Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Raeturbo]

I reckon a lot of the breakdowns on older cars without engine management were down to the ongoing tinkering that owners indulged in!
How many people have you seen adjusting ignition timing without a strobe? Or turning carb screws 'an extra half turn?' Worn rocker arms set to specified clearances without allowing for the wear?

I'd hazard a guess most enthusiasts could get mixture and timing "good enough" by ear back in the day.

Ah, but that was never good enough!  I spent hours adjusting the two screws, checking the timing, but there always was "just another tiny adjustment"!!  When you were working on a 10 year old engine on an old banger with worn carburetor parts, it was a never ending job.

I good mate of mine, now sadly lost touch with, used to do "legal" road rallies, and was always adjusting and balancing his Webber 45s' with just his ear to the engine.  With a fag on the go at the same time, obviously.

Yes, balancing them and adjusting the mixtures was Ok, but then you needed a whole drawer full of jets and emulsion tubes to change anything else.

Jet,. emulsion tubes, chokes etc are one offs. My first car had DCOEs from the factory, and I found the linkage needed frequent adjustment. This was because its main design criteria seemed to be the use of the same throttle cable as a 1300 equipped with a single Zenith carb. Once I replaced it with £70(29 years ago) genuine Weber linkage, those problems disappeared: I'd check the balance and mixtures at a service, but they no longer needed adjusting.


And setting mixtures and timing by ear/smell is like doing V6 cam timing without the setting tools: possible, but extremely unlikely.       
                                                         Sorry, what I meant to ask was what was your first car with
 DCOE,s ? Lotus, Or H120 maybe?