Moss Motors, Ltd

I somehow made it through all of 2009 without the engine dieing on me and I put about 2600 miles on. Then, early January on a surprisingly warm sunny day here in NC my wife and I drove the TD to lunch with the top down. When we left the car started right up and after pulling ot we sat at a stop light. As it turned green I started to pull away and it died. Nothing loose, so I decided to try something a little different (it wasn't firing while trying to start it with a growing queue of frustrated drivers behind me) I had my wife pull the starter while I held down the carb buttons. On the second attempt it purred to life. I noticed driving home that there were slight hesitations so I took it easy.

The fuel pump pumps gas freely. This used to happen once the engine was thoroughly warmed up on a hard turn. Is it the fuel?

I'd like to help. What are carb buttons?

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Motorbill
From Lola to Land Rover, If it's British and has wheels, it's likely I've bloodied me knuckles thereupon

I believe they depress the float in the bowls.

The engine dying while making a sharp turn may have been a wire from the coil that was being snagged by the steering wheel column. I wire tied that to the side and the turn stalls ceased. Then this. Because I thought it was related to the fuel previously I checked the fuel pump and filter screens. All is fine there. I am tempted to get the Mini heat shield adaptation. With oil specific for our older cars you would think there would be a fuel additive that would raise the boiling point, et al.

Jayhawker, I,m pretty sure that you have crud [ technical term ya know] in your fuel line but more importantly, sitting in the bottom of your float bowls. This will lead to the float not dropping properly and blockage at the needle valves. A good clean-out is indicated, I put an in line filter where I could see it on the YB. The pump struggled a bit especially when filter begins to clog but I always carried a spare.    Hope this helps, regards  - -  steve

 

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To a man equipped with only a hammer, most problems look like nails

Where would this filter go? Would it attach to the outlet of the pump or the inlet to the first SU?

Jayhawker,

First, we tend to call those little plungers "ticklers", a motorcycle term, really.

Next, that filter needs to go anywhere between the pump and the carburetters. The closer to the carburetters the better.

Also, plain old fuel line is being eaten from the inside out these days by the alcohol in the liquid they sell us with the claim that it is gasoline. As such, it can clog float valves or make them stick open. Older rubber fuel line isn't formulated to withstand this crap. We now use fuel injection line exclusively in place of all old low pressure rubber fuel line.

I'm not completely convinced that any of the stuff so far discussed is what's going on here, though I certainly hope so. Let us know how it's going.

I get the impression that your carburetters haven't been serviced in a long time. Is this so? Try this: Grasp the throttle shaft of one of the carburetters between the thumb and forefinger close to the carb body, but leaving a line of sight to the bushing where the shaft disappears into the body itself. Now apply side force in-out, front-back, up-down, etc. The idea is to see just how much play there is in these bushings. There should be very very little in a good unit. If it seems excessive, look at the other end of the shaft sticking out the other side and watch it as you continue to wiggle.(the shaft!) (Oh geez, I don't know if that's any better!)

Out of shape carburetters are almost impossible to tune, and they cannot hold onto the adjustments you make. Rebuilding and rebushing these babies is not really difficult, but if you haven't done it before, there are pitfalls. Again, let us know.

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Motorbill
From Lola to Land Rover, If it's British and has wheels, it's likely I've bloodied me knuckles thereupon

Jaywalker, Yup as MB says put filter up near the pump but on the outlet-side of it.

"With oil specific for our older cars you would think there would be a fuel additive that would raise the boiling point, et al."    What compression ratio are you at? With stock or near stock XPAG engine a lot of people in the UK have started adding paraffin, kerosene, to their fuel at about 1/15 mix or so and are actually getting a cooler running temp and less vapour locks, the thinking is that kerosene acts as some sort of stabilizer . Dont know what the legal issue is!!  Anyway unless you are running with a high CR do not presume that you are giving your car a treat by putting higher octane gas in it. MBs comments on modern gas are spot-on!  Heat shield, insulating standoffs and thermal wrap on the header are all improvment possibilities.    Cheers   - -   steve

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To a man equipped with only a hammer, most problems look like nails

How old was the fuel in the tank?  There's been a lot of media reports on ethanal fuels, including the recent one by Moss in their "Bristish Motoring" magazine.  With the vented (and leaky) tank caps in our "T"s, the modern E-fuels will soak up moisture and surprisingly quickly separate out on the bottom of the tank (phase separation).  You may have been sucking a slug of water.  Both Red Line and BG have fuel additives to stabilize the fuel, emulsify the moisture, and de-gunk the fuel system and carbs.

We had a fellow in our local Brit car club whose classic Mini exhibited the same thing you experienced.  A fresh tank of fuel and some "Stay-Bil" fuel additive solved the problem.

Link to the "British Motoring" magazine.  Article starts on p.24  .. http://www.britishmotoring.net/current_issue/2010_Winter.pdf

The car went through a total rebuild that was completed January 2006. I had a richness problem that was corrected about a year later. It was while driving to the Gettysburg car show the Fall of 2007 that it first stalled while making a 90 degree left turn. This engine runs hot. The last major time this happened was Christmas Day 2008. 18 miles down the road, then at an intersection a right turn and done.

 I had it flat bedded home. I took the fuel line off from the output of the fuel pump and it had no dificulty pumpimg fuel. Continued this process through the carbs. Cleaned the screens, checked the floats (whitch were re-checked in 2008), nothing. tried starting it and it fired right up. It was while performing this process that I noticed a wire from the coil that passes near the steering wheel shaft and it looked like it had been yanked. I moved and tied it clear of the shaft and drove all of 2009 with out a single problem. The fuel is three months old and I run the car every two weeks.

There is a local gas station that I hear the owner refuses to add ethanol, which is apparently added at the filling stations. If that is the case I'll try that gas.

Not sure what the compression ratio is. But when the engine was rebuilt they had to shave the pistons to get them to fit. So, I expect it is high. I use the lowest octane fuel and the worst stall Christmas of 2008 was with stabilized gasoline. The engine normally runs mid 90's C or higher.

What do you think is going on?