Decided to see if I could get the motor running the other day.
I installed a brand new old style rubber cased type 404 battery to give me good cranking ability, but before I started, I realised that the fuel had been in the tank since 1981 and was 29 years old so used a pump and some tubing suck all the old fuel out - about 8 litres or so, leaving the tank empty and dry.
Here is some of the fuel I sucked out - It looked and smelt just like Ronseal varnish! Grim.... Still burns pretty well though... ;)
I quick look inside the tank with a torch confirmed that one of the jobs for the near future will be to remove the tank and flush it out as there was a fair bit of bebris in there at the bottom, but I guess that's normal.
Anyway, got the trusty gerry can out and put about 10 litres of fresh fuel with additive in there so I know I had fresh fuel.
Fuel wasn't getting through to the fuel pump so I've either got a blockage in the line or there is a problem with the fuel reserve tap etc, etc. I'll investigate this at a later date once I know the motor is back to health.
I disconnected the fuel unions in the engine bay and tried to blow through to the tank without luck, so tried to pump a little fuel back through the system which highlighted a fuel leak in the flexi pipe above the gearbox, so on the basis that this will be old, perrished and in need of replacement, I cut it off where it exits the engine bay and connected it directly to the gerry can, plugging the tank end before hand. ;)
After a load of priming, fiddling and checking I knew I was getting fuel.
With my new 6V battery, the motor cranked very well indeed, but I wasn't getting a spark.
After some tinkering and testing I found that one of the insulating washers where the LT wire, condenser and dizzy body join had perrised and was causing a short.
I rebuilt and cleaned this area and managed to get a healthy spark at the plugs which was a releif.
We'd measured the resistance across the coil outputs etc and were happy that the coil was ok.
With a fresh dab of fuel and some crossed fingers, I gave it a go and managed a couple of coughs, spits and pops from the carb and exhaust, but nothing that threatened to catch on or run.
Next I checked the timing and found it was very advanced but discovered the dizzy was stuck solid. I used as much force as I dared and it wouldn't budge. Gave it some WD-40 and came back to it a while later but no joy.
At this point I was satisfied I'd got clean fuel, decent spark and good cranking - none of which I had that morning, so that's a plus, but I needed to find a way of freeing off the dizzy so I can set the timing.
I can supply...
25/36hp Crank-Flywheel shims - 3 sizes
NOS king pin thrust & fibre washers - all sizes
Cloth braided nitrile fuel hose safe for modern fuels
PM me for details...