Car now hardish to start

[Andyhereford]

Some help and advice please. Car has been kept in a dry garage for the two years that I have owned it. It is nearly ready to go back on the road. The car has up until now always started well. I have recently put in new plugs, changed the distributor cap, plug leads and rotor arm. I have also cleaned the points. I have also put on a new coil. I have a new set of points and a new condenser but have not fitted them yet. I have not, as far as I know touched the timing or the carburettor, other than to adjust the idling speed a bit so that the ignition light just shows when idling.
Since doing this work…..I am still very much in the learning stage…when first trying to start the car it has been quite reluctant get going. I have tried with various amounts of choke but this seems to have very little, if any effect. It occasionally gives one or two misfires but on about the fourth or fifth time of asking it starts up, initially quite reluctantly, sometimes stalling, but if / when it does keep going it then settles down to a good and steady tick over. It then behaves perfectly normally. It will stop and start again as normal, and according to the oil pressure gauge seems to maintain a reasonable pressure …initially 60psi falling to about 50psi when hot. Bit of smoke from exhaust initially but this clears as the engine warms up. All the plugs seem to be working alright.
I have obviously done something, hopefully fairly minor, to the set up while I was trying to “improve” the ignition.
I know “ if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” but for me part of the enjoyment in owning my Minor is trying to work on it and learn a bit about how it all works.
Any help and suggestions on what I have done / can do to sort this out please.
Thanks Andy

[simmitc]

An excellent descriptipn of the problem

After a couple of years of not being used, has the battery started to fail - does the engine turn more slowly than it used to? Apart from that, I would refit the original rotor arm, dizzy cap and coil and see if that returns it to normal. New components are not always as good as old.

You could also check that the piston in the carb moves freely, and is the petrol that you are using still fresh? It could be something that you have done or it could a coincidence and something else is at fault.

[unclealec]

I don't know how things are in Morrisland, but over on Planet Riley we have been beset with inferior electrical repro products chief amongst which are rotor arms.
They were made from some horrible plastic which is rumoured to have a high carbon content to make it black; this has the unfortunate effect of allowing the rotor arm to conduct hv current to earth via the plastic.
Also they fixed the brass plate onto the plastic moulding with a rivet that lies perilously near an earthing path via the spring steel plate that stops the rotor from chattering on its spindle.
Make sure that you use the best available quality replacement parts. The Lucas branding on some component boxes is no guarantee of quality, you still get the inferior repro part in a lot of cases.
I default to using good originals every time, way more reliable that new repro.
Condensers are the same; some are good, some are atrocious - and how can you tell which is which? Buy from reputable sources such as the Distributor Doctor, or by anecdotal recommendation from fellow owners.
As has already been suggested, put the original components back one by one and see if it effects an improvement. I would start with the rotor arm.

[ManyMinors]

Agree with both the previous replies - that modern petrol soon "goes off" and can make a car difficult to start and also that proper original Lucas products are far better quality than the so called "Lucas" stuff made now. Personally I use original Lucas components or telephone the Distributor Doctor

[myoldjalopy]

Just to add to the above, the OP mentions 'new plugs' and 'cleaning the points' but doesn't mention if he checked/adjusted the respective gaps. If the gaps aren't right it will be hard to start.......

[Andyhereford]

Thank you all for your suggestions.
I will start by replacing the original parts one by one…rotor arm, distributor head and leads, coil, plugs ( check the gaps are correct!)
However before I do this, and prompted by the comments about old petrol, I should say that recently I put in some fresh petrol. The fuel gauge was reading empty ( I have subsequently found that it is not working!) so I put in about a gallon of new petrol only to find that the tank overflowed!
So there is a fair quantity of old / very old petrol in there!
I imagine that I should get all this petrol out and start again with fresh petrol.
Looking at the bottom of the tank I doubt that I will be able to shift the drain plug!
Will siphoning out the petrol through the filler get enough out to allow what is left to be “diluted” down with fresh E5?
Based on my limited experience with garden machinery old petrol, if left in the machine over winter, sometime can gum up the jets in the carburettor making them hard to start in the spring.
Looking at some of your comments this could be what is happening here!
In the past I have managed to sort this with a squirt of WD40 into the air inlet. Presumably the WD40 gets drawn onto the jets and cleans them and fresh petrol then allows the machine to start.
Would a similar approach work on the Morris carburettor, once I have drained as much of the old petrol as I can and replaced it with fresh or would it do any harm?
Anyway.
Thanks as always for all your help and point taken about the quality of replacement parts.
Andy

[simmitc]

The jet on an SU is fairly wide, but gum and other debris can block the inlet to the jet. This is located at the bottom of the float chamber, so you could take the top off there (three screws) and clean that out.

With the tank as empty as possible, add fresh petrol, then disconnect the pipe from the carb, direct it into a suitable container and switch on the ignition. Let the pump pull through some fresh fuel, then switch off and reconnect the pipe. Take relevant precautions when dealing with petrol.

Something not seen so much these days, but that cold be relevant, is moisture in the distributor cap, cured by wiping with paper towelling. However, the plan to replace original parts is the best place to start.

[Andyhereford]

Thank you everyone and just to update anyone who is interested.
Last night I took off the air filter and gave the piston a squirt of WD40. I then moved the piston up and down a few times. This morning, first turn of the key/ no choke the car fired up and ran smoothly. Has done this a few times during the morning. Could the cause of the problem be stale petrol “ gumming” up the piston? I still intend to siphon out as much of the old petrol as I can, dilute the remainder with new E5, and flush out the fuel line as suggested. I will also put back the old rotor arm and check the gaps in the plugs / points. I think then that providing, after all this , the car continues to start easily and run reasonably well I will keep the old distributor cap and coil as spares ( I know that they work) and leave well alone for a while and try to enjoy the car over the summer.
Best wishes