Spitfire 1500 initial carb settings

[niva441]

Hope someone can help me.

I'm sorting out all the improvements previous owners have made to my Spitfire 1500. I've reduced the mixture significantly and now the car idles cleanly and at sensible revs (previously never managed much below 1500 rpm). However although the car is running well and the exhaust doesn't seem to be smoking, it refuses to start again when cold and the spark plugs are sooted up. Cleaning up the plugs allows it to start again.

I'm assuming the problem is the mixture (any other ideas would be appreciated) and so am intending to reset the carbs to initial factory settings. Could some one give me the initial factory spec, particularly for setting the jet position, or point me in the right direction. I've tried a google search but not had any success.

Thanks for your time.

Todd

[spitfire-ian]

Minty Lamb is your friend

[niva441]

Excellent, cheers for that, it should help to sort the problem out.

Thanks

Todd

[FLAT 6]

It's a long time since I've worked on my 1500's carbs but I remember setting them up using instructions from a combination of a haynes manual and a 'colortune' mixture setting device. The latter is a kind of see-through spark plug. You start with a rich mixture and then gradually weaken it until a certain colour is reached. Seemed to work - I haven't messed with my carbs for a good 10 years.

I remember having to put in richer needles and different springs to work with the four-branch manifold I installed so had to set the carbs up from scratch.

I did drive my Spit quite a bit last summer and got very frustrated with my wax-stat jets making the mixture too rich when very hot. The car will just not run with them on a hot day - which is of course exactly when you want to drive the spit. If you have these this could be one of your problems.

Happy motoring.