Greetings all, another SOL lurker comes to play! i'm in the SF bay area
(sili vally, more specifically), and am a consumate spridget freak.
my problem (this week) is getting the beater, my '69 sprite, smogged, so
i can give it to a friend. this is a classic LBC beater - everything
needs to be replaced. it's in great shape, apart from the engine, the
transmission, and the front suspension. oh, and don't forget the
bodywork, paint, interior, top (trivial cosmetic stuff). the brakes and
all the guages do work. it was my daily driver for about 3 years in
it's current state, so i guess you could say i'm hard core.
so. the beater's been sitting for about a year (since i bought the
Civic Si), and i decided that it's my lowest priority sprite. the
albatross ('58 bugeye, 1275, datsun 5 speed, new *everything*) will be
finished RealSoonNow (i've only been saying that for ~2 years), and
Peace, my recently acquired '66 sprite (traded for my '60 bugeye
parts car, now destined for vintage racing) deserves some attention to
make it a usable daily car, SO i decided to give the beater to my
chronically penniless buddy Russell.
we failed idle emmissions miserably, which i attribute mostly to a bad
irregular misfire at idle pushing up the HC emissions. am i remembering
correctly that an overrich mixture will tend to drive HC up, while an
overlean mixture will drive CO up? my chemistry is beyond weak.
it seems like a classic worn throttle shaft vacuum leak problem, but it
feels somewhat more severe than i remember from the other 5 or so dual
SU spridgets i've had this problem with. as seems typical, the idle
speed will cycle between a nice idle with very few misses at around
13-1400 RPM and a badly missing 7-900 (or, occasionally 0!) RPM. the
cycle time is on the order of 10 seconds. i'm wondering if anybody has
any ideas about other problems which may be exacerbating the normal
vacuum leaks, or good methods to pinpoint the leaks. i've been
dripping oil on all the joints that could be leaking, and havent found
any major problems.
other info - recent points (good gap at ~.015), condensor, coil, wires, cap,
rotor, plugs (all look good except #3 is oily (suspect valve guides/seals).
timing light on coil wire doesn't flicker when it's misfiring, so i'm pretty
sure it's a fuel problem. timing does jump around a fair bit at idle (worn
distributor bushings, inconsistant vacuum?). it seemed to idle much better
when just warmed up in the morning (mid 60's, air density?). i would
rather get it to pass than get a waiver (some distorted sense of
pride/ego? not sure). also, we put a gallon of denatured alcohol in
it (against my better judgement) to try to bring the emissions down. anybody
tried this, and is it likely to cause problems?
thanks for any strokes of genious, brilliant insights, and/or personal abuse!
non-LBC note: i just ran across a Honda S-600 roadster in an apartment
complex near my house while out walking this weekend. i'd never
actually seen one before, although i had read about them is some random
LBC book. it's a fair bit smaller than a spridget, quite lovely
(vaguely elanesque in profile), and (apparently) extrememly unusual.
anybody know anything about these? i seem to remember talking to
someone once about Honda using a 2-piece roller bearing crank in the
60's. does anybody have any idea what it would be worth? (no, hans, you
don't need another car!)
thanks again, this group has renewed my will to make the albatross live!
later
hans
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