Ratty Triumph Herald 13 60

Time to take the Herald out! Shake down drive. Broke down of course. Luckily it was on a busy intersection for the m25, blocking Easter traffic. 



No fuel to fuel filter, no fuel to fuel pump, but fuel in the tank (took the sender out to have a look inside). 

But... I didn't have the reserve tank open. So I was seeing fuel on my gauge but its all in reserve. Moron.

A friend came to thd rescue and brought more fuel just in case. Fired up and made it home, although was close to getting too hot. 

When it died though it was also getting hot, so I thought that was related.

There is a ticking noise on idle and on acceleration from engine bay. I've had this before, exhaust manifold leak ffs. I did this job already about 6 months ago, obviously not very effectively. Luckily I have a set of spares.

Found a class air fuel analyser I bought off a guy on a triumph forum for about £30 in the garage. Bought it a few years ago then forgot about it. Never tried using it. 

It works! Seems to have been calibrated. Means I can have some fun doing live afr tuning! 













[/img]

Hard to see the numbers in the pics but it's idling with an afr of about 10.5. I believe 12 is a sweet spot so it's rich. 




I've the fuel adjustment nuts nearly all the way out. 

There is a ticking noise. 

It splutters at 4k rpm like its lean despite being rich at idle. 

When stationary I can smell exhaust a bit. 

It's trying to overheat (not quite but I've a massive rad and big fans). 

All points towards leaky manifold gasket and running lean. 

An exciting and stressful afternoon, basically sums up this car. 

When I have had similar issues with SU's it has been worn jets, the holes wear, so you raise the jets in an attempt to get a decent idle mixture but then it is weaker at higher loads.

Thanks kevin, yep it's a good point. I replaced the jets recently as I thought it could be a culprit so should be OK. 

The seat belt strapped exhaust was fine for a run down the road but it was obviously a stupid idea as fabric stretches. So made a bracket from a bit of metal I found, painted it orange and off we go!









In the poor running, decided to start from the beginning, reset everything and check the timing. It was totally off, no wonder it wasn't happy. 

It was at about 18degs advanced at idle eeek. Pulled it back to a safe level (6degs for now), adjusted mix and idle and its running better. Will do a colourtune tune up this week. 

Also changed the carb manifold gaskets, lovely and leak free. 

First big trip in the Herald, about 130 mile round drip to Bedfordshire classic car meet up. About 3 hours across back roads.

Seemed ok at first but the weather was roasting and water temp got a bit high but never into the read. Did result in it getting spluttery and eventually starting to misfire. We made it to the show though, give it a chance to cool down.

Great show, every 2 weeks too apparently! www.facebook.com/groups/1741756416104832/














Alfa 6 with dogleg manual. Lovely thing









Fiesta with MX5 turbo engine and rear wheel drive (one of a few at the show)






Car barely made it back to a friend's house (half way on the journey home). We pulled the plugs and they looked a touch hot, pulled more timing out of it and added a touch more fuel. Temps came down and it behaved much better on the way home. More tuning needed but its progress that it survived.

One issue is a wild vibration across the whole car at about 55mph+. Suspect it's the propshaft, which I have had off and been told it's hard to get them back on and still balanced.

Not sure what to do about it... Pull it off and fit again maybe. It was fine when I took it off, balls.

Still loving this

Spun the prop round 180degs at the straps and did a test drive, much improved vibration. Still not gone, will try the 2 jubilee clip technique when I get time. But it was ready for silverstone!







Drove perfectly there and back (4 hours round trip), fun roads too. Brilliant to be able to enjoy it again.

😂 Can be said of most of my cars I reckon. Expensive fuel cans with wheels

Good to see it getting used and development happening.

You can’t just fit a spacer to the fuel pump btw…. As the operating arm will then be the wrong shape and it won’t pump! Late Spit 1500s and Dolomites did have spacers and a pump to match but good luck finding the right pump now. I favour and electric pump (Huco) so you can keep the pump and pipes well away from heat sources. Do hit an inertial cut-off switch in the supply
Line though.

Nick