Monday morning 8:00 am
Every 50 years or so the three HD8 carburetors on a series one E-type need some attention. We have previously paid attention to a somewhat precarious radius arm mounting with good result, and having adjudged the car good to go, we returned it to the owner for whom the drivability immediately went south.
A series 2 recovered Saturday night
So back it came, and after a frazzling day of carburetion & ignition Butch has it about dialed back in. We think.
In a somewhat uneven exchange I trailered out an MGB Saturday afternoon and returned with a series 2 E-type which is alleged to have an electrical draw which flattens the battery, although my armchair hypothesis is not enough use. I put a new Interstate battery in it Saturday night to get it going and I’ve been monitoring & recording the voltage on a daily basis until we can get properly to work on it…
This doesn't look good
…The owner of the TD complained of a sudden loss of power so we had Rods Towing & Repair of Putney drag it in. First I checked the point gap, of which there was very little. and then I popped the carburetor float chamber covers off and the rear float was nearly submerged, meaning the engine had been running hopelessly rich.
But it was a compression test which ultimately told the tale: the first three cylinders had respectable compression but the fourth one had none, as in zero. This is a very lucky car (and owner) because the #4 exhaust valve broke across the keeper groove and somehow the o-ring used for oil control managed to prevent what was left from crashing thru the piston. Note the valve spring closest to the battery. More on this next week with pictures.
Spaghetti Junction
Meanwhile Reilly has been sorting thru a TR6 from Branford, Connecticut. Replacing the fuel pump has the car running much better now and changing out the non-functioning rear shock absorbers and replacing the differential mounts has really squared away the back of the car, although an improvement of almost equal magnitude was acheived by tightening up the 16 bolts on the half shaft universal joints as well as the rear bolts on the driveshaft.
In the interest of searching for a more pregressive clutch, at my direction Reilly hauled out the transmisison for a look around. Not much was found, with the possible exception of this colorful rat’s nest of radio wires. Why anyone needs a sound system in a sports car with that most melodious of engines, the in-line six cylinder, is beyond me.
Thursday afternoon at the TD exchange, we swap a red one for a brown one
