Hi everyone, Robin here, well the steering box is in and so are the leavers and it starts, amazing, now the down side, it dosn't run great, firstly the battery dosn't want to turn the engine over so I have put that on charge will have to wait and see if it needs replacing, when its under load it is only registering 2 volts on a meter,and when its not it is registering just under six, Ive also tried adjusting the distributor, is the dot on the cap by the timing needle supposed to sit roughly in front of the needle? and central to the little gradient lines below, also on the valve chest cover ,(think thats right), there is a hole with two bolts, one either side, fumes and oil come out of this, is it supposed to have a down tube fitted or is it the wrong cover, I cannot see a tube listed in the books, Hope you are all having a great weekend, cheers, Robin.

Hi Robin,

Sorry, can't help you with the distributor (I have magneto engines). The battery may need replacing if the voltage (measured at the battery terminals) drops dramatically under load when it's fully charged. It's a 421 and they are also fitted to MGBs. The valve cover should have 4 small holes in the top part of the cover, just above the Austin script. You can see a picture here - place your mouse pointer on BC70.

Hope this helps,

David

Robin

A fully charged good condition battery should read 6.75 volts. I suspect if you put a hydrometer into the acid it will be in the red sector, sounds like a new battery.

The approx 50amphour(Ahr) batteries are approx £47.50, if like me you want a lot of reserve, then a approx 80Ahr is around £65, 99% of the people I know use the 50Ahr battery.

Re. distributor, the pointer is normally set for centre of scale, the actual major adjustment / lining-up is by pulling the whole distributor up and almost out (fully) if you want to check the grease on the gearwheel for the dynamo drive - worthwhile.

IF the cars running OK'ish leave alone. In Cornwall we tend to have No.1 piston (the one next to radiator) lead from the dizzi cap in the 'top' right hand hole as seen stood looking at the dizzi from the offside of engine and this is the RH end of the straight part of the cap which will be 'roughly' in line with the centre line of the car..... if that makes sense.

Click on this and it should take you to my file on Imageshack.us (I use this on a model railway forum).

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8108/ignition1apv8.jpg

You will see a band on the No.1 lead, it's part of the culture of some of us in Cornwall - and if on a trip in a bunch, and somebody has a spare, they are all the same timing format..... The other end (all 4 leads) I use 'earth' insulation tape - the one with a lot of green/yellow bands on it, cut to give 1, 2 3 or 4 bands of yellow on the green background.

Any questions - I have 2 RP's, one on the road the othe completely stripped down.......

Sandy
Cornwall A7 Club
A7CA Registrar

Any Questions.... well after tonight (Sunday) I'm away for a week, so there may be a delay in replying if directed at me!!!!!!

The house is not empty - family at home, for those looking at this site for other reasons.....

Sandy