RUK - Project Recommission 1972 'Dolomite' Auto

[yorkshire_spam]

When i repaired my rear doors, two new door bottoms and one lower door skin repair, i also drilled extra drain holes in the doors, also drilled the drivers door bottom

Dave

I'll definitely look for spots to add drain holes BEFORE I paint and rust-proof the repaired door - it's a good idea thanks Dave.

[yorkshire_spam]

Another step forward for this year's planned events for the Dolomite - MOT passed!

[yorkshire_spam]

Is it a case of "Pride cometh before a fall" or "Practice makes perfect" ?
Had an issue with the rear carb over-flowing and getting the carbs off the manifold is virtually impossible on the car... so I took the inlet manifold off carbs and all.
New needle valves and gaskets in the carbs... see if that sorts it. BUT my big fear was refitting the manifold, in the past I've had a devil of a job getting the ports to all seal and the transfer pipe under the stat housing... this time, no leaks first attempt!
(I actually think it's because I used NOS gaskets that aren't 4x too thick like the new gaskets are!)

[yorkshire_spam]

Pride indeed cometh before a fall, start of the event today and water peeing out of the bottom of the rear inlet manifold flange. Tightened it as much as I dare and keep topping the water up has kept us rolling today, hope we can complete the event tomorrow and make it home on Monday.
Then it's manifold back off, fresh gasket and sealer and try again!

[yorkshire_spam]

Well I sorted the water leak out and then had some issues with warmer (not over heating) running. Swapping the stat sorted that out, back to normal and stable running temp.

BUT on the way back from the 10CR drivers meeting on Tuesday night we got a nasty intermittent misfire. After about an hour/45 mins on the motorway doing a steady 70mph around the Sheffield mark on the M1 it began with a very intermittent stutter. As we ploughed further north it got worse and worse. The tacho "flicking" each time it happened. Just south of Barnsley we were down to around 55mph and the misfire getting worse and worse so we turned off the M1 and headed home on the A roads to play it safe.
At lower speed/RPM the problem vanished, not sure if it's RPM or temp related though. I haven't been able to reproduce the issue, so at the weekend I'll hammer the car up and down the M62.

My thoughts are:

• Coil starting to fail at higher ambient (under bonnet) temps on long motorway running.
• Tacho starting to fail (it's a series tacho)

Other options seem lower probability but I'm not ruling them out.
Timing sucks as we depart on the 10CR on Sunday afternoon.

[Carledo]

If it's making the Tacho kick and flicker, i'd go a dollar to a doughnut its either the coil or the tacho itself.

But i'd try the coil first as it's more prone to ambient induced overheating.

If your car still has the coil mounted on the inlet manifold as some early 1850s did, try relocating it to the Sprint placement on the bulkhead. It's not MUCH cooler there but every little helps as they say!

Steve

[soe8m]

With a series tacho you mean a RVI? If so that one only senses the coil postive (half ac).

Then it's the coil or the feed to the coil. Another thing I once had at a customers car was the bypass wire from the starter was not attatched and sometimes shorted to ground on the starter housing. That causes a misfire also and a constant current trough the coil feed making the revcounter stop also.

Jeroen

[yorkshire_spam]

If it's making the Tacho kick and flicker, i'd go a dollar to a doughnut its either the coil or the tacho itself.

But i'd try the coil first as it's more prone to ambient induced overheating.

If your car still has the coil mounted on the inlet manifold as some early 1850s did, try relocating it to the Sprint placement on the bulkhead. It's not MUCH cooler there but every little helps as they say!

Steve

Thanks Steve, James moved the coil to the bulkhead. I've made up a wire to bypass the tacho if needed and tested a spare coil on the car. I also found a poorly crimped connector on the low tension side of the coil - which I've replaced.
On Sunday I'm going to thrash it up and down the M62 to see if I can reproduce the problem.

With a series tacho you mean a RVI? If so that one only senses the coil postive (half ac).

Then it's the coil or the feed to the coil. Another thing I once had at a customers car was the bypass wire from the starter was not attatched and sometimes shorted to ground on the starter housing. That causes a misfire also and a constant current trough the coil feed making the revcounter stop also.

Jeroen

Thanks Jeroen, all the wiring around the coil/balast/tacho seems intact and health, I've checked voltage at cranking vs voltage running etc.

Re-reading my previous post, it reads like we are setting off on the 10CR this Sunday - we aren't, it's a week on Sunday!

[yorkshire_spam]

Sunday : Halifax to Newcastle (UK)
Monday : IJmuiden (NL) to Sedan (FR) via Belgium, Luxembourg.
Tuesday : Sedan (FR) to Altendorf (CH) via Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany.
Wednesday : Altendorf (CH) to Bruneck (IT) via Lichtenstein, Austria.

We made it to Italy... Still a lot of kilometers to go before we get home.

[dollyman]

Well done Sam

Tony.

[soe8m]

Did you meet the roofbox Dolly already?

Jeroen

[yorkshire_spam]

Did you meet the roofbox Dolly already?

Jeroen

We did see the roofbox Dolly a couple of time.

I'm afraid our run didn't end well - failed gearbox on a mountain pass yesterday. Lost faith in the recovery company and repatriated our selves today.

Home and safe, but Binny's fate unknown.

[dollyman]

Thats a sad end Sam after all the work you put in

Tony.

[yorkshire_spam]

Thats a sad end Sam after all the work you put in

Tony.

I guess it's the risks of taking 49 year old cars up some "very challenging" roads on long distance runs.
"Gutted" would be something of an understatement.

[new to this]

Sam

Sorry to here about your brake down, Hope its not to bad