Poorly car

[GJUK]

Looking for a bit of advice please on my mk1 escort running a 2litre pinto with twin 45's.

 

Last year I had a bit of trouble setting up the car, it's using the ignition from a sierra and after a lot of hassle got it wired up, starting and running well enough to enjoy. The plan was this year to get it set up properly on a rolling road.

 

The cars, from a 'cosworth race car' have jets in of an unknown size and have not been rebuild in my care.I bought them 4 years ago.

 

The engine had a top end rebuild and skim to raise CR.

 

Prior to yesterdays unfortunate break down (which blocked a roudabout or two in Nottingham) at 4:45pm (oops) the car ran well as mentioned.

 

Yesterday for some reason it decided to stall freqently, take forever to start when stalled and run like it was only on 3 cylinders.

 

Checks done:

 

HT leads all in order

no changes since it last went out in August or so of last year (same fuel however)

carbs nipped up so I can not see any air leaks, though I suspect there could be one?

fuel's getting to the carbs.

spark appears 'okay'.

 

The car runs well from 3k+ but put your foot down during the low revs when it does just about run and it will cut out.

 

I'm thinking of whipping the carbs of and stripping them down. Also changing the jets to something more 'sensible', I can only assume they ones in there are of epic size, not suited to my 'medium road' engine

 

Also, air leaks, does this sound like a reason for this kind of poor running? There was quite a bit of fuel around the link of the manifold and one of the carbs...

 

Love old cars!

 

Thanks

 

J

[rallyesport04]

are the plugs wet also get some fresh petrol in there she wont run very well on stale fuel

[GJUK]

Do you think the car being parked up for ~6 months would cause such running issues? I mean it was fine when I left it over winter...

 

Curious.

 

Do you think rebuilding the carbs could be worthwhile?

 

Thanks

 

J

[turnover]

Floats might be sticking

[w p e]

the fuel we get now only has a 3 month life span so you might have blocked jets. put a pic up of the rotor arm

[turnover]

Wayne will but you on the right track,as that's his thing

[GJUK]

Thanks guys. Very grateful

 

Pictures to follow

 

Thanks

[GJUK]

Here we go:

 

 

 

 

These photos were prior to cleaning it, though it is a new part! seems there was a bit of build up on the contacts.

 

Started okay, quicker than normal. Seems to run better now though I've not taken it out on the road yet!!!

 

I've noticed my cam is moving quite a bit back and forth though. :-/

 

http://dendroworld.co.uk/running/cam.mp4

 

Think I might check that the retaining 'C' has not undone itself...

 

Thanks,

 

Jon

[GJUK]

Yeah, erm. That thrust plate is not there any more.

 

I'll order a new one , hope I can fit it without removing the cambelt?

 

Thanks

 

Jon

[rallyesport04]

Yeah, erm. That thrust plate is not there any more.

 

I'll order a new one , hope I can fit it without removing the cambelt?

 

Thanks

 

Jon

 

oh dear might pay to just re check the timing should be ok but for peace of mind sake when i park my cars up for rebuild or just for winter i always almost run it out of fuel an when i want to get it back out i stick 5 litres of optimax in from a fuel can then take it to the local petrol station for a fill up never had an issue yet as wpe said fuel nowadays is crap even when fresh letalone when its stale

[w p e]

the thrush plates at the back of the head so weres it gone? it can't go anywere except sit in the head and weres the 2 m6 bolts that hold it. oh and the main fault you have is that rotor arm best tec had a bad batch of them. check the rivot at the back contact or see if you can lift the contact with yer finger nails i have around 6 or more faulty rotors the same as that

[Col-ashtonmobile]

as above ditch the rotor , lost count the number of them i,ve binned......

[GJUK]

Thanks again, I've checked and it is at fault. I'll get another

 

Also, re the cam movement.

 

This is the part that I appear to not have installed/is no longer present.

 

 

This sits directly behind the vernier pulley does it not?

 

Thanks.

 

Jon

[BIG G]

Nope sits at the back end of the cam nearest the bulk head pal

[GJUK]

Right, a little update on this one. Big post...

 

the thrush plates at the back of the head so weres it gone? it can't go anywere except sit in the head and weres the 2 m6 bolts that hold it.

 

Took the cam cover off today which was fun, really tight and had to take the cam belt off to free the front cam pully because the engine sits so very close to the bulkhead. After an hour or so I got that off.

 

The thrust plate was installed but instead of being in place it was sat in the back of the head! with only 1 bolt and washer in it. My only guess is the other bolt has ****ed off down the 2cm wide oil drain towards the back of the head in to the sump :-/.

 

The cam cover had a nice 'C' shaped machine type groove in it where the cam had been rubbing on it

 

So new Thrust plate in *nice and tight this time*. I can only hope that the bolt settles somewhere in the sump, try and fish it out with a magnet during the next oil change, the oil way is clear however so it must have dropped right to the bottom during the last few hundred miles the car has done.

 

So that's one problem sorted.

 

I'm waiting for Bestek to send me another rotor arm, the guys really helpful but I've had nothing yet. I have noticed also with the rotor arm that there is10 degrees or so of movement when it is installed, I would have thought these are normally very tight and do not move at all? The best way I can describe this is like something that does not fit very snug, the male slot does not quite fully fit the female slot in the dizzy base where the rotor arm goes, i hope that makes sense? I had thought that if this can move on it's own, the ignition timing is going to be in out and shake it all about within the 10 degrees or so it can move. Thoughts on this?

 

thanks

 

Jon

[w p e]

just go get a roter [ bosch] from a local car shop pinto or xflow will do the missing bolts should stay down there glue a magnet on the sump plug

and by the time you do your oil change the bolt should be on the bolts

[RossMK2]

I can agree with the rotor arm

 

Had the issue once it was swapped problem was solved.

[GJUK]

thanks guys.

very helpful as always

 

Jon