Names Dan and i'm new to the forum. For my sins I travelled to Glasgow to collect a 1968 1098cc 2 door I bought via Ebay. Managed to drive it back to Solihull over 2 days and found a mountain of faults. A little bit miffed as it was to be a daily used car, It was needed on the road weeks ago and I also paid good money for it.
It's had a so-so resto a couple of years ago and i'm having to go through the whole car. The Haynes manual isn't the best so i'm trying to get some answers here if I can. I'm not a mechanic but have a decent amount of tools ( ex auto glazier) and willing to have a go with some support and i'm sure this place will be my life line. Car is now on stands awaiting the motor and box once i've changed the clutch, among other things.
Now i'm okay with some things and others just have me scratching my head. So i'll start with just 3 of those.
The motor first. It needed a full service, way out of tune but it's oil tight. Engine and box are now squeaky clean and ready to be worked on. I've decided to give it a full service, new gaskets, a slight tune and a little dressing up. I have an 1.5" LCB manifold and also a spanking new HS4 carb on a 1.5" Howley manifold.I also have a complete Accuspark ignition kit for it, new 45D dizzy, leads, coil and plugs which i'd like to fit and this is where i'm a little stumped and would like to check my understanding. I managed to mislay the instructions and only read it twice!
I read it as I need to remove the old dizzy cap and get the rotor pointing towards #1 spark plug. Then slacken off the clamp and remove the dizzy. The new Accuspark dizzy has a clamp with just one hole, so I take it I remove that and use the original? Then the new dizzy is fitted into the old clamp still on the block, the key/slot on the bottom locates where it should (how?) and I aim the rotor towards number one spark plug. The black wire from the new dizzy goes to the existing wire of the old dizzy and the red goes to the + on the new coil. From what i have read timing is best done by getting the car warm and twisting the dizzy either way to get find the best spot with a smooth idle. This being get it pinking and back it off a tad. Am I far off, any tips?
Next question. The timing chain was pretty noisy and judging on the rest of the car probably hasn't been replaced. I've bought a Duplex timing kit for it that includes the 2 countersunk screws and gaskets and seals required. I normally steer clear of such work as this is pushing it for me but I have to get it done. Any major does or dont's as the Haynes manual is a little vague at times. Also what tools will I need as again the manual doesn't give nut sizes, i.e the crank nut. I'll need to buy one as largest socket i have is 32mm. Will I need a puller to get the crank pulley off and the timing gears?
Final one for now whilst we're on engines. Just as the engine timing needs to be correct i'll also need to tune the HS4 carb. Is there any basic settings I can work from to get the carb running close to what it should be? I'll need to get it close as i'll need to set the engine timing as mentioned above when setting the dizzy up. I can fine tune it once on the car but hoping there may be some basic settings that will get me close.
Sorry this is all basic stuff but i'm a basic sort of person and just want to make sure i'm going down the right path with things.
Any advice gratefully received
Cheers Dan
