oh and it is starting to stink of petrol, mainly when the tank is over half.

Thanks Xmas and Sean for the comments regarding the cylinder heads, I'll adjust the valve clearances first to get a hang of taking the covers off and wing to familiarise myself. I think I should double check the carb first before whipping the heads off just to rule it out.

If the smell is tank contents dependent, then the tank is where you want to start looking. It's a doddle to get to - just take the four nuts off the side panel on the passenger side.

Nice one, that'll be next on my list to have a gander at, I just was wondering whether it was related to the fact it may be running rich, the smell comes through the front of the car through the vents.

Alkie,
maybe for those poor souls who think that putting _lots_ more fuel than is needed into the mixture produces more power?
Or for racing, as open filters and almost straight through exhausts seem to require richer mixtures.

First thing you need to check is the variant of 26/35 carb which is fitted on the Acadiane. The numbers cast into the offside face of the carb body will be either 18 & 26 or 21 & 24. The corresponding standard jet sizes would have been 102.5 or 105 primary and 87.5 or 90 secondary for the former type, then 120 or 125 primary and 70 secondary for the latter.

The only difficulty that might arise is determining whether or not someone's put a drill through them, without marking them to indicate that they're no longer 'standard'...

ken.

Cheers Ken, should have checked ages ago but kept forgetting until I'd shut the bonnet and set off...

I've got a 18 & 26 carb

May I ask why the difference in size, is this too correspond with engine wear throughout its life? Or just give a slight difference in performance vs economy?

I have a little pool of oil in my air filter too.

Just getting to know this car, I know Neil has worked a lot on it, but its knowing what changes the previous owner to me has. Need to test compression and make a manometer to get a better idea methinks. Nee



Not sure I understand this, do you mean some people run them a bit rich on purpose to get more power? I just wonder if the previous owner to me has set it up rich to hide any other problems.

Gearbox side is also covered in oil so wonder if thats where the fumes are coming from, seeing as its above the cross box.

In the mistaken idea that more petrol in means more speed, but a petrol engine needs a carefully balanced mix of air to petrol.

there was also refurb kits available, ecas were able to warn people that the jets were too rich for normal use, others either didnt realise, or just punted them on

Sean

As Sean says,
plus, it's not unknown for a jet from one type of carb to be fitted into the other type.

In the worst case scenario, fitting a 120 or 125 primary petrol jet from a 21.24 carb into an 18/26 carb would mean it's using 'around' 25% more fuel on the primary choke than is needed.

Engines are much less sensitive to rich mixtures than lean mixtures, so with such a rich mixture, the driver may not notice any problem unless the point is reached where it starts 'eight stroking'.
Low mpg, or sooty staining of the nearside rear wheel if it's a side exit exhaust are other clues...

ken.

After dismantling the carb it turns out I've got a 120 primary jet, and the correct 87.5 secondary jet.

That would explain the soot coming from the exhaust.

Thanks Ken!

i noticed my car oil has gone down a bit in the last few days, i last checked it on wedensday, it was low, so i toppped it up (slightly to much, just over the top mark on the dipstick, but only just, and 200 miles later its just below the middle, well hardly below but only just, like half a mm
my car doesnt blue blue smoke, im going to change the oil soon anyway before it gets cold, is it neccasary to an engine flush if im using oil like that? it always uses oil, but i hadnt topped up ouil in about 2 months before i did a few days ago, and i normall have it halfway between top and bottom mark, and after 2 months it got to bottom mark, ill keep an eye on it in the next week though

I'm not sure regarding flushing, there seem to be two trains of thought what I've read on the forums. It seems to me that some consider flushing could cause settled gunk to move and actually block the oil pipes. I just ran it with some 15w/40 to give it a light flush almost for the sake of it just to get any stray muck out. The oil is refusing to go fully black even now, so it must have done something.

I actually think with my car that its not actually burning oil, its just leaking as the undertray is quite soiled, and the sooting up of the back wheel is due to the over rich mixture.