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December 2003
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Sorry for the long time since the last update, I went to Lapland with my wife and children for a few days to see
Santa and do all of the things that you do up there. I only got back last night so haven't made too much progress since the last update.
I also need to thank all of you who sent me e-mails after the SVA disaster - it was all great encouragement guys
and I'm ready to enter the fray again. The letter from the SVA station was less encouraging, we're keeping £50, call us when you are ready - not their fault, those are the rules.
The probems that I have to overcome are the non-working speedo and the emissions levels. Of the two, the
speedo is proving the harder, but more of that later. As far as the emissions levels are concerned, I have purchased a set of float valves which I hope will cure the problem. The pressure regulator is in the single fuel line running from the fuel tank, before it splits and goes to each carb. Therefore, if one carb is running well, and the other isn't, it must be something to do with that carb, and the float valve is the only thing I haven't changed.
There is a reason for not changing the float valve, and that is because removing the float retaining pin is
difficult, and I have had some bad experiences in the past. When I had the Leader, I went through three Dellorto DHLA40 float chamber tops because removing or fitting the pin snapped the lugs that the float pins went through. At least on those, I could buy a new top, on the Bings the lugs are cast into the carb body, so if I break one I'm stuffed! I need to spend some time and work out how to get the pins out safely.
And now to the speedo. I have an 80mm electronic speedo with a hall effect sender driven from the gearbox
speedo drive. All of this came from Speedy Cables, and was made by Caerbont, badged Smiths. I have tested the wiring and it seems OK, I am getting a signal from the hall effect sensor, but the speedo doesn't react.
The reason for the problem is Speedy Cables and Caerbont. For over a week I have not been able to get hold of
anyone technical from Speedy Cables instrument division (and there have been lots of excuses), and Caerbont say that Speedy cables provide their technical support!!! The final straw today was ringing at 11am to get an answerphone telling me thier opening hours were from 9 - 5 and to call back between those times, so I sent a "snotagram" by e-mail but I despair of any response. All I can say is be very careful when choosing your instrumenmt supplier, and note that Smiths, Telemetrix and Greengauges are all Caerbont brands. I wouldn't buy from them again, I'll let you know if they deign to respond. |
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Oh dear, I hadn't realised that it had been so long between updates. Problem is, there isn't much to report. I
had half a days work on it last weekend where I made progress, but still haven't got the emissions down.
I ordered up some float valves assemblies and fitted one of them to the nearside carb, which is the one with
the horrendous CO2 levels, and also adjusted the float valve so that it cut off the fuel earlier than it should. That brought the CO2 levels down to about 7 on each side after I had put the monometer on it to balance the whole thing up.
The next approach is to add a spill line - this is basically a fuel line coming off a T from the highest point in
the main fuel line (which is just where the existing split is between the two carbs) back to the fuel tank, which is achieveed by adding another T between tank and pump. The idea is that any excess pressure just pushes back to the tank via the spill line so that fuel isn't pushed past the float valves. First thing is to put the first T in and run it to a petrol can and see what happens. Adding in the new line back to the tank and adding the rear T won't be a trivial exercise.
The speedo may be resolved. It appears that I had reversed the switch settings i.e. set the switches from the
most significant place rather than the least significant place. Cock-up on my part, although I maintain that the services has been less than sparkling, and the documentation isn't great (something they themselves admit). I wouldn't use them again.
The reason progress is slow is that Christmas, and all of its various activities is taking my time, as is a looming
year end at work. I haven't given up or lost the enthusiasm, I just need a 36 hour working day to fit everything in. |
