Started the Gordini Today!

[malcolm]

An exciting moment this evening. After cranking without the plugs until oil started to weep out of the rocker shaft mountings and the carb filled with petrol the plugs went back in, choke out a bit, and she started first time.

I ran the engine for only a few seconds at about 2000rpm to get some oil around (the cooling system isn't finished). She sounded good with no obvious problems.

I'm still keen to get her MOT'd and running in time for the Kent run but there's a lot still to do including making the brakes and steering work.

 

[reggie]

wow - if that goes as good as it looks it will fly - make a good job of them brakes malcolm
Reg

 

[malcolm]

That's a point - will need to think about fitting some seatbelts at some point too.

 

[reidalpine]

Good man Malcolm!

 

[David M]

mmmm, NICE!

What a great job you have done. Love the gear lever / radiator support. Who will be the first unknowing person to call it a "strut brace"?
I am impressed with the neat and relatively simple - looking installation. The motor looks like it was always there! For that to happen there has been a LOT of thought and trial and error, I'm sure.

Congratulations on a very well executed project, Malcolm.


Regards'

David

 

[John Doe]

Beautiful work! Congratulation and I hope you will have less problems then me.

 

[jjad]

Great work - looking forward to seeing/hearing it on Sunday!

 

[malcolm]

A little more progress today - brakes and coolant filled up and the exhaust bolted on. It ought to be possible to drive the car tomorrow, though MOT isn't likely until Thursday or Friday which is cutting it fine.

There's one worrying thing that's cropped up - that noise I had on the TX engine that sounded like a bell also happens on the Gordini. It's not as bad, but then it doesn't idle very well yet.

The water doesn't stay in the engine yet either - the joys of fettling.

 

[John Doe]

I see you have problems with the exhaust gaskets, check this out http://cgi.ebay.ch/Auspuff-Dichtung...Item&pt=Autoteile_Zubehör&hash=item483a05c9dd

 

[malcolm]

Well found - I should have asked. I bought some Reliant Robin gaskets (3 wheel car made in the UK) and filed out the holes. They should be fine, but it must have taken a day to find them.

 

[malcolm]

Moving ever closer - the Gordini want out for it's first run today. There's no grip at all on our dirt driveway - the throttle will take some getting used to.

It's still a good day away from an MOT - the engine still isn't running well at idle - setting the dwell angle and timing helped but there are oddities - the idle speed increases as the choke is pushed in. Also both front and rear tracking need to be set and all the smaller bits and pieces.

 

[Steve Hennessey]

Looks great Malcolm. Did you strip and overhaul the carb? Have you checked for air leaks?

Also with the engine idling can you clamp the hose to the servo to see if that makes any difference?

Steve

 

[malcolm]

It might well be a blocked jet somewhere. I cleaned out the carb and blew out a few jets with an airline, but didn't unscrew anything to clean it out. Probably that would be a good thing to do tomorrow. I'll check valve clearances too.

I think the vacuum is good. Never quite figured out where the hoses at the top of the carb go to. They both go into the top of the float chamber and I've assumed one connects to the air intake and the other to the air filter. I'll try clamping the servo hose.

The timing is moving around at idle, though the Haynes manual (I don't have the factory one) suggested it should only be set staticly so there may well be movement at low rpm

 

[Firstandbest]

She's beautiful.

Crossing everything that you'll get her to Kent.

 

[malcolm]

The engine running problem turned out to be largely down to me forgetting to tighten the earth lead. With the mixture screw screwed in a bit and the ignition advanced a touch to reduce hunting I might be in with a chance of making the MOT booked for tomorrow morning.

 

[Steve Hennessey]

Best of luck Malcolm. It's bound to pass.......fingers crossed.

 

[jjad]

Good luck!

 

[malcolm]

Well she's got an MOT. The MOT guys all came to have a look at the shiny underneath. She's running a bit better after advancing the ignition quite a lot which has improved things at the top end and at idle, but hasn't done much for mid range where there's not as much power as I would have expected.

But the choice of R4 for the Kent run is going to depend on whether the new water pump arrives tomorrow as planned. Oops. So it'll either be an ambitious first trip for a nice shiny fast thing or an rough yellow one that I'll not have had time to wash.

 

[jjad]

Great news on the MOT. Looking forward to seeing you in either car!

 

[pepper]

Excellent news, I bet you're chuffed to bits that you've achieved your deadline. Even if you don't come in it.