Rich

[Johnno]

Hi all,still having problems with rough running on my ‘52 side valve.Rebuilt carb,reground all valves and all valve springs are same length.Tappets set at 17 thou timing checked.Compression roughly equal on all cylinders.Trouble with initial starting and then engine ‘hunts’.What else can I do?
Thanks,John.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Taking it the correct needle was fitted to the carb and correctly centred I would check the jet isn't sticking. These old H type carbs with the cork glands can sometimes cause the jet to stick down, not returning when you dispense with the choke.

[Johnno]

All correct,centred and not sticking,big spark,timing checked.Now not starting at all.

[RobThomas]

Bob weight come loose in the distributor?

[Johnno]

Checked that this morning Rob,all ok.
It will start instantly with a whiff of easy start but the cuts out.Does this point to carburettor? I can see nothing wrong with it though.

[RobThomas]

Might possibly be crudded up at the bottom of the float chamber where it leads up to the needle. Can you lift out the brass float? It does sound like a lack of fuel getting through. Does the piston visibly rise when it first fires?

[Johnno]

Thanks for reply Rob,the carburettor is spotless in and out.Jet centred correctly and piston free.Just can’t see anything wrong anywhere.Despair time now.

[Johnno]

Well,here’s a thing.Thought I would try once again.Half choke,couple of tickles on the float and,,,,,,,,,,fired up and ticked over perfectly! My car is not named Maggie Mae for nothing! Apologies girls but most women/ girls are slightly temperamental.I’ll just sit back and wait for the flack.
Thanks to all who took the trouble to try and help.

[sparesman]

Had similar problems with my S2 Traveller. Would tickover ok with choke out but driving up road under load it would misfire and cut out after short distance. Left for while and it restarted. Turned out , after rebuilding or replacing carb , petrol pump and ignition parts, that there was crud in the petrol tank being drawn up and blocking the pickup pipe in the tank.