Hi all,
This weekend I attacked a few things on the A. I fit the rebuilt carbs to
the car and got the choke linkage working properly for the first time ever
(never had the interconnecting rod), albeit still a little stiff. The
routing of the cable is dodgy in my eyes, but I didn't feel like another
session under the dash!!! lol! Besides, it works fine with the 'two pegs'
approach - thanks to the lister for that info! One for fast idle, two for
fast idle and enrichment! :) I also tracked down a problem that has been
giving me pains for ages. Sometimes when you'd let the accelerator off, the
idle would not come right down, say stay up a couple of hundred revs. It was
quite tricky to adjust the cable so you could get WOT and get the carbs to
close fully with the pedal released. My girlfriend had to manage the pedal,
and I still felt like I needed another pair of hands! I couldn't find a
happy medium, then it suddenly dawned on me that the spring might be a
little soft. At first I tried adjusting the position of the plate thats
mounted to the bottom securing nut on the rear carb, and affects spring
tension, however it still wasn't sufficient. So I subbed it for one of the
new, much stronger types off the MGB. Excellent! Now the throttle snaps shut
perfectly every time, not to mention there is no interference between the
spring and the arm (at WOT) like there was with the original fat, tightly
coiled spring. The MGB spring has much longer 'arms' and the actual coil
part is some distance away from the 'arms/hooks'. Sometimes it's the not so
obvious little things, well not so obvious to me <G>, that cause some pretty
annoying problems.
Before that I'd spent an hour or so cleaning the engine bay. I have to say,
it's quite disappointing to see these beautiful carbs next to my filthy,
rusty, engine bay. :( But never mind. There is no real dirt anymore, just
40yrs of wear. Still, it makes me imagine what the rest of the car could be
like if I went all out and spent 30 grand restoring it. Not an option at the
moment.
I also started the job of replacing the front rotors, pads and brake hoses.
Hoses last changed in 78, according to the tag so I figure it's time for a
change there! <G> I got stuck when I had to remove the hubs - the little
bolt/nuts/big washer thingamy I had used to remove the hubs on the B,
wouldn't work on the A, so I will have to resort to another measure. Ideas?
My supplier says to simply put the wheel back on and pull! I suppose it's
worth a go! Sounds pretty logical! <G>
Unfortunately, now I've got stuck into the brakes, it will mean I'll be off
the road longer than expected. Hopefully not too long, doesn't seem like
rocket science replacing the bearings, rotors etc, but then again I have the
rear shoes to do as well. :) Fun and games. Also there doesn't appear to be
any shim adjustment for the 1600 Mk1. Makes life easier. :) One good thing
about this car, I've never had one single noise from her at the front end,
no clonks, no nothing so she must be in pretty good nick. Funny, I have only
60,000 orig miles on the BGT, 105000 on the A, but good grief did that B
clunk, clonk etc etc etc. I did a suspension rebuild a few years ago, fixed
most of it.. Hmm! Dodgy maintenance I guess.
Cheers,
Neil.
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