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OH!!!!! You want to LOWER it to 9.0-1!!! Sorry...misunderstood you, Larry. Apologies. Oh, yeah. 12.0-1 is racing gas territory today. Oh for leaded Gulf No-Nox or the Sunoco "260" of yesterday....100+ RON...."manly" octanes!!! ) Bill (he oughta know?) recommends no higher than 9.0-1 with the stock cast iron head using today's unleaded hi-test. Normally, you can run a full point higher with an alum. head on the same octane with the same "safety factor" (against detonation/pre-ignition) with the same ign. advance, according to my mech (30+ year "pro" mech). But Bill's forte is Series A's so I'd check with... MORE
Paul, The tubing et al can be removed. But you have to plug the holes in the side of the block. If I remember when I did mine I used a 5/16 short bolt and sealant compound. Or it could have been an NPT thread. Check the threads when you pull them off. And the carb's are fine when you retune. But make sure you've got enough venting. I ran a hose from the timing cover vent to a tee and another from the valve cover to the tee and then on to the carbs. Ken Horner '60 BE... MORE
Willy, Seems like it might be a fuel problem. The revs up/down problem is likely an indicator of mixture changes. electric fuel pump? new or old? what engine; what needles did you put in? plus, i'm not sure i agree with the vacuum advance line off. for example, when you did the u turn, revs dropped and advance did too. if vacuum was there, it would have kept advance up. if you've got a 25D std Lucas dizzy, it was built to have the vacuum advance on not off. i also assume that since you did take it off,... MORE
Hey Y'all Talked a while back about my car acting up (59 BE) and sputtering and such. To date these are the things I have tried New fuel line Different fuel cap Drained tank/fresh fuel New fuel pump New filters New needles and seats in the float bowls New spark plugs Have tried both with Electronic and non electronic spark Checked timing many times Have run without air filters Have checked mixture Have cleaned out bowls 5 times (or more) Have had Carbs off car to look She still will act up from time to time, seems better than... MORE
Hi folks, Double posting this here as well as Spridget list since I'm not sure the best of you BE tech types read both. First, Robert, liked that Texas summary. Howdja like to trade senators? I'll throw in three cases of beer. Two for the hag and one for Mr. Where's the Nearest Camera and Mike. But on to my question. Anyone - is there a recommended torque setting for tightening down the nut on a front spindle to hold the disk brake rotor on? I have the old Brit Leyland ring-bound Spridget shop manual (circa 1970) and there's... MORE
Had a generator go out on me 30+ years ago, at night. Near as I can figure/remember, I must not have had the plug that covers the slave cylinder. The rear bearing went out while I was driving from Denver CO to Boise, ID. Turned off fan and Headlights to conserve battery, smelled smoke and had a light show from the sparks as the rear generator bearing disinagerated. We are talking a "cash" system. I was stuck in Idaho Falls, and luckly my dad was in Portland, OR, on business. The closest, and only generator that I could find... MORE
Ken, I think I have a complete set of new door latches and the posts they latch to if you are interested. I bought them for my 59 bugeye from NOS Locators then sold the car (Offer I could not refuse) before I got them installed. I also have a new set of Magnacore Sparkplug wires with coil wire. I am willing to sell the above for what I paid. I think it was around 47.00 or so. Just let me know. Thanks, Gary GSFuqua1@... 10566... MORE
Another way - I have about 3" clearance at my header collectors and mufflers. I bought some 24 gauge stainless sheet and had individual pieces laser cut, then formed them around the four low spots, and secured with long hose clamps. I had multiple pieces cut, and so when a piece wears through after a couple dozen hits, I discard it and install a new one. I don't think the stainless throws as nice a spark trail as carbon steel. But since I installed the heavier front springs, not taking as many hits now anyways. High speed bumps are... MORE
I am considering refreshing my stock front coil springs with Mini Mania's stiffer coil springs (part number C-2A4214, 340 lb.). I am doing this in order to reduce or eliminate my bonnet arches rubbing the top of my front tires during corners or dips. I see where these springs will lower the car up to 1". However, this move seems counter productive, since it is the tire:bonnet clearance I already have trouble with. I am running 5.5" Minotar minilite wheels with Goodyear T-metric 165/R13 tires. There is about 1.5" to 2" clearance between the top of tire and the... MORE
if can more, thanks Willy. am thinking hard about changeover. actually think I've located a company that make an alternator inside the MKI generator body. That could be cool as my coil is mounted on top of the generator and using a regular alternator would force me to move the Crane 700 ignition from its spot. But I also found a great site with some nice Lucas electrics debugging information. Its focus is MGB's (for shame) http://tinyurl.com/22335 , but the techniques are the same. They note that you can bridge the two terminals on the generator and run the... MORE
Bob, By my eyeball none of these parts came from a bugeye. regulator has 3 relays. brake line hub has wrong # of ports. coil looks too small. BE did not have s solenoid. I conclude the lot looks like parts from a MKIII or so. Ken Horner '60 BE "pblock4x4" 10516... MORE
What a great idea! Some Kubota tractors use a very small alternator and maybe something like that would work. There is a difference of rotating fields and stationary armatures in the alternator, vs. the other way around in the generator. But, there are some big hydraulic presses and drills around. Hmmm! Gonna have to look at it some! I'm aware that some vintage racers use gutted generator in their cars to save weight and rotating mass, and simply use small batteries for starting and ignition Paul A "Paul Asgeirsson" 10504... MORE
Guys, Had the BE out on the road today, and she hums along at 70mph just fine. Lots of honks and waves. Heat was a bit of a problem. On the NJ turnpike external road temp got to over 95 and BE went past 212. The big engine and the original rad are not quite a solid combo. But once I got off the hiway and into cooler roads, she was fine. May think about upgrading to a x-flow rad, but that'll have to wait till winter. My issue for this post is that the voltage regulator cut out... MORE
Paul I'd agree with Cap'n Bob. Had my tank cleaned and coated and made sure they blew out the fuel line connection to clear the pickup. Also have them clear the drain plug hole. Fuel filter is a real good idea. My tank runs fine almost all way to empty. Have not tried to run all the way down. Will let you know if it happens. Fuel does slosh around a little more with the baffle coated and effectively turned into a solid wall. But has not seemed to hurt. Ken Horner '60 BE "pblock4x4" 10474... MORE
Hi Willy, Maybe you were being kind to the critter when it broke, but it remembered from a time that you weren't!! Pull the dif and likely the part stuck in the spider gears, you can't get a stright shot with a punch, will be stuck tight. Take out the spider gear assembly and you can punch it out then. Good time to clean up everything and make a magnetic drain plug. Easy do with some JB Weld and a small round ceramic magnet. Best, Paul A "Paul Asgeirsson" 10467... MORE
Hmmm....Jens..... "They" shoulda been able to supply a hookup schematic or diagram, including all "parts" and "values" pertaining thereto, I would think? Very strange!! :( In view of the rather weak support available for the application.... ....maybe it's time to scrap the Luminition and go more modern.... with a 43/45D Aldon equipped with an "Ignitor" and matching coil and be done with it? Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 10434... MORE
"Is there a Bosch" Yes. Has an internal regulator within. I used a single wire VW type which matches the Lucas bolt pattern, more or less. I think we had to do a LITTLE fetteling in this respect. Very minor as I recall (had it put on years ago). You'll need to fabricate a distance piece to use the generator mounting points in the engine compartment. The generator "adjustment bar" bracket works fine as well. Easily handles radio, halogens, electric fuel pump and electric fan...all at the same time. Works good...lasts a long time! This was a checkbook installation... MORE
Another idea is install a Morris Marina expansion tank conected to the Drain Plug tube and a blind cap in the original radiator and a 10 to 14 lb cap in the tank "Tabaibaracing" 10415... MORE
Try Robbins tops. They have a variety of materials available and different type windows. Look at what they have on their site and get one from a distributor. Might be one on this list. I have a car in here now with a Robbins top and compared to what another car here has with a Brit made top, the Robbins is superior in every way. www.robbinsautotopco.com/ Best, Paul A "Paul Asgeirsson" 10409... MORE
LOL, Jens.... And I am laughing in sympathy "with you", not at you!! "Caveat emptor"....or, "let the buyer beware" as we say here in the states!! But I know what you mean about killing the guy who sold you the car! :):) OK...in consideration of the contents of your most recent post, looks like a new or newly rebuilt set of 1.25's is the ticket. On the Luminition I can be of no help, except to say that if this is "garbage" (as were the carbs., unfortunately) that replacing it with a "yellow" (combo mech/vac. advance) or "red" (mechanical... MORE
Ah, hah!! Progress, Jens!!! Methinks you have a "mixed" set of carbs there. I truly do not know what to do about dampers that move at different rates within their "tubes" using the same weight oil. Never personally faced an "uneven" set of SU's as I have been given to understand they are usually "given" in matched pairs in applications planned for more than one. They don't want you changing relative positions of the bells and air valves or mixing parts from one "matched" carb to the other in a pair originally supplied on the engine fresh from the... MORE
Ah HAH.... You may have hit the nail right on the head here, Jens... "If (my engine...tuned or not) cannot SUCK (produce enough vacuum) to open a pair of HS2's....." EXACTLY!!!! It is time to "begin at the beginning", Jens. As in MAJOR tune-up. Step one is checking engine "mechanical health".... with valves properly adjusted...time for a basic compression & leakdown check. Considering recency of engine work, you're looking for 150 or better on compression check and leak-down rates of less than 10%. Remember to hold the butterflies fully open (accelerator pedal fully to the floor) during the compression... MORE
All good questions, Jens... If the richness required for acceleration could be handled by the needle's profile, in and of itself, then they would not have built in an "acceleraion circuit" which is handled by the weight of the oil in the dashpot and not the spring, considering the spring resistance comes into play at the high end of the rpm scale. In other words... using the needle to compensate for a too lean mixture on acceleration would make for far too rich a mixture at all other times. The spring determines the position of the air valve (and... MORE
No, Jens....not at all. It was good advice...for those using the more or less stock head with stock valve sizes or even a little better, "normal" distributor advance curves, etc. But it's "ballpark" or "general" in terms of a basic start going the "right way". I've got the aluminum head. "M"'s looked better at the plug than "AN"'s.... "AH1"'s looked even better but "AH2"'s looked best. All with red springs. I am also working with an Aldon distributor advance curve for this spec. engine. It's advance curve is a little different, with plenty (12 degrees or so) of initial... MORE
Troels, I know there are some differences specific to the Marina engine installat ion than other A series engines but I have never seen an A series that did not have an external oilway. The Marina B series has it too. The tubes come s out near the rear, at the GBX/BLOCK junction, proceeds forward , above th e dizzy, bends out and joins into the oil filter adapter. Remove the pipe a nd install the proper fittings and hose. Depending on where you mount the c ooler radiator it may be necessary to modify the bonnet to radiator... MORE
