Kevin Runs like a dream, but then won't restart.

[muhnkee_2]

Hey wise minor owners,
I have been enjoying some nice longish drives in Kevin my 1956 minor, covering 60 miles in the last two weeks, but I have quite a serious complication!
My car starts fine, first thing in the morning and idles well for the first 10 minutes or so, but as my journey goes on and I stop and start at the lights, the idle gets rougher and rougher and then the problem really starts!
If the car then does stall, I can't restart him for love or money, the engine is turning over, but it does not catch.
If I wait some time - like half an hour then he starts fine and I can carry on fine, but now I am afraid to stop - for example for petrol!
I am not in anyway mechanical, but am willing to learn, but does this problem sound familiar to anyone?
Any top tips greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Greg

[Budgie]

Hmmm could be that the petrol in the pump / hose is vaporising due to the heat in the engine bay during this warm weather there for causing Kevin to stall and when she cools down and the petrol "condenses " back to fluid , all is normal again but I'm sure some one will be along shortly with another possibility.

p.s. if the said problem is vaporization then insulate the hose and all should be well.

[bmcecosse]

The clue to the above would be - the fuel pump would be clicking away constantly.... Insulating the pipe is pretty much a waste of time..... (although some do believe in it) . I would suspect a failing condenser inside the distributor.

[whyperion]

Mixture too rich?

[LouiseM]

causing Kevin to stall and when she cools down

A female Kevin - unusual

[muhnkee_2]

As always - thanks to all for their advice.
I am off camping with my scout troop this weekend but will hopefully get some time on Sunday evening to start tracking down the issue, i will check how rich he/she is running, then take her for a run and listen to the fuel pump to see if its sucking too much, then swap the condensor out for a spare i have at home, then go for an even longer run and see what happens!
And yes, Kevin is a little bit confused, my grandfather named her after his aunt Nell, he even got the plate personalised plate in NZ for her "ANELL" - (and no, he never got the joke). Then when the car was passed to me when granddad died and i renamed him and changed his/her gender in honour of my grandfather (Kevin), so thats why he changes gender so often!

[jaekl]

What is the duration of the rough idle until it dies? If it's relatively short as less than a minute, I'd check the fuel pump itself in that the points need to be cleaned or replaced. When our family joined the Minor life, our first car would do that. Run great and then just die. Let it sit and we were off again. All it needed was a little emery paper over the points and all was fine.