Okay, so, later than everyone else, I'm sure, I've coaxed my Mk2 HL automatic into life after the winter lay-up, and as per usual it has led me a merry dance in the process. In fact I've come up with a new name for it - The Bitch - and I'm considering adorning it with movie memorabilia from the Joan Collins movie of that name.
So what was the problem this time? Well, it just wouldn't go. It was turning over healthily, it had a spark, and it was doing it's impression of James Stewart's 'Flight Of The Phoenix' again with its 'whirr-whirr-cough-splutter-bang-pop-pop-stall' routine. Ages and ages it went on like this and when it did catch for a bit, it sounded like it was on three - or two - cylinders. Why, I did not know, because last time it ran, it was not like that. Admittedly it was six months ago nearly, but I've
never ever had a classic car so stubborn to start after a winter lay-up. That Wolseley Hornet I had with a 998cc A Series caught after three attempts. But The Bitch never fails to frustrate.
So thinking it was stale petrol, I syphoned as much out as I could into a 20 litre jerry can, jacking the front of the car up to assist. Piped the fuel pump up straight to a can of fresh Super Unleaded on the floor near the sump. Finally I got it to catch, after a supreme effort - all credit to the battery - but I had about 50% of the cylinders. Putting the new petrol into the tank, I got it to run for a few minutes, but it was sick. Then I decided to do the one thing I didn't want to do, and I took off the new SU float chamber lids (I didn't want to do it because I fitted new lids and gaskets because the old gaskets were always damp with petrol and smelled when I was driving) and the rear carb showed a full chamber, but the front one was - well not bone dry, but pretty much empty. Ah, no wonder I've only got two and a bit cylinders then. Back on with the old floats, and she runs. Two new float chambers from Burlen Fuels, bought last year but only fitted three weeks ago, and one of them is faulty and isn't letting anything in. I never thought to blow through them before fitting them. I checked and set the float heights as per the instruction sheet, by bending the float arm, but I
never thought to blow through them. Now I've got to see if I've got any warranty I can claim on. I've got an inline fuel filter fitted so it cannot be crap out of my fuel tank in my opinion, that's blocked the offending float up.
I've read in the Haynes manuals about setting the float height by holding the lid upside-down and using a 1/8" drill to check the gap between the upturned lid and where the top of the float falls, but have never done it before. My old floats (or at least the ones that came back after the carburettor 'rebuild') are not settable, as they just have a white hinged plastic float that acts directly onto the needle valve, and no bendable metal arm.
So the next thing to mention is, yes, putting an 88 degree wax thermostat in, instead of the standard 82 degree thermostat,
does make the engine warm up quicker and run hotter. I never doubted it. After all, why would there be different thermostats for different climates if it didn't influence the running temperature of the engine? And the reason I wanted a hotter thermostat is because my more efficient radiator core is taking away too much heat and making my engine take too long to warm up and run too cool. And to anyone who thought the sender to my temperature gauge had gone faulty, the new thermostat makes the gauge read higher and it is not on the edge of the blue zone. In fact the engine had warmed up to full operating temperature
before the thermostat even began to open. However I'm still not entirely happy. I took the car out for a reasonable drive, picking up some more fresh fuel along the way, and after months of driving my insipid 1600 automatic Astra that has got about as much oomph as the 1300cc Honda Insight hybrid I hired five years ago, I was impressed with my Marina's throttle response and acceleration. It's almost a superior car to drive to the Astra, if it weren't for the 'old car' shake, rattle, and roll. But with the new 88 degree thermostat, gone is the hesitation and near-stalling at standstill from the slow warm-up, but the gauge needle now rests slightly past the halfway mark. It didn't get anywhere near the red on this warmish Spring evening, but I'm a bit worried it might be a bit too much on a summer's day in heavy traffic. I think what I
really need is an 85 degree thermostat....
Either that or source an original 1.8 Marina radiator and sacrifice my 200 quid re-core job.
I think if there's no such thing as a suitable sized thermostat that opens at about 84 or 85 degrees C (does anybody know?) I'll get a brand new 82 degree one and put that in, rather than put the old one back, to see if that makes any difference.
But it runs...
https://youtu.be/O9Fg6w0ZueU
This is the offending float chamber.