71 Midget, 95,000 total miles, 5,000 miles on ""complete rebuild"" supposedly
including complete carb rebuild by expert third person on new long block
"gold seal" engine 12 years ago, We have had the car for about four weeks. No
one that I can find really wants to work on the car where I live. The guy
who did the rebuild twelve years ago is several hours away. The guy who built
the carbs now lives in Bartlesville, OK but no one knows a name, address, or
phone.
1. Compression-140, 140, 137, 140
2. Valves-12 to 14 warm
3. Plugs--- n9y Champion @ 030 gap, runs the same at 025 to 040 gap
4. Points and cond---points closed and burned on a thirty mile drive, missing
badly all cyls at high speed, Ignitor neg ground ignition module installed
two weeks ago, no high speed miss
5. Coil--new Lucas Sport installed week ago, old one still running but
cracked top and loose terminal block that would not tighten up
6. Wires--new Borg warner set from PepBoys week ago, all I could get at 7PM
Sat night
7. Sparktest--will max out the sparktest device from Moss on any cylinder
8. Timing--now at about 6 BTDC, started at 10 BTDC, had starting problems,
backed off a couple of times, now at about 6 and starts OK
9. Int/Exh man gasket was loose/leaking and was replaced 2 weeks ago, can
find no other vac leaks on the intake manifold, with the air cleaners off,
you hear a slight whistling, normal operation of the carbs???
10. Exh manifold donut was gone, exhaust leaking badly, new donut installed 2
weeks ago
11. Engine number---12CD-DA-H 11349
12. Carbs--AUD502F/AUD502R, these numbers do not match the numbers shown for
a 71 in some of my parts catalogs, they have no evap loss fittings on top of
the float bowls, I do not know how to find the needle numbers and jet numbers
actually installed. Using Unisyn to balance the air flow, tried Colortune but
cannot see much difference in the color no matter where the jets are set.
13. When we got the car, the breather line from the oil separator on the
timing chain cover went to the valve cover, non-vented cap, blowing oil out
everywhere No vac Y at the carb bases, straight hose between the carb bases,
no other evap loss lines or air pump lines, no gulp valve, PCV valve, etc.
Mech who did the rebuild said to install Vac Y between the carbs and run oil
sep line to Y between Carb bases as shown in the fact. manual, get vented
valve cover cap and block hose outlet in valve cover. Done all this, now the
car sucks a little oil out of the crankcase into the carb bases.
14. Plugs--light grey electrodes with black sooty bases, like the car is
running rich
15. Tailpipe--black soot, dry not oily, like the car is running rich
16. IDLE is rough, cars spits at the exhaust, will only run smoothly when it
is idling too fast I think, car tach is erratic and the hand tach I have will
not work on this car for some reason. When I set the idle speed down where I
think it ought to be by ear and set the mixture, the car loads up and dies
when sitting at idle.
17. High Speed -- off idle, the car runs OK and pulls well, will pull a
steep hill at 30 MPH in fourth gear without bucking or missing
18. Using the factory manual and the Motorhead tuneup video as references
19. I can't think of anything else but rebuilding/replacing the carbs. Best
I can tell, I am looking at $150 to 200 for parts to do the rebuild myself or
$450 to 500 for new carbs.....comments and suggestions welcome
Alex H.
71 Midget
Tulsa, OK
918.250.9233 voice or fax
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