Another Grand (+ 1/2) Down The Tube...

[coupe72001]

My carby specialist is happy to replace/reprofile the needles to get a richer burn at the top end at the first available date... January 7, 2008.

Looks like Ill be short-shifting for the festive season. Probably just as well.

[blind_elk]

What grade oil are you running in the dampers? If you run a lighter oil, then the needles will rise further, allowing more fuel to be delivered for a given air flow.

[coupe72001]

Finally some news.

I took the car to Randy at Nissco in Bayswater and he diagnosed the problem to be the air-fuel mixture as being way to lean. At high RPM my car could hit 20:1 air-to-fuel, as opposed to 13.5:1, the ideal ratio.

So... I had to go back to my fuel guy and ask him to sort it out, which was kind of awkward, especially seeing I'd already paid him that lazy grand-and-a-half. He said that he would replace or machine the needles and see if that made a difference.

Fast forward a month or two and I finally got my car back. Putting the needles on a lathe and feathering the ends has added 32bhp at the rear wheels. The latest Dyno found at 122bhp at the rear and the car basically flies. It will also hit any number you choose on the taco without any hesitation like before.

The SU's are now full of automatic transmission fluid, to answer Mr Elk's question, unlike my old Austin Kimberly (now that was a really bad-ass car) that ran Singer Sewing Machine oil in its single SU. Apparently there is a genuine SU lubricant that is between ATF and sewing-machine oil in viscosity, but I've not come across it yet.

The grinding noise from the rear end is actually due to a really badly worn caliper. An engineer found the problem by yanking on the handbrake cable really violently and the whole unit slopped around everywhere!

Anyway... thanks to everyone who posted a suggestion in this thread. Hopefully 2008 is going to be a more merciful year on my car and my sanity.

Cheers for you help guys!

[Factory 5]

yeh i was at NIssco yesterday... saw your lil ad up on the billboard looking for bits!

he sure knows his stuff!

(so friggin busy though, i waited 1.5 hours just to ask him a question)