Morris Minor Owners Club

hi folks

Ive got a 803cc morris and am having problems tuning her up.......she'd been sat for a number of years and surprisingly started after id played with the bowl on the carb......the brass bowl had stuck normal problem


ive done alot of work to her (inc new dissy cap, points, condenser, leads and plugs)and has been mot;d and taxed for a while but have not been happy with her running......didnt pick up on revs perfectly so i decided to time her up properly.

I set the timing to 3BTDC as stated with the carb pressure advance/retard off then set the points to just below 15thou but have been having problems with her running.

im now at a state where after playing with the timing all yesterday and getting her running like a rocket ship i went to use her after 2-3 hours(late last night) and she ran like a piece of.......£%*^$!! really slow and no revs pick up. id played with the carb tick over and choke tick over and had already discovered that she was running rich but was not sure where was correct even so id turned it down about two flats (when running sweet).

I took the plugs out this afternoon to find that they were black and once removed cleaned and replaced she once again ran well but not as well as early afternoon.

I backed the mixture right off to the point where when reved she would struggle to pick up and then inceased the mixture to where seemed right.

Im unsure of what to do next to get the mixture right and end up with no black plugs......is there another cause of plugs going black?

any information greatly received........
cheers
mark

Choke sticking on ? If the carb doesn't have a 'lift' pin - then use a thin blade screwdriver to lift the piston slightly while it's idling - if the revs increase, it's too rich - is it falters and slows it's too weak. If nothing much happens - it's just right! Make sure there is some 3 in 1 oil in the carb dashpot.

Remember to adjust or replace one thing at a time and test each component. That way you will keep track of which parts are OK and which are faulty or out of adjustment.

Don't blindly rely on years old idea of setting the ignition timing! First - determine if the vacuum advance is working - by sucking the pipe and watching to see if the dizzy baseplate moves. They rarely work after ~ 15 years - so yours may be well past it's date! Once that's working - just advance the timing little by little until you hear some pinking - then take it back slightly so there is 'just' NO pinking.