Triumph Spitfire Carburetor - eesh...

So I started the latest round with the carburetor this evening. Headed over to Mum's with a spare carb, tools, and determination. Got down there, did some mixing and matching of parts, tweaked a bunch of settings on the carb, and got her running properly!

Made it around the block just fine, then drove Mum around the block. All excited we got ready to head off to the DMV to get the emissions test. As I wen to pull the car out to go to Emissions it just died. Dead as a doornail!

WE pushed it back into the garage, and I set back to work fiddling with the carb and timing. I'd get it running, then hop in to drive it and it would die. Finally, I noticed as I was watching the carb and mum was hitting the accelerator pedal that there wasn't any fuel coming into the carb. Disconnected the fuel line, turned it over a few times, and no gasoline. Now I'd already replaced the fuel filter and the fuel pump earlier, and figured that there was something in the lines or tank that was plugging the fuel system.

Got down to trace my way back through the entire system, and lo and behold, what do I find? A *second* fuel filter installed in a hard to see location. And the best part, this fuel filter was installed *backwards*!

Slapped a new fuel filter in place and in the correct orientation.....
Sucked a bunch of the air out of the fuel line to prime it with gasoline....
Got in, turned the key, waited a moment and VROOOOOM~!

Decided to see if it had power, so threw it into first, stomped on the accelerator and left rubber in the garage.

So tomorrow, it's time to retune everything and take it through emissions!

The Gentleman's Express

As a result of the discussions of late, and the great amount of assistance I recieved from Hal Kendall, I've been able to start converting The Gentleman's Express: Tech-Tips from the JIOC to the web. It took a little programming and a little editing, but I've managed to get chapter 1 online. I'll bee adding the future chapters over the coming weeks (depending on the rate of insomnia here, which is quite high). You can see the work to date here:
http://www.theymightberacing.com/Literature/GentlemansExpress.aspx

Cheers!
Jody

Lightened Flywheels

I ran across this article the other day. It's a great, but simple, explanation of the value of lightening your flywheel. It goes through the mathematics of the effects of removing weight from the flywheel and it's apparent effects.

Here's the link: http://www.pumaracing.co.uk/FLYWHEEL.htm

2002 Toyota Corolla Rear Struts

This weekend was spent changing out the rear struts on SWMBO's 2002 Toyota Corolla. It's a pretty easy job with the only real catch being having to disconnect the brake lines.

You can read more about it at: http://www.theymightberacing.com/Maintenance/TC02/RearStruts.aspx

Jody

Upcoming items

So, with the garage nice and cool, it's time to catch up on projects. Here's what's coming in the near future.

• Rebuilding the Stromberg Carburetor on the 1978 Triumph Spitfire 1500


• Rebuilding the brake master cylinder on the 1978 Triumph Spitfire 1500


• Completing the brake rebuild on the 1953 Studebaker Champion


• Replacing the rear struts in the 2002 Toyota Corolla


• Rebuilding the rear end for the 1974 Jensen Healey project (5speed rear)

And then on, and then on, etc.

Jody

The AC is in!

So, the garage here at TheyMightBeRacing.com has been revolutionized. We now have air conditioning and life is good! http://www.theymightberacing.com/ShopTech/AirConditioning.aspx.

Jody

Stupid Garage Trick #576

I don't think there's a single car guy that doesn't have one of these old Vitamin-D lights. Here's a trick I recently discovered. IF you swap out that old bulb for one of the new compact flourescents you can not only run a much brighter bulb, but it's also much hardter to break. The one in the picture above has been dropped, dragged and tossed multiple time and still functions perfectly. As a bonus side effect, it's a better environmental choice!

Cheers!
Jody

Getting ready for garage improvements

So, a lot of you will think I'm nuts, but considering it's 5 am and I'm sweating before the sun comes up, believe me I need AC in the garage. For the next week all my car projects are temporarily put on hold as I do some improvements to the garage, most notably will be the gattling-gun style overkill air conditioning unit.
I picked it up from Home Depot last night, got it home, and attempted to put it into the garage only to discover that I couldn't fit the box in the room. On top of the standard junk, the family junk, and the two cars, I'd forgotten about the Studebaker brakes spread out on one half of the workbench, and the Triumph Spitfire carburetor and master cylinder on the other half! Add that to a full Jensen Healey 5 speed rear end under foot and the random goodies I'd stockpiled since the last good garage clean, and it's just a nightmare out there.
So far, a good hour's worth of sorting and shifting and I can move around again, another hour or so, and I should be able to roll the Jensen Healey out of the garage, shift the Austing Healey 3000 over to it's spot, and then I can access the wall, once I move the rolling shelving. eesh.
From there, it'll be cutting a hole in the wall and reinforcing it, adding a 220V circuit (which I've been wanting out there anyways, - note to self, should probably put an extension electrical box on sometime soon I'm out of circuits for a big compressor) plugging the AC in, and then I'll be able to store sides of beef in there while working on cars. :)
I can't wait for my garage to be cold!
Jody