I don't suppose one ever really finishes a restoration. Certainly if one
loses his head and drives the car rather than trailering it, things that
need doing or redoing keep cropping up. After 6 months or so of trying to
keep the bottom of my Bugeye shiny, I decided that wasn't much fun, and
I have started driving the car, even when the sun isn't out (which
around here is much of the time). When I am stuck in traffic, the engine
temperature seems to stay in reasonable bounds (180 deg thermostat, temp
seems to climb to about 190 and stabilize--if one can believe a 33 yr old
gauge). But after a time, the idle gets irregular and drops to roughly
500 RPM, threatening to die completely. I have to keep blipping the
throttle to keep it going. Once I start moving, the problem disappears
quickly. A mechanic friend (who rebuilt the engine and carbs) says gas is
percolating in the carbs. I have to say it sounds a bit like the "they all
do that" bit you get when you complain about the behavior of a new car.
The engine is the original 948 tweaked a bit--it has Janz racing pistons,
a later cam, approx. 9.5:1 compression, ported, etc. It has the stock
brass top SU carbs. The exhaust manifold is a later model with the three
bolt flange. The stock heat shield is between the carbs and exhaust
manifold. Does it sound as if gas is really percolating in the carbs as
he says, and if so, is there any known fix for the problem? Did Bugeyes
always do this (I recall that traffic had been invented in 1960), or are
the engine mods somehow responsible?
Ray Gibbons, Tree-frog green 60 Bugeye, Environs of Burlington, VT
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