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.