The resurrection of KSF404T - 1978 Sprint

[Howard81]

The engine could have been made yesterday and the car would still be the older of the two, so the emissions would then have to be measured according to the age of the car. I know that doesn't help when the car's post-'75 in any case....

Yup, but as you say it would still be tested as a 1979 so not really any help

I guess I could stamp it with an earlier number, but the number on the V5 is still the original engine number, so I'd rather leave it as-is.. I'm tempted to stamp it for security reasons though. The fact that it fails emissions shows that the jets in the carbs are worn... I already have the rebuild kit, I'm just saving up for those lovely aluminium club mounts the club sell.. now my 1500HL has sold I'm actually able to buy them!

[JPB]

Blimey, I knew those solid carb mounts weren't cheap but......
How glad I am that Stromberg-equipped Dolomites don't need such things!

[Purplebargeken]

No date stamps on the club carb mounts Howard, it'll drive you to distraction. You know it will

[Howard81]

They're cheaper than buying a "normal" pair and then have to replace them every 6 months

[Howard81]

No date stamps on the club carb mounts Howard, it'll drive you to distraction. You know it will

Maybe I'll paint them satin black to blend them in

[Purplebargeken]

Makes sense. Wanna buy a nice FWD now you have some coin.

[Oli_88]

Get a dremel and make your own date marks in them...
Though I think 12/11 (Or whatever week we're in) isn't the same...

[Howard81]

KSF has been running well lately, but in the last couple of months started a strange vibration that gradually worsened over time. It would only happened in first gear as you pulled away from standby. It seemed like rather bad clutch judder, but I guess could have been a dodgy gearbox mount or propshaft. Clutch was new last year, and the prop/mount were inspected as good at the same time. As I happen to have a spare prop to hand, I thought I'd fit that first.

On removal of the old propshaft, the fault was immediately noticeable - the front UJ had a massive amount of play! I think some of the needle bearings must have collapsed. New propshaft fitted and the car now drives perfectly.

I like it when problems are easy

Over Easter I also serviced it with new oil and filter, so all good for another year

[Aar0sc]

Just read this whole thing (Well what am I meant to be doing? Oh yeah; mending my car ) and it's a brilliant looking car.... how come I haven't met it yet?!

I'm now set on buying a Dolly/Tolly (or whatever Triumph wanted to name one at any given time ) as a resto project - >£50 please!

Aaron

[JPB]

Just read this whole thing (Well what am I meant to be doing? Oh yeah; mending my car ) and it's a brilliant looking car.... how come I haven't met it yet?

Because you're not that good a stalker after all?

What's wrong with your Spitfire then?

[Aar0sc]

Just read this whole thing (Well what am I meant to be doing? Oh yeah; mending my car ) and it's a brilliant looking car.... how come I haven't met it yet?

Because you're not that good a stalker after all?

What's wrong with your Spitfire then?

Good stalking there! I just need the RHS dust shield; but I've had a lead and it should be ready tomorrow

[Howard81]

One job I've been meaning to do for ages is to rebuild the carbs - they're pretty worn out and desperately need new jets - the emissions are very poor and the waxstats give issues on hot days. As I don't really want to take the car out of action, I decided the best way was to purchase a spare pair of HS6 carbs to rebuild in my spare time, then swap over.. A suitable pair of late Sprint waxstat HS6 carbs was purchased from MikeyB a few months ago.

I purchased a complete rebuild kit from Andrew Tuner, this consisted of all the necessary gaskets, new throttle spindles, solid throttle discs, standard jets and the necessary waxstat conversion linkage. This will do away with the poppet valves in the original throttle discs, and convert to standard jets over the waxstats. I also have a pair of the alloy mounts from the club

Next purchase was one of these which I bought for half price in the Christmas sale I'm not going to write up too much about the sonic cleaning as I'm writing up a full article for Dolly Mixture and the Wiki, but it is fantastic! You need to clean the carbs up with carb cleaner first (the dirtier the water gets, the less effective the cleaning) and use a carb cleaning solution. It takes several hours to clean but it does get it spotless. The cleaner I bought is a 2-litre one, and the stripped body of an HS6 just about fits, but in hindsight I wish I had gone for a 2.5 litre one for that little extra capacity.

The only thing I noticed with the replacement carbs was that they were fitted with BDQ needles - which I gather is uprated? I don't recall what is currently fitted to KSF, but I'll probably do the job properly and buy a set of standard (BBT?) needles to go in.

I've one carb down, one to go..





The old throttle spindle was slightly worn:



BDQ needles. I'll double check what is currently in KSF..



Finished!







A closeup of the waxstat conversion linkage:

[mahony]

I did a similar rebuild of my own carbs a few years back, i junked bbt's in favour of bdq's as mine seemed to run to rich on the bbt's, best thing ever junking those horrid waxstats, mine run's so much better without them

[Toledo Man]

Aaron, I thought you'd taken on that 1850 auto you were advertising for a friend. Go on, you know you want to...

[Aar0sc]

Aaron, I thought you'd taken on that 1850 auto you were advertising for a friend. Go on, you know you want to...

I have done, and I need to sort out my HS6s too! Drives wonderfully

Aa