I get it!

Darn return key!

It may have only been to the end of the road and back, and it seems I am only running on two cylinders, but I had the biggest grin on my face as I drove MY car!

I still have a few bugs to work out, but I don't care!

Not sure why it seems I am only firing on cyls. #3 and #4. Engine idles fine, but when I open the throttle on the RHS carb (I'm unsing 34ICT's) I just get a load of blow back out the top of the carb throat. If I keep trying then I get a backfire, so there is fuel coming out of the jets.

I have tried disconnecting the leads to see if this has any effect. When I pull either #3 or #4 then the engine slows down as one would expect. But when I pull either #1 or #2 then there is no effect. Both plugs are getting a spark.

I set the distributor with a induction gun and am at 30 degrees BTDC at 3000rpm.

I don't understand why I would only seem to be firing on one bank when the other bank is getting fuel, has a spark and is timed OK.

Any ideas?

Jim.

Maybe misplaced spark plug wires? Firing order is 1,4,3,2.

Yup, Just what I thought, too.

But then, you're from Scotland or something, right? You didn't use Lucas plug wires, did you?

No. Just rechecked and the leads go to the plugs in the right order.

When I manually open just the carb on the right there is absolutely no change in the speed of the engine.

Still looking...

Jim

And they're not Lucas leads and plugs!

I got Bosch! (Employee discount is a wonderful thing)

hmmmmmm........distributor's in 180 degrees out of phase? (that's pretty common)

Just for the hell of it, try exchanging the plug wires on #'s 1 and 2 (I know, it doesn't make any sense, but try it anyway and let me know what happens).

When looking down on a properly installed distributor (hereinafter called "disti"), #1 wire is at 1 o'clock, 2 is at 5 o'clock, 3 at 7 o'clock and 4 at 10 o'clock.

Cylinders: 1 and 3 are forward (toward the cockpit) whilst 2 and 4 are aft.

In order to see if the disti's in backwards, you have to watch #1 intake valve open, then close......#1 TDC should be when the pulley TDC notch comes to the top AFTER the #1 intake valve closes.

I was always told "if it has spark, and it's getting gas, and it doesn't run, it's out of time".
You've seemingly got all three, but it's coughing up through the carb (on only one side? hmmmm..) so I still say it's out of time.
Either the disti's in ass-backwards or the wires are crossed somewhere (and didn't we cover this in an earlier post with someone else??). If it IS in backwards, you have to pull the disti, then pull out the drive with a strong magnet or clip-ring pliers (it will turn about 1/4 turn while coming out), don't lose the spring in the center or the shim(s) on the bottom!!)
Then see how it fits to the disti drive and figure out what attitude it should be at to line up right (- that quarter turn) and, using needle-nose pliers, simply slip it back down in there with 1/4 turn to bottom.

gn - going back to lawn mowing........

Think I found out what it was.

Rechecked all the valves and found those on the RHS were v. tight. They were almost to the point that it was as if they weren't ever fully closing.

Reset everything to 0.006" and fired it up. Now everything seems to run good on cyl.s #1 and #2.

On with the sychronising and fine tuning...

Thanks for the tips and advice.

Bugger the lawn, I'm going to have a short drive!

Jim.

Jeez, I like lawn mowing time. I crack a beer while SHE mows.

BD

Just what I was going to suggest. Check the valves. Good to hear it's running. Do you know how to synce the carbs?

Hey Bill, same here. Jos

Jim ,
If the valves were that tight I would take a few minutes to pull the push rods and roll them on a piece of glass checking for straightness.

Now I see why I gravitated toward Electronics and away from Mechanical Engineering.....

Alan,

I will check the push rods this week - thanks for the tip.

I have a synchroniser on order from CIP1. That's the next job. At the moment they are just about equal to each other to make it fun.

Can you believe that I could find nowhere in the greater Detroit area (a.k.a. Motor City) that sells a synchroniser!

Ben,

It's everything I thought it would be and more!

Cheers,

Jim.

Jim,
Hard to get the permagrin off isn't it? A lot more than I expected as well. I took mine up to my folks this weekend and got got all the kinks worked out. (Not necessarily by choice). It is running perfect! I think I finnally got all the junk out of the carbs and idle jets. Wow! What a difference!

There are lots of curvy roads, next to a river where I went and it handled like a dream, except for an allignment. Once I get the front end worked out all I will need is a little cosmetic work.