Miss January

[johnnyboy]

Hi guys.
 
You will have gathered that I am not much of a mechanic or restorer, but I have done some restoration on Miss January!
 
She was fine around town and on tickover, but was very flat when accelerating hard. Still quick, but nowhere near right. (though you are never sure when working from memory... Miss January had been off the road for several years until last summer, and modern cars have got pretty powerful, so maybe she was just as quick as she ever was and it was our rose tinted memories that were at fault....).
 
Also using rather more petrol than we remembered (18-19 to the gallon).
 
The electrical side is all 30 years old, but seemed to be working OK and the wastegate moved etc. so my friend (and professional mechanic....) Rob was of the opinion that it was the mixture, and that meant the carburettor.
 
The seals were visibly perished, and we decided that if they were loosing in air at tickover / low throttle openings you could tune it OK on tickover, but the amount of leakage would not be linear as the throttles opened and the revs built up. Thus you could either tune it for tickover and small throttle openings OR high revs and wide open throttle but not both....
 
I should at this point remind you that Miss January is an Elford turbo and therefore has an SU carburettor off an MG Metro Turbo...
 
So I bought an SU repair kit from the site recommended by Ian.
http://www.sucarb.co.uk/CarbEssentials. ... ctId=10543

And "we" rebuilt the carb.
 
With Rob doing all the work it was good fun. It rather helped that he knows what he is doing.... Maybe I\'ll do it next time.:2Rolleyes
 
The result?
 
Transformation!
 
(and two teaspoonfuls of lacquer, silt and corrosion in the bowl...)
 
I swear she is quicker than I remember!
 
Plenty quick enough to show up the 20 year old tyres anyway (and to show up my xx years old driving skills.... no ABS either...). Blue smoke everywhere.
 
Must get some stickier tyres. (Can\'t do much about the driver).
 
So, a success story.
 
(No photo\'s as I am ashamed of the state of the engine compartment).
 
John

[David Nock (RIP)]

Result John. Very Good.

Best get them old tyres burnt off..... :Nono!

[CHC (RIP)]

Excellent news John.  Sounds to me that Rob was like a pig in muck and thoroughly enjoyed doing the rebuild.  I wouldn\'t hold you breath for too long next time it wants doing (I think Rob would be upset if he didn\'t do it), I\'d just stand by with the tea/coffee & buscuits & a stop watch :Giggle :3gears-rh

[Ian65]

Blimey John, you\'re not driving around on 20 year old tyres are you? Risky business!
They are good fun, the Elfords, aren\'t they. I like the way the modern cars try to show how fast their euroboxes are and my RX7 is an old \'sportscar\' that is ancient and slow....
then the turbo spools up, I get it on the boost and I\'m away... and mr repmobile can\'t even sniff my tyres.... I\'m gone!
It\'s like being a kid again.

[Ian65]

just out of interest John, which way round did you put the throttle spindle seals?
The instructions in the rebuild kit say to reverse them for the turbo carb or else they will leak, ( which is what I did) but after talking to the other lads, I reckon that\'s wrong.
My car misses slightly at the top end under full power and I think it\'s leaning out. I thought it was maybe the old fuel pump struggling to keep up but I\'m now thinking that it might be sucking in air via the throttle spindle seals and weakening the mixture.
Did your seals go in the traditional way.. ie. seal lips facing outwards away from the carb... or reversed as SU suggest ie. seal lips facing towards the carb?

[Steve-A]

John popper over to pick up my spare s2 rad yesterday afternoon, and I got to have a quick poke around Miss January and got a ride too!

She does seem ready for some TLC, but none the less very very cool. Nice to chat cars for a bit and cruise around the pretty roads of Malvern.

It was my first time in a turbo rotary, and I have to say it was very surprising. The Elford set-up spooled so early and smoothly it just felt like larger engine n/a style power. Certainly went fairly well when wound up!

I do think you are due for some new tyres though John, especially after possibly flat spotting them while showing off how well the brakes work :rollin

[johnnyboy]

John popper over to pick up my spare s2 rad yesterday afternoon, and I got to have a quick poke around Miss January and got a ride too!
 
She does seem ready for some TLC, but none the less very very cool. Nice to chat cars for a bit and cruise around the pretty roads of Malvern.
 
It was my first time in a turbo rotary, and I have to say it was very surprising. The Elford set-up spooled so early and smoothly it just felt like larger engine n/a style power. Certainly went fairly well when wound up!
 
I do think you are due for some new tyres though John, especially after possibly flat spotting them while showing off how well the brakes work :rollin

Lovely piece of road Steve. Need to do it in the dark with a few less people about. And some safer tyres.
 
Trouble is, as discussed elsewhere, ther is not a lot of quality rubber in 205 60 13.
 
(Some decent track day tyres around - eg. Yokahama A048R\'s and Toyo R888\'s - but read the small print and they are not to be used in temeratures below 4 and even 8 degrees centigrade, so it sort of limits the driving season....)
 
Anybody know anything about Falken Zeix ZE-912\'s?
 
(fast spool up is a sign of small turbo and low boost - Ian65 can confirm, but I think the figures are an extra 30-40 horsepower and an extra 30% of torque. Just enough to make them a nice undramatic amount better without wearing anything out).
 
John

[johnnyboy]

Just though I\'d mention that since the carburettor clean out / reconditioning Miss January\'s fuel consumption has gone up from 18mpg to 25mpg. (Social driving, so occasional buzzing noises but no heavy traffic or long journeys or motorways).
 
I think I will call that success.
 
John

[johnnyboy]

Thought I would share some images with you...
 
I recently found this photo of Miss January as a young lady on the Elford stand at the 1982 motorshow:

[johnnyboy]

More recently she looked like this:
 

 

 

[johnnyboy]

And now she looks like this, with some refurbed Elford alloys off Ebay:
 

[kenwhiteside]

Gidday gents,

A friend of mine used to work for SU so have been hitting him up for some information about rebuilding my carb. As for the throttle spindle seals they should be the standard way round for the elford suck through setup. If you were running a blow though setup and the carb was under pressure then there might be a case to reverse them.

Mine is running very rich at idle so I am thinking the needle is worn. What needle and spring did you use?

[Ian65]

the seals go in the usual way around...... the SU instructions are useless and wrong for Elford setups.... they refer to the metro turbo, not the rx7

[re japi]

She looks stunning.

[kenwhiteside]

So what jet and spring combo did you go for?