PROGRESS!
You seem to have eliminated the "first-30-second-runs-great-then-runs-crummy" phenomenon in favor of "runs-crummy-all-the-time".
That means that whatever is failing is now failing more than before.
What did you do recently??
Soon it'll quit all together and you'll find the damn fault.
(Don't shoot me, I'm just making an observation....)
Plus......You've made it to 8 pages - Jus' saying'..................
Yeah, I was wondering what changed between last weekend and Tuesday night, and the only thing was me fiddling with the ignitor/module/whatchamacallit. Gettin' kinda suspicious of it myself.
I don't know if this will help or not, but the following is a chronological listing of what Lane has already done with related results, from Lane's posts (his quotes). Maybe it might jog people's memories or highlight something we've all missed:
9-27
I had noticed a increasing roughness over the last couple of months. Since then the car seems to run on about 3 1/2 cylinders - 3 good and one not completely out of it but not healthy. My first thought or course is clogged idle jet, but after a couple of removals and thorough cleanings I am not so sure, nor do I really want to remove them again. Could it be that the old adage or "Most carburetor problems are ignition problems" be true…… it is definitely cylinder #1, and it seems to be getting a weak or intermittent spark. It happens at all RPMs so it is unlikely that it's an idle jet.
Wires (8mm) and rotor ordered from PerTronix.
The Disti cap corrosion was only on #1 terminal and it was around the terminal, but not on the contact surface (cleaned and replaced)
10/3
When I got home from work some of the parts had arrived so I installed them. I now know somethings that the problem ISN'T. It's not:
Rotor. Nope, that didn't help either.
To recap, the car seems to be running on 3 1/2 cylinders. Pulling the #1 plug wire has only a minimal effect on idle while pulling any other one damn near kills it. The car starts well enough and the misfire seems to be very consistent.
Carbs were synched and in tune before I felt the need to clean them due to running slightly rougher than they had been. I had them off to clean and I also pulled them so that I could remove the shroud and correct a rattle. Somewhere in there I changed the situation, but I am not sure where. At one point I removed the #1 plug wire to move it out of the way, and that makes me suspicious. I could have messed it up somehow.
I removed, disassembled, and cleaned out the carb for #1 and #2, and there was no change.
10/7
(After installing new plug wires)
It started up and sounded like all 4 cylinders were firing, but the deteriorated quickly. The symptoms are different, however. There were times when all four were firing, but it was intermittent, and seemingly only at higher RPMs. That sounds a bit like idle jets, but it isn't consistent. I have gotten the carbs as clean internally as I know how to do and really don't want to screw with them again.
Danny P. asked “what is your battery voltage at idle? Fuel pump pressure?”
10/8
To recap, I have replaced the following:
I have swapped the plugs from #1 and #2 and the problem appeared to stay at #1. I have also cleaned the air filters (they needed it).
After replacing the plug wires the problem appeared to go away for the first few seconds after I started the car. When it returned, it was less consistent, going away occasionally, usually when at higher RPM. I am becoming suspicious of the distributor itself. The coil is the Pertronix doohickey that matches the distributor.
10/9
Installed a new set of plugs, gapped at .028”
“Why does it start fine and sound good at first, deteriorating quickly over time?”
I have no way to check fuel pressure. I don't suspect this as the issue as the car will rev, but won't idle. The filters date from April.
10/10
There no longer appears to be a single offending cylinder, which is confusing. The problem now seems to happen after a few seconds of clean running.
I am still leaning toward ignition, but a collapsed line or filter (internally as both are relatively new metal ones) sounds plausible.
10/11
Installed a new coil – “Well the new coil didn't improve anything.”
I decided to check the carbs again and listened to the driver side one. There is a distinct "chuffing" sound from one cylinder so I removed, disassembled, and cleaned it again, with no effect.
(The fault) was specific to one cylinder (#1) for a while, but that has now changed. I am probably chasing at least two problems, at least one of which I probably caused when I removed some stuff to fix a rattle in the shroud.
The chuffing is on the #3-4 side. New base gasket. I suppose the manifold itself could be a little loose.
New carb base gaskets as of Wednesday. However, the manifold base gaskets are a whopping one year old and much harder to get to, so that's probably it.
10/12
As expected the valves are fine (and he replaced both head-to-manifold gaskets).
I believe what happened is that this was building for a while but I probably did mess up the spark plug wire on #1 when I was fixing the rattle in the shroud.
10/20
Replaced head-to-manifold gaskets (from Stan).
It will now idle and you can drive it below about 50 MPH, but the chuffing is still there and it still runs like s**t most of the time. It is possible that I broke the gasket on the 3/4 side installing it, so I am going to order some more and try again...
10/21
Valve clearance is perfect. I felt the gasket on the bad side give as I was putting it on, hence my concern about breaking it. If it's broken in the middle (my suspicion), the spray test won't show anything.
I whipped them off (carbs and manifolds) (I'm getting pretty good at it) only to discover that the existing gasket, although broken outside of one of the studs, was otherwise ok. It's unlikely that is the problem.
10/26/14
Neither borrowed compression tester would work so I went and bought one. I have a nice even 110 all around.
I put everything back together including a new manifold-to-head gasket and now the chuffing is gone. It started quickly and idled well. I revved it to 2000 RPM for about 30 seconds and it seemed smooth.
Turned it off and let it sit for 5 minutes.
went to take a test drive. Immediately off idle under load I could tell the problem was still there. I drove a few blocks with it running roughly to warm it up and could see that there was little if any improvement although it seems to idle just fine.
10/27
To recap:
Firing order is correct. All electrical parts in the ignition have been replaced except the ignitor module itself. Plugs gapped and all are firing. I have a simple T connection to the fuel line, after which it travels to each carb separately. Both carbs have been apart multiple times and all accessible passages blown out with compressed air. Fuel screens in carbs cleaned. New idle jets installed. Both fuel filters (metal type) replaced prior to Carlisle. New gas in the tank.
Anybody see anything significant in the fact that everything appears ok until I first apply a load to the engine as in backing out of the garage? May just be a coincidence.
10/8
I removed the module inside the distributor and found no corrosion, cleaned and replaced.
I started the car after buttoning it back up and it ran the same as it did when I turned it off on Sunday - poorly.
10/28
Danny P. is sending a Bosch 009 with installed Pertronics module to Lane to install and test. Lane will need to figure out how to get a coil to work with this Disti – His existing coil is made for his Pertronics disti and plugs may be different.
10/29
Justin doubts the new disti will solve things, Danny P. suspects fuel pressure. Lane (as yet) has no way to measure fuel pressure.
I keep telling Lane he should buy an MGB.
Somebody double check my math..... A car that gets 30mpg at 60 mph consumes 2gal. per hour. In 1/4 hour it consumes 1/2gal. In 7.5 minutes, 1 quart, 3.5 min.=1 pint.... 1.25min=2cups..... .47sec=1cup..... 23sec.=1/2 cup.... 11sec.=1/4cup....
Your fuel pump should deliver around 3.5 gal. per hour or better.....
Disconnect the pump, discharge it into a container, run the pump for 10 or 15 sec. and verify the volume.... This is how I found the plugged filter on the Aztec Attack....
Something to do till the cows come home....
the ignition module has a single rivet that secures in to the mounting base plate in the distributor I have seen them work loose just enough to cause the module to be able to rock changing the air gap
Hmmm... I could disconnect the line at the T and do it there, I suppose. That would include the line from the pump all the way back to the engine.
I am going to go up in the attic and see if I can find the old ignition system (inc. coil) when I get home, but I doubt it. I believe that Danny's care package will include a coil and wires as the Pertronix stuff won't work with the original-style distributor. The plugs are the same type that came with the car (NGK D6EA), so they are fine.
Someone please confirm (or correct) timing specs of 28 degrees BTDC at 3000 RPM.
yes 28 degrees at 3000 rpm
Just curious, what type (model) distributor are you running? Didn't see it in the recap.
Somebody double check my math..... A car that gets 30mpg at 60 mph consumes 2gal. per hour. In 1/4 hour it consumes 1/2gal. In 7.5 minutes, 1 quart, 3.5 min.=1 pint.... 1.25min=2cups..... .47sec=1cup..... 23sec.=1/2 cup.... 11sec.=1/4cup....
Your fuel pump should deliver around 3.5 gal. per hour or better.....
Disconnect the pump, discharge it into a container, run the pump for 10 or 15 sec. and verify the volume.... This is how I found the plugged filter on the Aztec Attack....
Something to do till the cows come home....
The amount of fuel used while running is not the same as how much the fuel pump can deliver. And yes, you shanked the kick on the math, 2 gal/hr is 0.07 oz/sec. You'd need 28 seconds to fill a 1/4 cup at that rate. 16 seconds to fill 1/4 cup at 3.5 gal/hr. I don't know what flow rate he should be getting out of his pump, but I agree it would be bad if it wasn't more than this.
When you had the plugs out, did they all look normal? What color: ashy white, tan/brown, black and sooty, or wet? Was any one significantly different looking from the rest?
Gordon---amazing recap--I'd almost be scared away from Speedster ownership after seeing all this lenghty chronology of suggestions---and from a group of guys who really have expert knowledge about these engines.
about all that is left with troubleshooting is to suggest changing the air in the tires, but I'm thinking that those six old McDonalds french fries up under the drivers seat plays some role in this imbroglio!
Seriously Lane, we are all rooting for you to get this behind you ---maybe copy Pat Downs on this thread for his input? Good luck, man.
Hmmm... I could disconnect the line at the T and do it there, I suppose. That would include the line from the pump all the way back to the engine.
I am going to go up in the attic and see if I can find the old ignition system (inc. coil) when I get home, but I doubt it. I believe that Danny's care package will include a coil and wires as the Pertronix stuff won't work with the original-style distributor. The plugs are the same type that came with the car (NGK D6EA), so they are fine.
Someone please confirm (or correct) timing specs of 28 degrees BTDC at 3000 RPM.
If you start to pump the gas into an external container...
Step one:
Locate and secure fire extinguisher. Keep near by at all times.
Better safe than sorry.
I got home this evening and something told me to fire it up. Everything seemed as it was Tuesday, but I spent some time doing a listen test. It was clear to me that the rough running side was the 1-2 one (passenger). That reminded me of the period of time when removing the #1 spark plug wire didn't affect how the car ran. Guess what...? It's baaaaack! More and more pointing to ignition. I suppose it could be no fuel reaching that cylinder, thus causing the lack of change when spark is removed. It'd be nice if the symptoms stayed the same long enough to fix the damn thing.
Mike Talbot: I have a Pertronix FlameThrower II Billet Plug-n-Play distributor.
Justinh: The old plugs all looked the same, a little black and sooty, but not bad. That means it's a bit rich, right? The new plugs already look that way after only a few minutes and a few miles of driving.
I scrubbed the reply I just posted when I discovered the flaw in my logic.
How often in life I've wished there were a delete key like the one on this forum.
Quite right, Troy.
I hate when science gets in the way of a simple, elegant solution.
Wait for Danny's set-up.
"Ready, aim, fire" beats "ready, fire, aim" every single time. When I am really lost in a problem, I find it beneficial to eliminate entire systems as the possible source to keep me from jumping from one possibility to the next, without following a logical path to lead me to a conclusion.
Any problem with an internal combustion engine is either fuel, ignition, or mechanical.
"Fuel" problems are the hardest to pinpoint, because there are a LOT of possibilities. Dirty fuel, collapsing lines, erratic fuel pressure, water in the float bowels, idle jets, degrading carburetor seals, incorrect float levels, bad needle and seat, etc.-- all of these are possibilities. Even the intake gasket is really a fuel issue. Because you've spent a goodly amount of time looking at this, and because there is so much else to potentially go wrong, I'd eliminate the other possibilities before I concluded that fuel was the place to navel-gaze any further.
It's a good idea to eliminate "mechanical" (the the extent possible) first. You haven't totally eliminated "mechanical" as a possibility unless you tear the engine down, but your compression test should put your mind at ease here. I'm assuming you haven't found any nasty/suspicious shavings in your oil, and since the compression looks adequate, so I wouldn't worry too much more about this possibility. Regardless, you'll want to eliminate the other two before you drop your engine and crate it up for Pat Downs to crack it open and look around.
Getting an entire ignition system (which is known to be working well) should provide you the possibility of confirming or eliminating this system as the source of the issue as well. It's much easier to do with the simple system most of us are running in our Type 1s-- just keep one spare (you know works) of everything, and swap stuff out one part at a time. If you get to the end, and the problem is still there-- you know it's not spark.
My money is still on spark. Every time I've chased my tail, it's been spark. Spark will make you look like a monkey.
I'd wish you good luck, but it's way too late for that. I wish you well.
Justinh: The old plugs all looked the same, a little black and sooty, but not bad. That means it's a bit rich, right? The new plugs already look that way after only a few minutes and a few miles of driving.
Possibly. I was hoping one plug would be different to confirm it really was isolated to one cylinder. I hate to keep throwing parts at it so you might wait until after the distributor swap, but if you go to a hotter plug like an NGK D5EA, if it doesn't fix it, it might help with the poor running enough to isolate any other causes like fuel mix. Hotter plugs help with startup, idle, everyday driving. Colder plugs are to prevent knock at higher rpm and generally needed as hp goes up (I'd say an NGK 6 would be used once in the 120-150hp range, maybe 7 as you near 200.) or on turbo engines.
You also said the carbs were synced before all this happened. Have they been resynced since you rebuilt them?
And just to go back to basics, is the ground strap on the trans to chassis and battery to chassis good?
Didn't rebuild 'em. Just cleaned 'em. Have not yet done a full adjustment, but airflow is matched on all four throats.
Stan - I'm leaning toward spark as well, but the periodic changing of the symptoms has vexed me. If we assume that mechanical is eliminated, I should be able to eliminate spark rather quickly. If the problem isn't in there, it's in the @!#@$!^!*#^#%!#!%#&#$&*@%!$ webers (they don't deserve capitalization) or possibly collapsing fuel line or failing pump. I guess we'll see soon enough.
"@!#@$!^!*#^#%!#!%#&#$&*@%!$"
That's what people always say about oil-damped SU carbs, too.
Lane loves his Webers 
Just like he loves this: 
Having had both SUs and Webers, I'll take the product of the Skinners Union, please. Easy to set up and keep tuned as long as you have eliminated vacuum leaks. Once rebuilt and set they will go years without maintenance, unlike certain Spanish reproductions of Italian carbs that I could name.
I wonder if anyone ever created manifold to do a quad SU setup on a flat four engine. Heck, you could probably get by with one HS6 on each side.
Sometimes watching your motor run in the dark will reveal sparks in places where they shouldn't be. Also check the spark plug boots for good connections to the plugs---and be sure they are screwed into the wires firmly. Ask me how I know.
Had SU's on a Healy, Volvo, and MGBGT and never had a lick of trouble with any of them. I always used Mystery Oil in them and the slides stayed smooth and free.
Hey Al,
Had SU's on my Healy 3000, and they were trouble free
The Lucas 'electrics' sucked...but the carbs were a charm.
Carl,
Do you still have your 3000? That's one on my bucket list, (if money grew on trees).
Art
Kathy and I had a Healey 3000 BN7 for a while, too. Once I rebuilt the SU's they never needed to be touched. Now, everything else on the car didn't fare quite so well, but once I re-bearing'd the engine (and did a bunch of other stuff) it had one of the sweetest cruising exhaust notes ever!
But only two fuses for the entire car?? LUCAS! 
Last I heard, it is cruising the beach roads near Ft. Lauderdale.
The really cool thing about these old-school cars is that we don't really own the engine problems - the wonky carbs, the dodgy electrics, the sticky valves.
We're only caretakers. When we've had our fun, all of those problems get passed on to aggravate the crap out of future generations.
But only two fuses for the entire car?? LUCAS!
Last I heard, it is cruising the beach roads near Ft. Lauderdale.
Do you know why the British like warm beer?
>
>
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Lucas fridges
Lucas, "prince of darkness."
Once a new fuse block was fitted to my last MG ('65 Midget) I never had another electrical problem. I think that took place about 4 years into a 10 year ownership. Keep the connections tight and free of corrosion and even Lucas stuff works.
Still waiting for the CARE package from Danny to arrive. Fingers crossed that it will tell me something definitive.
Off topic but I can't resist. I trolled around a local British only "recycle" / rebuild facility yesterday just looking for some older Roadster type seats that might fit my rebuild. Saw a couple of engines sitting on the floor and asked the owner if they are from a Bug eyed Sprite. Exactly, he said..how'd you know ? I replied that we wrecked a few and rebuilt them back in the '60's. Can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday tho' ...Hmmm.
LUCAS.... factory packed time release smoke built into each and every wiring harness built
Had a couple of MGB s. Oddly one of the few cars I have had much luck working on myself. Of course I did each job twice to get it figured out
That smoke-replacement kit is a very hard to find item.
LUCAS.... factory packed time release smoke built into each and every wiring harness built
My brother, while helping me to tear apart the dash on my wife's '88 Cabriolet to remove the welded off headlight switch, casually remarked that VW must be buying parts from Lucas. Well when we got it out and I could see the reason for the smoke the night before, the real laugh came when Steve noticed the Lucas stamp on the back!
The one thing I really enjoyed about working on the MG was that I never had to do a job twice. Once a thing was fixed, it stayed fixed. I may have cursed while doing a job, but I didn't have to do it a second time. Maybe parts quality was better back in the 90s.
I never had any electrical problems with my string of LBCs (little British cars). From a Bugeye, to an MGTD, to two MGBs, to a TR6 (what a sad car that was), I enjoyed them all with no Lucas related problems.
The only smoke came from my pipe as I drove around in my tweed jacket and cap...Tally Ho!
I love 'reminiscing thread drifts'
And speaking of appropriate Harris Tweed jackets...
In my youth I had an unreasonable lust for an iconic horse shoe radiator Morgan that tooled around town...and once used every ounce of persuasive charm I could muster to negotiate the asking price of a skinny tire RHD British racing green MGTC to fit my pocket book!!!
