Rolling Project - 1980 1500 HL Auto

[Rob B]

Evening all, thought I would start a project thread for Nugget, my 1500HL auto. I'm calling it a project rather than a restoration as the car is in generally good nick and MOT'd, im just trying to improve on things as and when I can.

I purchased the car as a runner last August but only used her briefly before laying her up for the winter, as at the time I was running an Acclaim as my daily. Come May this year though I decided to get rid of the Acclaim and put all my efforts into the Dolly. She awoke from her hibernation with no real problems, quick tune up, sorted out a dodgy earth on the rear lights and she sailed through her MOT with no advisories.

Just a week or two later though we hit problems. I took the car down to my parents in Gloucestershire (about 150 miles) which she did without complaint but as soon as we pulled into the driveway she started peeing fuel from the main jet on the rear carb, at the point where it joins the float chamber. We tried to cobble it back together with a spare jet from dads stash of spares but we didnt have the little rubber olive that sits inside the float chamber and no amount of rubber or rings or other bodges could be made to work. So I had to leave the car with dad and drive home in my mums car, not ideal. Dad ordered a refurb kit, took the carbs off and stripped and rebuilt them on the bench. All now seemed fine he drove the car back up to me a week or so later and she didnt miss a beat. Problem solved! or so we thought............. a few days later she started leaking fuel from the same place again......grrrr. Never did quite work out how or why, doesnt make any sense. Dad can rebuild SU's in his sleep and it was fine all that distance........... most odd.

Happily we now seem to have finally sorted out Nuggets irksome fuel troubles - as it turned out the float chamber on the rear carb was the wrong one entirely, it had an extra breather pipe on the top which was fouling the linkage and causing it to sit at a slight angle, whether this was the sole cause of the fuel leak im not sure but I am certain it wasnt helping. I managed to purchase a complete carb and manifold assembly from a member on here so have just changed the offending float chamber and jet complete - no more leaks. This does mean I now have unused, brand new main jets that I purchased at great expense but I figure these are not bad spares to have handy anyway.

Keeping an eye on it in case it reoccurs but im hoping this has got it sorted. Have also taken the opportunity to replace several manky looking fuel pipes and breather hoses and also taken out an inline paper fuel filter which seemed to be causing poor running when hot. Having removed the filter there is no trace of the problem. Will replace shortly with a better mesh filter, the paper ones always seem to cause trouble.

Other jobs completed include sorting out the ridiculously stiff and sticky throttle pedal, sorted by altering the spring position on the carb linkage and generally just cleaning up and lubricating everything. and also degunking the sticking heater valve which now works a charm.

Next on the agenda is replacing all the worn weather seals and the busted steering wheel and replacing the near useless door mirrors with something more effective. Also going to have the rear seat out as it squeaks and rattles constantly, i believe it has bee out before and not refitted correctly. The body and paint are quite good but will need some attention so i aim to have this done over the winter months

pics to follow

Cheers

[Howard81]

Looking forward to following this, Rob!

Nugget was always a bit of an attention seeker when I owned her, the secret is to keep her clean and polished - she tends to behave herself then! I was also initially plagued with fuel debris problems and bad fuel smells, but it turned out the tank was rusted through in a few places on the bottom. I replaced the tank with a brand new one I picked up on eBay. The fuel lines were replaced too, but that was over 3 years ago now. The carbs possibly had a mix of Spitfire bits on them - the engine that died in my ownership (fitted two owners prior) was allegedly out of a Spitfire 1500, so possibly some bits came off that. It wouldn't surprise me as that engine turned out to be a 1300!

Keep up the good work - I would love to see some current photos if you have any

[Jod Clark]

Is my engine still in there?

[Rob B]

Is my engine still in there?

Yup sure is

Was the engine rebuilt as standard? Or does it have some goodies in there? feels nippier than other 1500's ive driven

[Jod Clark]

Standard, just built properly! Glad you like it.

[geeksteve]

Nice to see another 1500 HL Auto!

Does yours change gear like a learner driver too?

S

[Rob B]

Nice to see another 1500 HL Auto!

Does yours change gear like a learner driver too?

S

I find it a little sluggish to change gear and a bit clunky initially but once warmed up it seems to get the idea and everything works more smoothly. It does change down well though, which is useful given I live in the peak district! My old 2500 auto was always reluctant to drop a cog which meant some pretty slow crawls up hill sometimes.

If the rain holds off tonight i'll take some fresh pictures

[Rob B]

Sorry for the lack of pictures, the car continues to be something of a problem child. Having finally solved the leaking carb it seems she has developed poor running when hot. I had a little bit of this before but removing the paper fuel filter seemed to solve this. Now however, the problem has suddenly become much worse. She let me down badly on Saturday travelling to visit a mate, she wouldnt tick over, no power what-so-ever, had to limp to a car park which I only just managed.

No obvious signs of trouble, fuel is getting to the carbs, good spark, no hiss when removing the petrol cap, breather pipes are clear etc.

Thinking its one of, coil breaking down - although the coil isnt getting hot so seems unlikely but you never know, condenser breaking down, crack in one or more of the plugs, crack in the dizzy, rotor arm breaking down, or possibly an air lock in the fuel (seems unlikely given that fuel is getting to the carbs but cant rule it out) or else the tank is full of rubbish and without the filter in place its getting in to the carbs and blocking them up.

Going to be a slow process of elimination me thinks.

[geeksteve]

Mine behaved the same, was valve clearances (were all over the place).

[Rob B]

Mine behaved the same, was valve clearances (were all over the place).

Im inclined to think its not something that serious as the fault appears intermittent.

[Jon Tilson]

Blocked jet on one SU will lead to this kind of poor running.

Seperate the carbs at the linkage by undoing one clamp and try revving up on each carb on its own...one will rev and one won't...thats the one with the blocked jet.

Take teh jet and float chamebr off in one go...one through bolt on the carb...

you will soon sort it.

New filter just tank side of the pump is a god idea...and clean out the filter in the pump too if you can. one screw at the top of a delco one.

Jonners

[Rob B]

Blocked jet on one SU will lead to this kind of poor running.

Seperate the carbs at the linkage by undoing one clamp and try revving up on each carb on its own...one will rev and one won't...thats the one with the blocked jet.

Take teh jet and float chamebr off in one go...one through bolt on the carb...

you will soon sort it.

New filter just tank side of the pump is a god idea...and clean out the filter in the pump too if you can. one screw at the top of a delco one.

Jonners

This is a possibility as I cured the leaking jet by switching to a different float chamber and jet from a secondhand set of carbs.

However, wouldnt that be a constant problem? The poor running only seems to come once the engine gets hot and even then not every time.

[Jon Tilson]

Hmmm...the float chamber also needs to breath out of its oveflow....

Is that blocked?

Jonners

[DazasDolly]

Nice to see your old car still around Howard

All the best

Darren

[Rob B]

Hmmm...the float chamber also needs to breath out of its oveflow....

Is that blocked?

Jonners

No we stripped and cleaned it all out before fitting. Im still inclined to think its something electrical, gonna swap the condenser and dizzy cap at the weekend, just to rule them out if nothing else.