Revenge of the Killer Rabbit

I never did get round to looking into the carb flooding and because I was catching lifts to work all week and the weather was poor I decided to leave it until later. On Friday Chris was unable to take me so I had to either drive or ride my wifes bike (yup, still not fixed my one). I took the car.
Being a sensible (yeh right) chap I thought I had better take the car for a spin on Thursday afternoon to check it out. She started first time and off I went. I got round the corner and approached the junction at the end of the road and then the engine started to cough and splutter and seemed to have dropped a cylinder. I managed to bump it up the kurb to have a look. It was still running but just would not rev. I pulled the plug leads off one by one. 3 and 4 were doing nothing. It had to be fuel. I switch the engine off took the fuel line off the rear carb and there was fuel. I took the float cover off and low and behold it was dry as a bone. I took the needle valve out and found it to be sludged up. I blew it through and refitted it (must buy a fuel filter). The car started and was fine.
I drove to and from work with no problems and was quite please.
This morning (Saturday) I needed to drive to the next town to pick up a parcel from the sorting office. I took the MG for an early morning drive, nice sunshine and nobody on the road. Nice. As I drove down the counrty road to civilisation a group of rabbits (flock, pack, brood??) ran across the road. Knowing how suicidal they are I never bother to turn on my lights to see if they would freeze in their tracks but decided to carry straight on. Besides if they were stupid enough to cross the road while I'm on it the that's their problem. Needless to say I hit one of them with my right front tyre (ok I ran it over) and saw it in my rear view mirror as it was flicked across to the left side of the road. Ho hum, more road kill for the foxes. I continued on my way.
After a few hundred yards to car began to slow and loose a little power. I was going down hill at the time so it was hardly noticeable. I pulled away at the end of the road and then the engine just died. I managed to have enough momentum to coast into the bus stop by the side of the road. Oops, I did not have my phone on me. Nothing unusual there then.
Suspecting a fuel problem again I removed the float cover and it was empty. I removed the fuel pipe to the chamber and no fuel came out. Surely I could not have used all the fuel I put in the car last week as I had hardly driven it. And yes the fuel gauge still does not work. Mental note buy a sender unit asap. I checked the pump was running with the ignition on and the fuel pipe disconnected. Nothing. I quick glance under the car revealed the problem.

It appears that the unlucky rabbit, with its last breath and muscle spasm managed to pull the connector for the fuel pump wire off. Either that or some part of its flattened body snagged it as the car ran over it. It must have been this wire that flung the rabbit to the left as I went over. I reconnected the wire and all was well again. So MG owners beware the killer rabbit, the ones with wire cutters for teeth are to be avaoided at all costs.

More picture trouble

Hopefully you should now see my weeping core plug. Nice.

Get the Smelling Salts, He's Passed Out

Well blow me down with a feather. I seem to have had some good luck for a change. I'm sure tomorrow will be another day and the natural order of things will return. But what the hey, enjoy the upward spiral.
I managed to get the car to the MOT station last Saturday. I asked a friend to follow me just incase I broke down. Confidence was obviously high. The only issues with the drive down there was some smoke from the exhaust both on the overrun and while accelerating heavily. After about 3-4 minutes it cleared and was ok for the rest of the 4 mile trip. Once there I made my excusses regarding the wiper switch (Yes I have ordered one). All the checks went fine, the only point of note was the brake pipes were showing signs of corrosion. Not enough to result in a failed test but still a job for the list. Given my blase regard for my own personal safety I'm sure to forget until it's too late. We'll see. The brake roler test was fine and the tester even put the emissions probe up my pipe and told me the CO levels were very high. As the car is too old for the emmisions to be part of the test I simply told him I had not had a chance to tune it up yet. While the tester tottered off to his PC to request and print the MOT pass certificate I noticed the exhaust was starting to get more smokey. Hmmm.
With MOT in hand I headed for home via the nearest pertol station. My mood was much better and my confidence grew when I was able to put in some more fuel. Yes I still have not sorted out the fuel sender.
I put a few miles on the car on Sunday but due to social engagements this was limited. The real testing would have to be done to and from work.
Oh yeh. I found out the Chirping noise was comming from the tail pipe so this was removed to have the hole in the end plate enlarged. Once refitted the little birdy was gone.
Monday morning was damp and nasty but the car did start first time and got me and my driving partner to work with no problems other than a higher than desired idle speed. We also manage to get home ok as well at the end of the day. I had a play with the idle speed that evening and got it better.
Tuesday morning the car started first time but this time I seemed to have a sticking throttle and this was the cause of some more high idle speed. The engine temperaturwes have remained below 90c and the oil pressure has been good.
Wednesday started first time and like the other days it did seem to strugle to turn over for the first time. Probably due to the timing only being done by ear. After work I set to adjusting the timing. In order to get the timing marks some where near correct the dizzy had to be turned nearly 1/8 of a turn, quite a lot inignition circles you know. After this I ballanced the carbs and made a rough setting to the mixture using the lifting pins.
Thursday morning the car started first time and was not bogged down for the intitial rotation. This confirms it was the timing causing the problem. I have yet to give the car any serious amounts of right foot due to the core plug (yes the one I put in the wrong way round) is still weeping. I should had the replacement by the weekend so plan to do it right this time and also fill with antifreeze solution and change the oil and filter.


Thrusday afternoon was adifferent story though. Due to heavy traffic on the A13 I decided to take the old road to avoid the traffic. Yeh right. Anyone from south Essex will understand, you can't get away from the traffic but you have to try. We joined the old road and then crawled the next mile or so. I kept a keen eye on the temperature gauge and although it did go up it never went above 90c. It also returned back to it's normal just over 80c when we got going again. Of course it's never quite as simple as that.
Just before we got to the end of the conjestion I notice some smoke from the exhaust. This continued until after we got back up to speed. hopefully it is just an indication that I am using too much fuel in a hot engine or that I have a sticky needle valve in the carbs causing one to flood slightly (the engine revs did drop and flutter a bit while we were in the traffic)
I shall check all the plugs at the weekend to get some idea of the mixture. I may even dig out my colourtune and do the job correctly.
So lets pray for a good drive tomorrow and a good weekend. I'm sure you will get to hear about it soon.