Rolling Project - 1980 1500 HL Auto
Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2012 10:09 pm
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
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
