1966 MG Midget

[mg66]

I have a 1966 MG Midget which has been running perfectly up until lately. It was running in the garage on tickover for about 10mins, which i do reqularly, when it started to misfire or run lumpy. I knew it was low on fuel, so assumed that was the problem. After filling it up and re-starting it still ran lumpy and eventually stalled.

I assumed some debris from the bottom of the tank was causing a blockage so i've checked the pipe from the tank to the pump, the pump, the pipe from the pump to the carbs and the carbs, all are fine.

It still runs really badly and stalls after roughly 30secs. From cold it starts first time and runs well for about 5secs, then runs lumpy and then stalls as if its fuel starved.

Then is definately fuel getting to the carbs and the jets have been cleaned. The fuel pump it relatively new, plugs, points, cap and leads have only done 500miles.

Does anyone have any ideas please.

[mg66]

Thanks for your posts, i've reversed blown all pipework and taken apart the electic fuel pump and not come across any issues. After running real badly for 30secs and stalling i checked the bowls and both were approx half full.

The coil, points, rotor arm, plugs, leads and dis cap were only fitted new approx 300miles ago, i believe i still have the old ones, so i'll dig them out and replace them one by one to see if this helps.

One thing i have noticed is if i go out to the car now, switch on the ignition, the pump can be heard clicking, i then pull out the choke and the car starts straight away and runs normally for the first few secs. Almost until the first priming from the pump has been used and then it stutters.

Do you think this is the case or just that it takes a few secs for the electical component to break down?

[mg66]

Thanks again for all your replies. This morning i changed the coil which seemed to make a little bit of a difference, but still lumpy. Then i changed the dissy cap, no difference and finally the rotor arm, again no difference.

With all these changed it seems to idle almost ok but begins to run lumpy when i try to rev it, i've ordered a colour tune kit to see whats happening with carbs, but could issues occur all of a sudden when running as per my original message?

Oh and the fuel lines are only 6yrs old.

[mg66]

OK, so the latest news is, that I've checked the cards with the colour tune and the front one is fine but the rear one is way to rich. So rich that there is not enough adjustment to bring it into spec. I believe the jet needle is worn and causing the problem. I've got one on order and I'll update the forum after I've fitted it.

[mg66]

Thanks for your post. My thoughts were that the carb parts were original and just at that point the needle wear became too great. I had replaced the condenser only a few years ago along with other parts but I will try it.

At the moment it looks like my battery has failed, I keep it trickle charged when not in use, I'm just getting a click from a 2yr old started motor.

I'll keep my progress posted when I have an update.

[mg66]

Hi, I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone that that posted replies to help me.

I did change the jet needle and the car was even worse and would basically not start no matter where I set the mixture.

I then had to take few days out as I really didn't know which way to turn. As a last ditch attempt I remembered a post mentioning the condenser.

I replaced it and the car started on the second try and after the carbs were set, now runs as it well as it used to.

Once again many thanks, especially to Mr2.

David