Morris Minor Owners Club

Hello to all.

I have been a long term lurker on this site for a while, but now I need to exploit the endless well of knowledge that you guys possess.

A little context first.

Our car is a 1968 2 door 1000. A bit rough around the edges, but fundamentally pretty decent where it needs to be. When we bought it it had not long been serviced, fuel tank had been cleaned out and was generally running sweet. Unfortunately it is causing us an on going headache and I was hoping that someone could give me a pointer of where to go next before I start crying.

Basically we have had a rough running problem for a while. I managed to trace this down to the choke being stuck on, even when the knob was fully pressed in. After pushing it back in on the bottom of the carb and adjusting the idle down it ran like a dream. And no longer smelt rich.

For about 7 miles. Then started with the same problem. Lack of power, lumpy idle. But no longer rich smelling.

The next morning the car drove beautifully to work, but as a precaution I cleaned the points in the pump (a Hardi one that appears to not have a filter in it?), cleaned out the float bowl (pretty murky) topped up the pot with oil (wasn't low but topped up anyway). Changed the pipe from pump to carb as was old and rock solid.

Again drove lovely most of the way home, until power lacking occurred again, coupled with spitting and popping from the carb and even less power this time.

Drove to work this morning, all good, until again after about 7 or 8 miles started driving rough and lacking power. No backfiring though.

Things I have noticed:
Fuel pump gradually increases in ticking volume the longer the car is running, but IS ticking regularly.
Inline fuel filter (I know I know! But is currently very handy in monitoring fuel flow) can range from 90% full to pretty much empty after a run. Is newish and not dirty or clogged.
Coil gets pretty hot.
Tickover seems fine.
Removing fuel cap does not result in air suction.
Have had it running in the dark and no tell tale arcing going on under the bonnet.


To sum up, I don't know what to do next! Can anyone please offer a logical next step idea i will be eternally greatful.

I was thinking of rerouting the fuel pipe away from the rocker cover area to try to avoid the heat, maybe changing the condensor?

Or even better still, if there was anyone in the Norfolk or Norwich area that would be willing to have a gander in exchange for beer!

Thanks!
Tom

Sounds very similar to a problem I was having with a Triumph. Could be some garbage stuck in the fuel line. Try disconnecting the line from the pump to the tank and blowing; there shouldn't be much restriction. If there is you might need to blow some compressed air to free it and afterwards remove the tank to clean the inside and keep it from happening again.

Ah thanks a lot for the speedy reply. Will give it a go


One further thing to note is that the brass pipe that goes into the vacuum advance unit it "wobbly" in that it is movable by hand. Could this be the cause or just something to address another day?

Thanks

As above - do a fuel pump test - get it to pump two pints into a container and check how long that takes....and does the flow slow down ? But your spitting/popping/hot coil leads me very much to an ignition problem. New condenser, clean (or renew) points and see what happens. A complete drop in spare dizzy is worth it's weight in gold. Perhaps consider treating it to a new one (get the 45D) from Simonbbc or Accuspark. This would eliminate ALL ignition worries...except the coil, but then it's NEVER the coil - unless perhaps it is a 'new' one - incorrectly specified for the 12 volt system? If you have a meter - check the impedance of the coil across the two terminals...leads off of course, and report back. Also check the coil is connected right way round while you are in there. An engine compression check would be a good idea - after setting the valve gaps of course!

If you are fitting a new condenser, fit this one. http://morrisminorspares.co.uk/shop/pro ... f7f2f51011
This is the one manufactured by Distributor Doctor and the quality is second to none.
Also I would correct the issue with the vacuum advance, if the connection is suspect then it could be adding to the problem.
With problems such as these you need to be methodical, changing multiple parts at once only compounds the issue.

Aye - but if you can drop in a complete good dizzy - it tells you immediately if it's a fuel or ignition problem!

Thanks for all the advice guys. Very much appreciated.

On my tea break I ran to the local motor factors and grabbed a condensor and moved the fuel pipe over. Only had a couple of secs before I had to get back and just checked the points in the dizzy, which look a bit cruddy (corroded) will give them a rub down and see how that goes, then fit the condensor at home.

Regarding checking the fuel pump, is it just a case of disconnecting the outlet pipe from the pump to the carb and sticking it in a bottle then flicking the ignition on? What is an ideal time frame for 2 pints to be pumped through?

Thanks again.

Consider the car doing 60mph - and getting 30 mpg when doing so. So that's a mile a minute, 16 pints to be pumped in the hour = 1/4 pint each minute. So the max time to pump 2 pints would be 8 minutes...but in practice I would hope it would do it in half that time , so 4 or 5 minutes. I suggest 2 pints just to make sure the pump can keep going .. and not start to struggle (as I do...) after 1 pint......

Thanks for all the advice guys.

Just replaced the points (which were SHOT and blue and generally terrible) and replaced the condensor on my lunch break and she drove brilliantly on the short test drive that I did. Will see how the ride is on my commute home!

A word of advice to all, Morris Minors, and cars in general I understand, start a hell of a lot easier when you you put the rota arm back in..... Hmmmm.

Tom
Didn't put the rotor arm back...tut, tut !! In all the years I've never heard of that before, not much., eh ?
At least you have the classic excuse.... you were still " in shock " having cracked the problem.

May all your future classic car problems be small inexpensive ones.
Safe motoring.
Bob

Just remember if you do blow the fuel line back with compressed air to take the filler cap off, you don't want to pressurise the tank. A mate of mine did this, there was a lake of of petrol on the floor that had squirted out of the open end when he took the air line off - on his own, locking petrol cap and couldn't find the keys

The tank cap is supposed to be vented.

The vehicle involved had a tank breather but it was kinked partially blocking it. It was OK for normal running but couldn't cope with the sudden rush of pressure, maybe the vented cap could cope but I think it's wise to remove it anyway.