Drawfiler

John, I think the problem is with the fuel, if the car stands for a while, the fuel will absorb water from the atmosphere. Ethanol will take on a high proportion of water to its own weight whereas petrol will only absorb 3-3.5 percent. After that, free water will sit in the bottom of a he tank. Drain and refill the tank and try again. How do I Know This? I have just had the same happen to me. Peter

John, another little horror is that the keys on either the crank or cams have sheared and allowed the wheels to slip out of position however, this will upset all,cylinders not two. One other thing to look at is the vacuum outlet on the inlet manifold for the light pop up if fitted, done manifolds had blanking plugs that can be missing.

It might just be possible that the inlet valves are not fully closing, you will get some compression but not enough, take off the inlet cam cover and get the feeler gauge out. I assume that valve timing is OK and that the plug leads are in the right order. I have been there too!

I know that a lot of advice has been given on this topic but I would like to add some new thoughts to give a simple tune up procedure. 1 set timing to 20 degrees advanced, I do this with a strobe which will work at cranking speed. 2 check that the carbs are filling and not flooding, if not deal with the float chambers. 3 set the butterflys to open together, I have come up with this idea, use a length of feeler strip or even a piece of thin plastic strip. Push this under the butterfly on one of the rear venturies and adjust the engine speed screw on the lever of the rear carb until the strip can be felt dragging as you pull it out, by carefully adjusting the screw you can get a nice 'feel' as the strip is pulled out. Test both the rear carb butterflys, if there is a variance you need to sort the problem. Now use the carb balance screw on the front carb to achieve the same feel as on the rear. Go back to the rears to be sure all butterflys are the same. 4 take out each slow running adjuster and clean it, removing any burrs etc, put it back and gently screw it home and back it out 2 turns 5 open the throttle adjuster screw by 3 turns 6 start the car and warm up the engine 7 do the hiss test with a pipe in each Venturi or use a manometer or balancing meter and adjust the mixture screws for balance and good running 8 set the mixture using your best methods Colourtune or other, I use a Co meter in the exhaust pipe. good luck

My thought was that the copper pipe would be smaller diameter so would pass through any holes and rigid enough not to sag between fixings.

After all this time it RUNS, there is oil pressure so now I have to tune it, which brings me to my question, I normally balance carbs with a bit of hosepipe but I have noticed the Gunson balancing kit on fleabay, has anyone tried one of these or are you all using the German gauge? Peter

Would it be possible to feed a length of copper pipe through from end, if the pipe is annealed so soft, it could be bent if needed as it is fed through the holes. I can make some special fittings to connect to fuel proof flexible pipe at each end. Any thoughts? Peter

I am going through the fuel system on my 1978 Eclat and I am thinking about fuel pipes, the ones from the tank to the pump are clear plastic and are showing their age. i am thinking about the pipe to the front of the car, how big a job is it to replace this and what material do I use? as always, thanks in advance.

I got it all together but it would not fire up, I tried everything and finally a compression test showed no compression on two cylinders. I took the cam covers off and checked the clearances and found that despite taking great care on assembly, the gaps on three valves had vanished! I plan to take both cams off and do another comp test to be sure that there is nothing nasty going on and go through the shimming all over again! it is interesting that the gaps on other valves are as I set them, I assume that I must have had a bit of dirt under the head on these three valves. Having turned the engine over lots while tryin to get it running, I must have dislodged whatever it was

My Eclat is finished in a brown/orange velour cloth, known in my family as baby crack, this was on the seats, door card, rear seat sides, transmission tunnel, headlining and dash. The seats are now in tan leather but the rest is as made. The problem is that 40 years grime makes it look tatty, also the velour is delaminating. I plan to do the roof in a lighter colour, the problem us with the rest. I am not concerned with originality but want to be able to do the job myself, so what do I use. I will have some curved surfaces to cover like and I might have to get it sewed. Ii don't want the interior to look too 'heavy' , I can't afford acres of leather. What have others done? peter

I have finally got the engine back in the car and getting ready to get it started, I have got a spark and the starter motor turns things over ok. I am a bit twitched about oil pressure as it was ok before I put the engine in when I ran the pump with an electric drill, it was pumping oil from the pressure gauge outlet but having left it for a week or so there is no oil flow at the outlet. I have to sort out the electrical problems and then have another go.

This is a worry to all of us, I have a simple ignition kill switch under the dash, a battery isolation switch in the engine bay and an extinguisher mounted across the front of the drivers seat. The closest I have been to having a fire is from oil dripping on to the exhaust manifold from a leaky cam cover. The carbs do flood if the floats are set wrong and petrol pours into the air box and evaporates, The box contains it and although I have real worries about a possible fire, so far the box had kept things under control, I can't see any advantage in trying to contain the fuel by upturned trumpets, the engine will be overfuelled.

My 78 eclat is wired to the 'RHD non federal wiring diagram' this shows a 8amp fuse in the wire to the fuel pump, does this exist? If so where is it as my pump won't go. It is not stuck contacts, there are no volts on the connector on the pump. My second question is, have any of you replaced the pump with a solid state one, if so which and did you need a reducing valve to not flood the carbs. Peter

I think it is unlikely to be metal, I suspect hard carbon deposits from burnt oil. If it was metal, you would have heard or felt it ! I have seen this before in similar situations, usually where lubrication is inadequate.

When my carbs flood the fuel comes out of the trumpet and not the body, however with the alternatives now fitted, I would have a look at ignition timing, that is assuming that the plug leads are all in the right order! i would also check for induction leaks perhaps from the vac pipe for the headlights.