Thread: What have I done! IIa sitting out front.

Well not much to report over the last few weeks, Bill has being doing the runs to the garden centre and general whatnot.
Running really well, but but a bit of a pop on overrun so I suspected I could probably do with a couple more degrees of advance on the dizzy.

So this weekend I decided to tune it a bit more. I'm pretty happy tuning by ear but being a bit OCD (engineering background) I was never convinced about the idle speed it was set at.
So I toddled off to Repco and bought a cheap digital tacho to run off the coil. Then rather than tune by ear I thought I'd use the vacuum gauge to set the idle mixture.
Bill was nice and warm now thanks to the shopping trip, so I rigged up the tacho to sit on the air filter box and plugged the vacuum gauge into the port for the brake servo.
Vacuum was 20Hg with a nice steady needle and idle at bit high at 600. Apparently 18-20 is a good number.
Dialling the fuel out a bit more gave 21Hg and an idle of 650rpm, so I reduced the idle down to 500. Vacuum stayed at 21Hg. Couple of snaps of the throttle all good.
Had to leave it at this point yesterday.

Got up this morning and started Bill up, idle was steady but sounded low. Gave it a few mins to warm up on a light throttle, then headed of for a drive round the block.
What a dog! It was stuttering under load and hesitant/kangarooing after slow corners.
Drove back to house and check the engine temp block was 71deg so warm enough. Plugged the tacho and vacuum gauge back in ad Hg was still steady at 21 but the idle was at 430rpm.
Now I'm not sure what difference ambient temp makes when tuning but yesterday it was 34deg and this morning it was 13.
Anyway reset the idle to 550 (500 seemed a bit low and the wings were vibrating heaps), and went for another drive. Totally different car! Instant response to throttle, etc.
Then decided to set the timing via the vacuum gauge, started at 6-7deg, highest Hg reading was at ~10degBTDC, backed off 1Hg (as setting to the highest vacuum reading will throw your advance out at higher rpm and leading to pinking). Its now running at about 8deg.
Another drive, even better low speed throttle response (maybe not pulling so hard it the middle revs, but that might be my imagination) and no pinking under load up a steep hill.
I'm sold on the cheap tacho/vacuum gauge method of tuning, as it give you a empirical set of numbers to go off, and I do think I've got a more responsive tune than I had going by ear and certainly over the book settings.

It'll be interesting to see how he drives on the next cold start, I may have to reconnect the choke to the dash.
And I may set the idle speed to around 600 as it just seems smoother at that point - anyone know whether 8:1 compression engine have a different idle to 7:1?

And finally, just cause everyone loves piccys - heres a couple of Bill out in the sun

Well I haven't restarted Bill again as he's in the garage, but thinking about the choke reminded me my dash layout was pretty random, so I pulled it apart to move the switches to where Mr Land Rover had decreed they should be.

Pulling the dash off and digging around I found this


Which is probably the reason I don't currently have a choke

Now I think the switch is still complete but I will need a new cold start/choke assembly. These appear to be like rocking horse doo.

I've found some generic assemblies and even a old 69 choke cable off a Mini Cooper (big $$$ though), but none of them seem like they'll enable the switch to be fitted.
I think I just fit a generic one as the lever looks pretty similar to the original style, but if anyones got any bright ideas about how to integrated the switch back in I'd be interested.
Cheers.

Well it was chemical clean out day over the weekend, and what better vehicle to cart loads of nasties around?
Started up first time, idle a little low to start but fine after about 5mins. Headed off the recycling point, a round trip of about 30km. On the way back I thought I'd give Bill his head and see what he could do.
Got to 100kmh
On part throttle and only slowed up cause there was a car infront. I believe he may have more in him!!!
Also took in a long steep hill, sat in 3rd and kept pace with the traffic, going from 30kmh to 60kmh. Pulled strongly, no signs of pinking and no lugging.
I'm pretty sold on the vacuum tuning.
Sunday - the boss wanted to go to the hardware store and take Bill, but she wanted me along 'just in case'. No worries says I, but nothing's going to go wrong, he only needs spark, air and fuel and he's got plenty of all 3.
And true to my word it all went off without a hitch, and a big grin on the boss' face.
Following morning and more chores - heading off to exchange a couple of things before work, had an hour before I needed to leave.
Started no worries, got to where I needed to go. Jumped back in Bill, hit the starter and zzzzzzzzz.
Battery good, spanner on the end of the starter motor was turning ok, but no starty
Hard up against the kerb, with a car in front, there was no way of moving him, so a call to the NRMA was made. They were great turned up within 30mins, but no options of fixing the zzzzzzzzz. So he towed me backwards up the hill and let go, bump started no worries, so said goodbye and toddled off home (only realised when I got there, that the crank handle was behind the front seat and I didn't need the NRMA afterall )

Pulled the starter motor (after removing the manifolds!) and this is what I found

My refurbished starter motor had a busted spring

The above pic is what it came like - the spring was always in 2 pieces, and had just been wound apart to act like a spring, but with the violence of the starter rotation the springs had moved and wound themselves together. So happy this hadn't happened the previous day with the boss driving!!

Had a spare starter so I've fitted that, whilst this spring gets replaced. Just need to find a suitable spring compressor.....

Not much to report.
Finally got a couple of mins to replace the spring on the starter motor.

Went surprisingly easily.

First I needed to figure out a suitable spring compressor. Now, what I did was completely dodgy and I'm not recommending it to anybody.

Cause the spring was fractured in 1/2 I didn't need to compress the spring to remove the circlip, so getting that off was as easy as slipping a flat blade screwdriver in and levering it off whilst covering it to ensure the circlip didn't fly off into the nether regions of my garage.

To make the compressor I got a small length of 50mm by 5mm flat stock steel and drilled a 25mm hole in it. You could get away with smaller say 22mm but remember you need space to put the circlip on.
I then fitted the spring and end washer, laid the metal bar across the top and used 2 clamps to compress the spring. See below -


As you can see this is completely unsafe and you shouldn't do it.
The pressure needed to compress the spring is enough to bend 5mm steel (I actually bent it one way then the other to work harden it prior to be able to successfully compress the spring), and should the clamps have slipped off there would have been some degree of chaos present shortly after.
What I'd recommend is using at least 8mm steel or cutting 2- 5mm thick bits and doubling up, and drilling 2 holes to line up with the starter motor mounting holes and use bolts to compress the spring. Much, much safer.
(The photo is a mock up and the bar was much more bent than in the piccy)

Anyway OH&S lecture over, with the spring compressed enough to see the circlip grove, I popped the circlip on pretty easily, and undid the clamps. Job done.
Starter motor will now sit on the bench, until I can be bothered to remove the manifolds and headers to be able to refit. Hopefully that will be before the current motor karks it

Since the last post I've been having merry fun with electrickery.

Fitted a set of these 3" lights


I've been running around with a set of Defender sized rear lights since I first got Bill, and wanted something a bit more original looking.
As you can see these 3" lights not quite as big as the 'original' lights (ie pre Defender lights) I took off, but as one of those didn't have a lens cover and I haven't been able to find out what lights they actually are, I went ahead and got some of these other ones.

Wired em in, switched em on, annnnnnd...

The fuse went and the wiring melted.


Took the lights with the melted wiring apart to find the earth connect had got hot enough to melt into the plastic carrier, and that the earth wire wasn't even attached to the terminal, just loosely looped through a hole in the terminal then twisted back on itself


I had twisted the rubber backing plate to ensure the small drainage hole was sitting at the bottom of the light and not at the top, and I suspect I'd caused a short between the running light and brake light +ve wires.

Anyway I stripped both fittings back down, soldered and heat shrunk the earth wires to the terminals and ran a couple of new earth wires from the lights to the chassis rather than relying on a connecting screw to earth to the tub.

Still had a small issue with the brake light not coming on, because the +ve feed to the base of the bulb would twist slightly when the bulb was inserted.

Anyway all working now, but if anyone else is thinking of buying or has installed these, it would be well worth stripping them down and ensuring they are wired to your satisfaction.

Other news - I picked up a new choke cable, ending up getting the Mini Cooper version for extra $ as it was the only one that locked. No way of incorporating the switch easily so I've deleted that for now.
Also found a matching switch and Panel Lights fob (my panel lights are wired into my side lights so come on with them), so I've wired my 12V connector to the new switch.



Hmmm, must straighten my gauges...

Also, I changed the economy diaphragm and spring on my Zenith. Hard to tell whether its done much for the economy, but it's a lot more flexible than the hardened piece of leather I pulled off.

Also whilst driving around I started giving the engine a few more revs and holding them for longer as part of running it in. I noticing the ticking from the head stopped. The valves had all been done, but I wonder whether anything had been sticking.
How noisy are the rockers on 2.25 petrol? Should they be quiet, or a bit of chatter should be expected?

Originally Posted by Ozdunc

How noisy are the rockers on 2.25 petrol? Should they be quiet, or a bit of chatter should be expected?

The valve gear should be inaudible over fan and induction noise, even when idling. But slightly incorrect valve clearance will tick, and if the roller cam followers are a bit out of round it can be impossible to get accurate clearance. Same applies if there are depressions worn in the rockers.

John

Thanks John,

I'll stick it down on my list to check over.

Dunc,
Jaycar & other stores have microswitches like these (I inserted a picture of one here hope it works):



http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/pk...arge-4159.html

The lever can be bent a bit to rest against something to open or close it when it moves (you can choose open/close by how you wire it), maybe you can somehow use one with the Mini choke cable?

5A rating should be enough for a dashboard light.