A new game... Post pics from your cel phone V.1.0

[MiniDave]

It's a GTO with a big trunk!!! I love it....   

[BruceK]

Also, at the car show was this restomod Volvo 120 series wagon. This one had a much newer Volvo power plant replacing the trusty old  B-series Volvo engine originally fitted. A little too Mod and not enough Resto for my taste, but it was nicely presented.

[MiniDave]

I guess no one can get chrome plating done anymore, that's why all I see now are painted bumpers?

I kinda like it - bigger wheels but not crazy big like you see on 60's American cars now.....

Is the engine a 4 cylinder with 5 valves per or a 5 cylinder with 4 valves per?

A 2dr version of one of these is what I towed my Sprite racecar with! Single axle trailer, when I got to the track I unloaded the car and slept in the back of the wagon....

[Dan Moffet]

The Holden is NICE, though not much Ute-ility about it!
(It looks a bit like the love-child between a BMW and an early Subaru Brat, minus the box seats.)

[BruceK]

There was an owner of a last generation El Camino at the same car show and she was extremely interested in the Holden ute. It has some utility, but I guess it's more of a lifestyle vehicle.

[94touring]

City sewer backed up into my shop yesterday. Luckily I was there and caught it before it got too out of hand.  My cat like reflexes and quick thinking had me run outside and undo the top to the closeout, which then flooded my yard instead of the whole shop. Most of the solids were captured in the shower with minimal flooding on the floor.  Which I get to clean today.  We had a big rain storm come through while I was out there, I'm guessing related to that and a clog at the street.

[MiniDave]

yuck! I'm glad you had your cat like reflexes with you that day! 

[BruceK]

Got a cheap simple siphon pump from Amazon. Looks like the instructions are personalized for people with a certain name. 

[BruceK]

I caught this at a C&C type show this morning. A guy is building his own Shogun from a Ford Festiva and a Taurus SHO Yamaha powerplant installed where the rear seat was. You may be familiar with the Shogun from some 30 years ago, which was covered in either Car and Driver or a Road & Track magazine. Basically, it was a take on the Renault 5 Turbo from the 1970s (FWD Econo box stuffed with a bigger engine under the rear hatch).  Only a handful of Shogun models were produced, and Jay Leno has one of them.

This one is very much a work in progress. The owner said he is prototype 3-D printing various small pieces that come together to form a front fender. I believe later he will create a fiberglass front fender based upon the 3-D printed design.

[BruceK]

How would you like to tune this puppy? Eight SUs acting as individual throttle bodies.

[Dan Moffet]

One SU HIF is enough for me, thanks!

[94touring]

Synching would be tricky but not impossible. I say this because I have to tune dual twin webbers and while it's a little difficult it's not too bad once you understand what to do.  I use a set of these and I suppose you'd need 2 sets for 8 individual carbs.  Using a snail at idle and going between carbs turned out to be a complete waste of time. What works best is set the main throttle cable somewhere above idle at about 1500 rpms and then adjust each linkage till the vacuum gauge reads the same.  You can even feel the engine smooth out or roughen up with the smallest adjustments that way. To set idle air fuel I installed 4 wideband 02 sensor bungs, one off each header runner. Then I move the shop wideband between each bung.  That also saves a countless amount of time and makes finding issues easy too! 

[MiniDave]

It looks like they're only using the SU bodies for the throttle plates as I think I see fuel injectors going into the side of each carb? Then you'd only have to be sure the air flow - throttle opening - is the same to balance it out.

Not a whole lot different than balancing the three dual throat webers on my Dino engine

Any guesses what car this engine is in? 240Z?

[Dan Moffet]

Judging from the right front SU, the fuel lines are connected to the fuel bowl inlets, which suggests to me the dashpots are live. I don't see any injector wires. No apparent choke mechanism either!

Setting idle mixture must be fun if they retained the bi-metal mixture lever. With one HIF, I could never get the mixture right because at idle, the engine heat affected the bi-metal to lean out as I was trying to set mixture. I made a NON-bi-metal lever and solved it.

[MiniDave]

Oh, you're right - those are HIF's not HS carbs! although on my HIF carby the fuel inlet is on the other side than these.....

Those didn't have the bi-metalic strips did they? I thought that was just on wax stat carbs? And yes, the easy button is to go back to a regular jet!

I wonder if those are 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 carbs?

[BruceK]

Dave it's not a Z car. Based upon the chrome vent on the cowl, it's a MGB.

[MiniDave]

makes sense for the SU's....

[Dan Moffet]

Oh, you're right - those are HIF's not HS carbs! although on my HIF carby the fuel inlet is on the other side than these.....

Those didn't have the bi-metalic strips did they? I thought that was just on wax stat carbs? And yes, the easy button is to go back to a regular jet!

I wonder if those are 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 carbs?

Later HS carbs had the waxstat which worked as an economy feature (until it didn't) by allowing a slightly richer mixture until the engine warmed up. The "choke" mechanism pulled the whole jet downward for a very rich start.

HIF carbs had the jet enclosed. The "clever" ideal was to get the waxstat effect with a bi-metallic lever that flexed to lean out as the engine warmed. The choke effect was made with a supplemental side fuel passage to add fuel. Just to make things more annoying, the adjustment screw is turned outward (counter-clokwise) to LEAN the mixture. Diabolical.

[MiniDave]

Where was the bimetalic lever in an HIF? I don't recall that. I have an HIF on my Mini and I've been all thru it, along with several others.....

I know the ones used on an MGB were different, with electric solenoids for idle control and such.

[Dan Moffet]

Where was the bimetalic lever in an HIF? I don't recall that. I have an HIF on my Mini and I've been all thru it, along with several others.....

I know the ones used on an MGB were different, with electric solenoids for idle control and such.

The bimetallic lever is inside the fuel bowl. It is a modified T-shape, upside down with the long part up. At the bottom, one side of the T is held loosely by a screw and acts as the fulcrum along with a spring. The other side of the T is longer and has a bigger hole to receive the bottom end of the jet. The jet itself is smaller at the end than a HS type jet and has a small elbow for fuel pickup. At the top of the T is where the adjustment screw pushes. When screwed in, it pushed inward and the bottom of the jet is pulled downward, enriching the mixture. Because of the spring at the fulcrum screw, when the adjustment is backed of, the jet rises, leaning out the mixture.

So, rather than heat affecting the waxstat end on a HS, the heat affects the fuel bowl, which in turn warms the bimetal, pushing the jet up.

(Later, I will try to figure out how to post a photo from my hard drive... ) YAY, it worked. In the lower photo, the crusty one on the right has the bimetal and the one on the left has it cut away, not by me -that photo from MiniMania forum many years ago. That is my thumb in the first photo holding the float for a better view.

[MiniDave]

Well I'll be, see you learn something every day - I did not know that's what that was for! Now I think I'll go in and modify mine - maybe that will cure some of the odd running I've had over the years. Although I have to say it's settled down considerably the last 20kmiles or so....still.....it would be nice to have some consistency.

So the idea is that it pushes the jet down when the engine is cold and lets it come up when hot - leaning out the mixture?

[94touring]

I'm not sure how I feel about that feature. It could either help you or be a pain if it's too lean after it warms up.  Just seems easier to use the choke for an extra 30 seconds to me rather than have an additional fuel component that could fail on you. The hif44 on my blue mini didn't need choke as long as the twin hs4s on the Inno, but I was able to achieve perfect air fuel ratios in all various types of throttle positions you'd be hoping to get on both. 

[MPlayle]

If you look carefully at the picture Dan Moffet attached showing the two jet mounts side-by-side, you will see the gunky unmodified one actually has three layers to it.

The modified one has the outer layers removed and only uses the middle layer.

A check of a copy I made of the Burlen guide for tuning HIF carbs clearly indicates tuning the carb at normal operating temperature - off choke.  That would tend to make me think they are taking into account the bimetalic nature and tuning the carb when it wants to be in "lean" mode versus cold-choke mode.