type AFAIK. If your bodies are drilled for the pushrod you can buy the rod/shoe and accessories. It looks like you have a pushrod fitted to your middle carb but I can't see enough in the other pictures to tell.

Additionally as you allude to above the jet housing assembly is also an E type only part with the brass arms.
What you seem to have given what I can glean from the pictures is the jet housing with pressed steel mixture controls. This is what the Early XJ6 had but they only ran twin carbs and used a thermo enrichment device not a choke that affected the jet. If you can't buy the arms from Burlen you could make something to dimension easily enough.

Closeup from your pic:



Summary.

So what you've got is a set of triple SUs that someone's made up with non standard bits. Without having it on a bench in front of me it's hard to be exact about what's correct and what ins't.

With what you have you should be able to get the car to run; I'm assuming you have slow idle screws. Setting mixtures should be OK.

Having a functioning choke on only one carb might work. Mk2's have the thermo "hisser". S3 E Types only have chokes on two of four carbs.

You do need to cut the dash pots down as even if you have clearance when the car isn't running the engine does move relative to the bonnet when driving.

What would I do? Take the carbs off. Ring Burlen, make an appointment to physically take the carbs there. Get them to inspect them with you and order all the parts that are wrong. A lot of what you has is right, or can be made to work.

As an aside, the D1 stamping on the body dates the carbs to January 1966.

Thanks Andrew this information is invaluable.

The more I delve the more I believe that my centre carb is correct and has all the correct gear given that it is the only one providing choke and that the other two are XJ6.

The date code is puzzling. This would be correct for the centre carb given the car was delivered in June 1966 but would confuse the assumption that the other two carbs are XJ6. Once the carbs are off the car we will record all the numbers and reassess.

The fact that taller pots were fitted may be that one or more were lost, sold, repurposed for another car etc... and that the only 3 pots that could be found to match were the taller ones.

I have decided a trip to Burlens with the whole set could be the best approach.

might seem expensive in sorting your problem, but at least it would be a quick fixx - Peter Crespin is selling 3 SU's

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18291#p149741

Hi Malcom,

With endless budget I would go the easy option but not working at the moment and need to find the most cost effective route.

Its also quite an interesting project in trying to get what I have working. I think as many of the parts I have were serviced and polished they will sell okay once I swap them. Things such as the dashpots and the fuel float caps etc..

This forum has made it all seem more possible so once again thanks to everyone.

Chris