The resurrection of KSF404T - 1978 Sprint

[triple tango]

on the road at last!

After a days delay due to leaking clutch cylinders. I still maintain the easiest way to change & bleed Dolly clutch hydraulics is to assemble & bleed the system on the workbench & fit as a complete assembly. You can just about reach the top of the gearbox through the engine bay & fit the cylinder as a unit complete with attached bracket.

[Purplebargeken]

That is a good idea Roy. So what does the car go like?

A happy Howard methinks!

Well done

Ken

[Howard81]

WOO HOO!!!



Fantastic to see her back on the road, great work indeed

[Howard81]

Ticket bought, sandwiches made, bag packed... fingers crossed for tomorrow

[Purplebargeken]

Cool! We expect a full report asap!

[triple tango]

Ticket bought, sandwiches made, bag packed... fingers crossed for tomorrow

Cucumber with the crusts cut off I hope.

[Purplebargeken]

Well folks. All done and dusted? How was it Howard?

[triple tango]

I picked Howard up from Kings Lynn station in my Sprint, at my house there was a tearfull reuniun with his car. We then drove to the BMC /BL show at Peterborough which was an excelent day out. The only problem being some crud in his fuel tank causing fuel starvation over 4500 rpm. I left about 5:30 , so Howard should be nearing London soon.

[Howard81]

I have to say, the tears were from Roy, tears of joy as he was so happy to see shot of it... Thanks, Roy, you've done a great job with the engine! I promise to try not to break KSF again

Roy's sprint is absolutely stunning, it was great fun on the twisty roads to Peterborough trying to keep up with it

There is a slight running problem with it though, the rev counter jumps around like crazy when you accelerate (it can fluctuate up to 2000 RPM more than the actual RPM), and the acceleration is somewhat lumpy.

There WAS initially a fuel flow problem, but I blew through the fuel lines at the Eastern Dolly Day and it ran a lot better after that, no more haltering when trying to accelerate. Just lumpy acceleration.

However, at a constant cruising speed, the rev counter sits still and the car runs perfectly. If it was simply a fuel line block, the front carb would usually run out of fuel and the car would refuse to accelerate and slow down, but not in this case (it was beforehand though). The acceleration is there, the speed is there, it's just lumpy - not nice and smooth! I've tried a different rev counter, but it's exactly the same. The only other thing that has changed was the addition of the Luminiton Magnitronic ignition.

All I can think of is that the new Lucas DB105 sports coil is faulty, any ideas? Roy has wired it up properly, so I know it's not that.

Fuel tank is coming out (again) for a clean tomorrow!

[Howard81]

I spent ALL day today trying to find out why I had the misfire on acceleration.

I swapped the fuel tank over with my 1500HL and renewed all of the rubber fuel lines with new 8mm ones. I even put the old coil back on, with no luck. I swapped the whole dashboard from my 1500HL into KSF, and vice-versa, but the problem stayed with the car. Also checked the Lumenition Magnetronic module in the distributor, everything nice and tight.

Poor Roy also got about 1,000,000 phone calls from me today, as I was a bit on edge worrying if I had broken it again

I then gave up and went inside.

After watching Top Gear, (and wondering how I was going to break the sad news to Ken that I wouldn't be coming to the London to Brighton run on Saturday ) I then decided to have one last look at it, becuase the only thing that could cause the rev counter to act randomly would be the coil or the Lumenition setup. On closer investigation the module inside the distributor was slightly loose... so I took it out to have a closer look. There is a screw that holds the module to the base plate, this screw was about 0.5mm too long... so even though it was tight, the module was free to move! I filed the end off the screw, put the module back in, and KSF now drives beautifully

[triple tango]

phew
Now you have to find a new way of breaking it.

[Howard81]

I never break it, it breaks itself

[Howard81]

I just completed a round trip to Bath in the Sprint, which was pretty uneventful and a real pleasure to drive

The revs are still reluctant to go back down (when the car is cold, it idles at 800rpm, when hot, it idles at 1,500 RPM). I'll get a pair of the club's excellent aluminium carb mounts as mine as a little perished, and Roy recommended replacing the carb discs with solid ones.

However, the windscreen washers seem to have packed up, and the rear shocks started making a creaking noise but at least they should be easy to do

[triple tango]

tickover will never be good with those leaking carb rubbers & throttle discs with silly over run valves.

I can't understand how the failing washer pump has made your rear shocks creak

[matienzo]

RE: Long screws! Ahhh I am not the only one this has happened to then! I had exactly the same problem with a points set screw. I'd got a whole load of service items from Rimmers and replaced the set screw as it was rounding off. Imagine my annoyance when after the service a misfire began which got even worse on acceleration. I spent ages checking and re-checking for loose and faulty parts after a misfire developed. After pulling my hair out I checked the set screw (you'd never, ever suspect a set screw now would you) and behold....twas slightly longer than the old one and was touching the lower plate and stopping the vacuum advance working.
Definitely worth keeping this little tip in circulation!