Right then guys,

Thanks for the advice, Ken, when I get in tomorrow I'll break the strobe out and check it dynamically, also I'll clean the air filter out beforehand so I'm not trying to set it up while it's potentially running off song. Hopefully that'll cure it, but I'll fit the jet and plugs when they turn up and double check it later in the week.

Before then;

I'll reset the valve clearances, check I've set the points gap correctly, retorque the heads and generally double check everything as advised here.

My old man usually tells me it's something simple and don't worry unduly that world is about to end, if this was a normal week and I was just fiddling with it then it'd be easier to do, but what with my past experiences this year I am panicking like a girl about the whole 600 mile trek to Czech, Neil and I don't have the best record at completing long journeys...



As a side note, I don't want to upset the applecart further here, but I've had a few PM's from a few of you tech fellas today about the advice given by one contradicting the advice given by another.

I am not about to suggest that anybody is nesscersarily wrong, or should not reply to a tech query. You're all far more experienced than those of us who run the site, and we're quite happy to have all of you answer questions based on your wide experience of driving and fixing A-series cars down the years. From our view, it's nice to hear several different views. If you feel the advice given by another is wrong, or different to what you'd have suggested, then I'd sooner you offered your (very welcome!) advice and accepted that nobody here is about to deliberately offer duff advice, just that which they have based on thier experiences.

I'm sorry that some of you have become annoyed here, I hope you appreciate our position, and that it's hard for us to take the side or opinion of one expert over another in who should or should not offer advice.

Thanks again for the help so far with my sloth-like Ami, rest assured I'm bound to be back here asking something daft again this week....

Righty ho,

just checked compression, with the throttle wide open it's reading 135psi both sides.

Just about to go and attack it with a strobe as soon as me old man comes home and tells me where the bloody hell he's hidden it...

how many miles you done since we fit the pistons?

It's done about 1000 since then, maybe more.

Well, it turns out (no suprises here) that I'm a bit of a prick.

Now the timing isn't a million miles out it's not pinking any more, but it's still really slow, it struggled to 60 and I ran out of road to try it out in. It seems to hesitate when accelerating too. It might be my imagination, but I'll go and cane it up the motorway for an hour or so tomorrow and see what it's like there.

Ahh the kill or cure strategy- like it

Tappets, then if those are ok or with no improvement in compression id be guessing bores/ ring wear with those compression results
Oily engine?

Sean

It's not so much trying to killit, but on friday it's going to be sat on a motorway all night, I'd sooner find out if it suffered any issues at sustained motorway speeds now than halfway across germany!

The engine isn't using much oil, it's a dripping a bit from a pushrod tube I think, and seems to be weeping from under the breather (will change the gasket tomorrow) but it's certainly not smoking or pissing out everywhere. The valve clearances are cock-on.

Ok guys,

Ken;

Thanks for the jet and plugs, all fitted and seems to be ok to drive now, still no rocketship but it held 70 on the motorway yesterday so that'll do me. I've kept my jet and put it back under the tape on the card you sent, I'll give it to you at Snetterton in a couple of weeks.

Sean,

I found one of the bolts holding the breather down had stripped the thread, so I retapped the block M8 and fitted the approprate bolts, it's now secure and doesn't appear to be leaking. I think when I get home I'll fit some new 9.0:1 pistons and see if that makes a difference, tappets etc all ok.


The rest of you,

Thanks for your advice, it seems better now, if I'm there when you get to Czech, I owe you all a beer!

beeerrr. doh