The tinkering has finished

[TOPTON]

Well for now it has anyway.
As the last thread mentioned,new dizzy,leads,plugs,rotor arm, air filter,coolant sensor. It still sounded crap and running rough so I checked the timing.
Surprised the car even knew I wanted it to start it was that far out. Also, some dimbat had put the vacuum tube on the wrong way so the one way valve was not able too suck.
So the symptoms of rich running was most probably a combination of the above.(mostly timing i would guess) The FPR seems to be doing what it is supposed to, according to v8 tuners and comments on here.

Now to the suspension, adjustable Nitron coilovers all round. They were all set so stiff, anything but a glass surface was like a ploughed field. I have jacked up the front and softened the rebound to 8 clicks out of 20. The back end, well the springs were just wobbling around an inch off being tight in the seats. Tightened up and rebound set to 6.
Totally different car, Now even more pleased than I was when I bought it.

One question- What holds the height adjustable spring seat in place? Are they supposed to have a locking nut or is it just the pressure of the spring. Some I had a few years ago had a grub screw to lock against the threads.

On the Nitron web site, they don't list for a wedge, just V8s, Grif etc, but they do say that these can be inverted, so maybe someone has fitted mine upside down. Can't see it making any difference though

can ya tell how chuffed I am

[grahamw48]

Glad it's all coming together...well done.

[TOPTON]

Just took my lad out for him to drive it, private road leading to a quarry. 1.5 miles long with a couple of slight bends. He grinned from ear to ear and said it is heaps faster/more powerful than my last wedge.

Engine is running soooo sweet now. Its like a different car compared to mid week and £50 spent. Fiddling time can't be accounted for though

eta He is 25 so not really a pup any more

Edited by TOPTON on Saturday 24th April 16:31

[B@man]

TOPTON said:

One question- What holds the height adjustable spring seat in place? Are they supposed to have a locking nut or is it just the pressure of the spring. Some I had a few years ago had a grub screw to lock against the threads.

I've got Protech Dampers on mine and the rear spring platforms don't have any locking screws either. I thought it was odd but the platforms are a tt to move even if you want them to so I suspect they won't undo on their own (Hopefully)

Glad you got it sorted !

Edited by B@man on Saturday 24th April 17:28

[honestjohntoo]

TOPTON said:

checked the timing....surprised the car even knew I wanted it to start it was that far out. Also, some dimbat had put the vacuum tube on wrong

With the vac advance not working - no suction -, because it only really advances during the very short period as the throttle plate moves away from fully closed, to optimise launch efficiency, your dimbat piping error would have nil effect when running normally, say at cruise or even at high speeds with steady throttle.

Conventional wisdom says that:

Retarded ignition = incomplete low temperature burn leaving sooty deposits, whereas

Advanced ignition = early but complete detonation but also excess heat leaving plugs clean, and maybe even damaged.

So, for those seeking answers and keen to know which timing condition caused your sooty plugs, was the engine either grossly advanced or grossly retarded? And approx by how many degrees?

TOPTON said:

So the symptoms of rich running was most probably a combination of the above.(mostly timing i would guess) The FPR seems to be doing what it is supposed to, according to v8 tuners and comments on here.

Can it be assumed you no longer have sooty plugs, as if a fuel pressure issue never existed?

[TOPTON]

Initially, all 8 plugs were sooty. I took one of the plugs out last night for a look and it was a clean burn, so assuming because it is now running sweet that they are all the same.
I think the fuel pressure was a red herring on my part. Just because there is a fitted pressure gauge and it showed what I thought was too high, I jumped on that for an easy answer without fully understanding its working.

TDC was checked by number one cylinder, not with a dial gauge,(cos I don't have one) but by holding a thin screwdriver in the pot and someone turning the engine by hand. Rough but near enough. The already marked pulley wheel was correct, it was further marked with white paint at the 8 deg BTDC. When I checked it with a strobe, looking from the front of the engine, the timing pointer is at about 10 o'clock, the strobe showed the 8deg mark to be between 11-12. So it was about 25mm away from where it should have been after TDC.

I think that makes sense

[honestjohntoo]

TOPTON said:

TDC was checked by number one cylinder .... by holding a thin screwdriver in the pot and someone turning the engine by hand. Rough but near enough. The already marked pulley wheel was correct, further marked with white paint at the 8 deg BTDC. When I checked it with a strobe, looking from the front of the engine, the timing pointer is at about 10 o'clock, the strobe showed the 8deg mark to be between 11-12. So it was about 25mm away from where it should have been after TDC.

I think that makes sense

Shlit! It does, thanks. By my crude mental arithmetic, that says the ignition was retarded about 1" on an (approx) 20" circumference pulley, lets say 5% error or 18 degrees retarded from the expected 8 degree BTDC or approximately 10 degrees After Top Dead Centre.

So who cares? Well, if that was the problem, then it confirms my thoughts that a badly retarded ignition timing causes sooty plugs, similar to and forever previously confused (by me) with a rich fuel/air mixture.
As Michael Caine did not say, "Now there's not many people know that" - including me. Cheers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY85a15n5QY

One might almost imagine that initial error being caused by the dissy being removed by a PO, without making any witness marks, then re-inserted one tooth out of position on the dissy drive gear? EMNTK

Edited by honestjohntoo on Monday 26th April 22:19

[TOPTON]

honestjohntoo said:

TOPTON said:

TDC was checked by number one cylinder .... by holding a thin screwdriver in the pot and someone turning the engine by hand. Rough but near enough. The already marked pulley wheel was correct, further marked with white paint at the 8 deg BTDC. When I checked it with a strobe, looking from the front of the engine, the timing pointer is at about 10 o'clock, the strobe showed the 8deg mark to be between 11-12. So it was about 25mm away from where it should have been after TDC.

I think that makes sense

Shlit! It does, thanks. By my crude mental arithmetic, that says the ignition was retarded about 1" on an (approx) 20" circumference pulley, lets say 5% error or 18 degrees retarded from the expected 8 degree BTDC or approximately 10 degrees After Top Dead Centre.

So who cares? Well, if that was the problem, then it confirms my thoughts that a badly retarded ignition timing causes sooty plugs, similar to and forever previously confused (by me) with a rich fuel/air mixture.
As Michael Caine did not say, "Now there's not many people know that" - including me. Cheers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY85a15n5QY

One might almost imagine that initial error being caused by the dissy being removed by a PO, without making any witness marks, then re-inserted one tooth out of position on the dissy drive gear? EMNTK

Edited by honestjohntoo on Monday 26th April 22:19

Well it certainly was the problem, after changing all the new bits it was still popping and banging, back firing and generally running crap. The timing was the last thing I did and now it runs sooo sweet. Even took out all the plugs for a look earlier and they are all happy smiling nice colour.

Because they were firing on the, what is effectively the down stroke, then a full burn wasn't achieved and the remaining fuel was fouling the plugs. Simple really, should have thought of this first.

[honestjohntoo]

TOPTON said:

Well it certainly was the problem, ------- Because they were firing on the, what is effectively the down stroke, then a full burn wasn't achieved and the remaining fuel was fouling the plugs. Simple really, should have thought of this first.

Apologies, didn't mean to imply it was not the prob! - Like you tho', occasionally, flashes of reality confirm what I already (should) know or more likely just throw more light into the ring, but I bet on short odds, "that not a lot of people knew that". It puts all future plug colour analysis on a new footing.

[TOPTON]

honestjohntoo said:

TOPTON said:

Well it certainly was the problem, ------- Because they were firing on the, what is effectively the down stroke, then a full burn wasn't achieved and the remaining fuel was fouling the plugs. Simple really, should have thought of this first.

Apologies, didn't mean to imply it was not the prob! - Like you tho', occasionally, flashes of reality confirm what I already (should) know or more likely just throw more light into the ring, but I bet on short odds, "that not a lot of people knew that". It puts all future plug colour analysis on a new footing.

No apology needed sir. My wording was only to confirm that it was the problem, not that you didn't believe me.