Hi

Can anyone recommend somewhere in or near Spalding that could setup the carbs on my Rover V8? The engine seems to be running really rich (and I am 95% certain I have the timing right now) but i appears the only adjustment on the carbs is changing jets etc...

Cheers

Mark

Have you leaned it off on the two Idle screws?

Paul

Not often you need to change the jets as they suite a 3.5 - 4ltr in standard form.

Unless its been re jetted in the past

edit

I assumed its a webber 500 carb???????

[Edited on 15/6/10 by Paul (Notts)]

try these they are of the extra efi site
they are also in spalding

/www.v8developments.co.uk/

have alook here for some ideas as to how to improve the invariably poor setup "out of the box" Set up for Edelbrock

Mark,
Just spoke to that 'race mechanic' we both know from Spalding
He asks if when you got the engine, was it set up with the carb and manifold you are currently running, as if its been running fine before it shouldn't go out of tune.
Secondly, he is asking why you think its running rich? Have you got sooty exhausts? Have you done a plug cut to check colour?
I think I remember you saying the air filter has been cleaned recently?
And then he suggested that maybe the jets are blocked? Worth getting them out and giving them a clean?
But then after that he did say if all above seems fine then a smaller jet may be needed.

One of my own suggestions now (so may be complete crap). What fuel pressure are you meant to have? Maybe that could have a bearing on the jetting if its way off.

Ok, a slight update...

I have been worrying about the carb setup for over a year as I thought the car was very smelly and wet/sooty a lot of the time. I think I nearly gassed everyone when I left Newark last year but I have only managed about 300 miles since then so not really thought that much about it until Newark started looming....

The story of my engine/carbs

I had these carbs setup to the 4.2 litre block that I had when the car went to SVA. The SVA man wouldn't take any evidence I had for the engine age so I purchased a 3.5litre block and had then re-setup for this engine.

I then put the 4.2 block back in and I think I had them setup yet again for this (or did I, it is that long ago I cannot remember!)

That 4.2 dropped a cylinder liner so the company I bought it off swapped the block for me FOC after some "discussions" to a 3.9 block (with my 4.2 internals in meaning it is still a 4.2) and re-fitted the carbs to that without touching them. The car has seemed really smelly and very wet and sooty - especially at startup - so I assumed it was running rich and the carbs weren't right for the engine.

Since the weekend I have:
Cleaned the airfilter and re-oiled (K&N type)
Oil and filter change
Re-fitted the silencers stopping the leaks in the exhaust
Found TDC and set the timing to 6 degrees static
(I also discovered tonight that my choke cable was crap and not forcing the choke fully off )

The fuel pressure was well within the limits for the carbs when I installed the regulator. As I understand it the way these carbs work if the pressure is too high the carbs will just overflow from the chambers that the jets get the fuel from (can't remember their name) but it won't affect the fuel going into the engine at all. It might be worth checking what pressure they are running at again though, give me an excuse to get the gauge out

Since doing all of the above I have just run the engine for a bit and it actually seems a lot better tonight so I may have been panicking about the carbs for no reason!

Thanks for the comments, I will certainly look into some of them to see if I can get it better still.

I might even pop it to V8 developments to see if they can help.

Regards

Mark

A plug cut will be a good indication of its true running condition.

Showing my ignorance... what is a plug cut?

get engine running and nice and warm, then get it to about 3 to 4000 rpm and then cut the ignition. Take the plugs out (be a bit warm) and check colour. The idea is that it gives you an idea of how the engine is running. Checking the plugs normally, ie after engine has cooled a bit or is at idle can give a false reading. Cutting the RPM higher should show the colour as its running.

Thread HERE
about plug chops

Cheers

Fred W B

Hi All

Did an plug cut as suggested and they are off white (maybe slightly brown) so I think it is about right! I am really confused... All I can think is that by getting the timing right I have managed to get everything back as it should be! No wet soot, and it seems to be running fine!!

The only slightly odd thing now is the car smells of fresh hot oil when it is running now but there are no leaks or anything!

I am happy so see you all at Newark

Mark

I heard off here that Lincoln test and tune were half decent with webbers. I have no idea if this is true or not however.