So since buying the new car, I'vd been progressively doing small bits (servicing/new rad/hoses/track rod ends etc.). I must confess that I'm purely a 'bolt on' mechanic and have never stripped down a engine etc (did a clutch once on my driveway, balancing a gearbox on my chest to get it off/on = not again).

Engine is a 1600 x flow, BCF2 cam, twin 40 webbers, high pressure oil pump (65psi) and some light fettling

So yesterday my brother in law taught me how to adjust the valve clearances (tappets), they were all completely out. But now the tappety noise has gone, there is quite a constant light knock from the front of the engine. So we used the old trick of getting an enormous screwdriver and listening to different parts of the engine and think there is something wrong with the distributor. Any ideas?

This leads me on to conveniently to my next question, I am planning to remove the carbs to get to the distributor as they completely cover it. So the carbs are over fueling badly (fuel dripping from the filters) and will need a session of tuning on a rolling road etc. Is it worth me replacing them with a set of bike carbs instead, are they a better option?

p.s. I took it out for a spin with my mate and he said they it was smoking under load (nailing through the gears) and all other times there was nothing?). Oil pressure is 65/70 psi most of the time, sometime on tick over drops to 30/40 ish.

[Edited on 4/10/15 by Robsparky99]

dont think that the dizzy will cause a knocking noise...but its difficult to tell without hearing.

once you have the dizzy out...do you a favour...whatever dizzy you are fitting (the old one or a new one)...convert it to point-less ignition with a hall-effect module (accuspark, ignitor, hotspark), incl.new cap and rotor....this will make things less complicated.

when setting valve clearances you respected that the valve sequence change? its not in/ex, in/ex, in/ex, in/ex

ex/in, in/ex, ex/in, in/ex

Yes, worth selling the carbs and going for bike carbs. Bike carbs are easy to set up and don't go out like webers and will give you a better mpg.

Also with the cash go over to a trigger wheel and coil pack??

Yes I think that's how we did the tappets (roughly 0.30mm inlet, 0.45mm exhaust due to the cam).

Not a great shot, but can you tell what I have already?



Are you suggesting this - Ford X-Flow Fast Road Distributor + Performance pack 1

Nope, a trigger wheel on the front pulley and a edis and coil pack off a zetec. Add a megajolt and you have full 3d mapping.

http://trigger-wheels.com/store/contents/en-uk/d13.html

I'm moving my rover v8 over to ford edis and coil packs.

Bought the trigger shell off the site and sourced the other stuff on here and eBay much cheaper.

And I've no idea why my tablet changes wheel to shell....

Rattles and chatter from distributor centrifugal advance bob weights was not unknown back in the old days the cause is wear and lack of lubrication --- only really a tiny amount of lubrication is required a single tiny drop on the screw under the rotor am and a tiny amount on the bob weight pivots under the base plate.

Re fuel dripping from carbs the carbs aren't over fueling the problem is most likely your fuel pump is producing to high a pressure, the float valves on Weber carbs were not designed to work with high pressure fuel pumps.

[Edited on 4/10/15 by britishtrident]

The smoking is also likely down to over fuelling. It will chuck black smoke out of the exhaust if you throw too much fuel at it.

quote:

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Originally posted by Robsparky99
Yes I think that's how we did the tappets (roughly 0.30mm inlet, 0.45mm exhaust due to the cam).

Not a great shot, but can you tell what I have already?

---

Thank you everyone so much for the help!

Over fuelling sounds interesting and something i'll look into. I'll also have a look at the distributor as suggested.

I have taken off the webbers to get a better look at the Distributor and oil pump.

Can anyone tell me what Distributor I have got?












I'm looking to take it out, is there anything I need to do before I do this?

thats interesting.....my last sylva phoenix is equipped with a similar dizzy...and i also wondered where it originally comes from.

i guess such dizzys have been fitted to later fiesta´s ...but i´m not sure. its a Bosch one.

usually such dizzy´s are bomb-prove

mine has mechancial advance,but no vacuum advance. yours have vacuum, but mechanical too i guess?

can you google the number on the white label of the electronic part?


[Edited on 7/10/15 by alfas]

Your distributor looks like it might be from a Valencia engine , normally fitted to some of the older Fiesta's. The only way to be certain that I can think of is to check the part number on the distributor body. It could also be a distributor from a specialists modified to suit your engine?