Varajet II GT/J 1.8 possible not allowing fuel to be taken from pump

[Jessopia74]

Don’t forget the vibration plate under the carb on the 1.8. The rubber can perish and split and leak air. Silver coupe had this issue, replaced with a good used one and it fixed the idle 

[discodas72]

Hi Both many thanks replaced plugs cap rotor will check vacuum hoses.

And go for rev and seal. Do I need to take carb off to check vibration seal?? 

The carb was fully refurbished some 12 years ago by a carb specialist on the wirral out of his rather amazing shed.

 

[Jessopia74]

15 hours ago, discodas72 said:

Hi Both many thanks replaced plugs cap rotor will check vacuum hoses.

And go for rev and seal. Do I need to take carb off to check vibration seal?? 

The carb was fully refurbished some 12 years ago by a carb specialist on the wirral out of his rather amazing shed.

 

It does need a good visual inspection, whilst manipulating it, so maybe you can do without and if anything suspect then take it off. Mine had definite cracking that could be seen without and was really bad once I got it off.

[cam.in.head]

if you can get it to idle at all .even whilst the choke is still on .bending the carb backwards and forwards might show up an air leak if the rubber mounting is split.

id forgotten about that rubber. 2 litre engines dont have that feature .( or hindrance whatever its for !)

[®evo03]

Had a mot issue with perished rubber housing cracked, leaking air,  was sending poor needles crazy,  but car was running fine,  just fitted an xe to cure the problem,  needles where basically zero the next week,  they couldn't figure it out,  and never even opened the bonnet!  😁 😂  Head scratcher!  😁

[discodas72]

Hello all. 

 

Sorry been back out to the car

New plugs roto arm dizzy cap. Replaced the breather pipe from manifold to brake box thing.

Cleaned the jets blown through carb.

Soaked with carb cleaner left for 48hrs. Car started ran for 5 mins all by itself then died now wont idle agin. Fine on high rev. But trying to reduce rev to idle it dies. 

The vacuum pipe from dizzy advance has never been connected to card blocked of at each end??? Should this be put back?

Rocked carb back and forth all fine no sound of leaks or air.

 

At a complete loss.

 

Darryl

[Jessopia74]

3 hours ago, discodas72 said:

Hello all. 

 

Sorry been back out to the car

New plugs roto arm dizzy cap. Replaced the breather pipe from manifold to brake box thing.

Cleaned the jets blown through carb.

Soaked with carb cleaner left for 48hrs. Car started ran for 5 mins all by itself then died now wont idle agin. Fine on high rev. But trying to reduce rev to idle it dies. 

The vacuum pipe from dizzy advance has never been connected to card blocked of at each end??? Should this be put back?

Rocked carb back and forth all fine no sound of leaks or air.

 

At a complete loss.

 

Darryl

If that pipe is blocked it’s fine, would only be an issue if it was letting air in. How many turns is the big screw in the carb base out by? That sets your idle speed (bypass ), and the small screw below it is mixture control.

Hiwever, it might need the carb stripping, cleaning and rebuilding.

Willl be doing mine for the silver coupe soon, so will take pics and do a bit of a walk through

[discodas72]

11 hours ago, Jessopia74 said:

If that pipe is blocked it’s fine, would only be an issue if it was letting air in. How many turns is the big screw in the carb base out by? That sets your idle speed (bypass ), and the small screw below it is mixture control.

Hiwever, it might need the carb stripping, cleaning and rebuilding.

Willl be doing mine for the silver coupe soon, so will take pics and do a bit of a walk through

Hi 👋 I had not touched the two screw adjustments. So presumed these were preset. We had the carb fully refurbished approximately 10 years ago. And it done about 1200 miles since. It was running great. Until i did not start it during lockdown so 12 months or so. 

 

As an odd one if my new fuel pump gives sufficient fuel supply under revs if the piston does not fully go in and out. At lowere reves Will this reduce the fuel quantity into the reservoir enough to starve the engine and cause it to stall instantly? 

Another it appeared that once the engine got hot  it stalled and wondered if any one had experience of this phenomena due to something getting hot?

 

Darryl

[Sutty2006]

What fuel are you running it on? If it’s not had fresh fuel in a while it might be globbing up in the carb. Also if you’ve put e10 in it, that might cause issues as has done on a lot of cars that aren’t compatible. Is it on auto or manual choke? 

[cam.in.head]

as jess mentions it dies sound like there is still some gunge in the passages possibly to do with or near to the adjustment screws. they shouldnt have moved on their own but could be holding back a blockage. 

what i would do now is note the actual orientation of the screws .gently tighten them in until you reach the bottom counting the number of turns ,do this as accurately as possible .then remove the screw completely. spray the hole with carb cleaner ,then GENTLY blow it out. ( dont spray fuel from the float chamber in your face)

or maybe just start the engine and give it a few revs .

replace the screws into your exact counted position and noted orientstion. 

see if this has made any difference.

as i said before.mine did this once (wouldnt idle suddenly) and cleared very  easily just by revving with my hand blocking the carb causing a good vacuum through the passages.

 

then also as sutty mentioned ,what fuel are you using. these engines especially with standard timing adjustments do not like modern fuel and especially not good with e10 even if it runs apparently ok,and after much experimenting i have set mine up using esso synergy 99 octane.this is ethanol free in some areas and due to the high octane rating can be run at 10 deg btdc and a plug gap of 35 rather than 30. but thats for a2 litre yours will be different . get it running right first and see how you go.

[Sutty2006]

59 minutes ago, cam.in.head said:

 i have set mine up using esso synergy 99 octane.this is ethanol free in some areas and due to the high octane rating can be run at 10 deg btdc and a plug gap of 35 rather than 30. but thats for a2 litre yours will be different . get it running right first and see how you go.

I need to figure out how to do this. Plug gap I can handle but it’s been a long time since I had the timing light out, I think it’s broken too. 

[Jessopia74]

If it has got fuel starvation due to empty bowl, (I guess how do you know?) , but it could be a partial blockage on the Feb to the pump from tank maybe. Pipe from lift pump into fuel can of fresh fuel would rule out a couple of issues right away point out by the chaos above too. 

[cam.in.head]

11 hours ago, Sutty2006 said:

I need to figure out how to do this. Plug gap I can handle but it’s been a long time since I had the timing light out, I think it’s broken too. 

the way i see it was this.....original engines had timing marks that were originally designed for 4 star leaded fuel of maybee 97/98 octane ? 

when we all went unleaded the octane rating also seemed to comedown as well so the timing had to be retarded to allow for this. 

so ( talking 2 litre cam in head engines here  with carb) the original setting of 5 deg btdc ended up being nearer to 0 deg btdc or maybee 2 or 3 deg at best to eliminate any signs of pinking.  different engine conditions,wear,different fuels meaning a little experimentation required. but i noticed that once we went to the e5 stuff the engines wernt totally happy .some hesitation especially when cold and no where near as smooth as should be.

once the e10 roll out was done i thought theres no way that crap is going in any of mine so after a bit of research am now using esso synergy 99 octane(this is zero ethanol and a high octane as well).     this allows timing to go back to as much as 10 deg btdc and smooth running with no pinking is restored.  trying different plug gaps also settled on 35 rather than the standard 30 which makes it even smoother.

experimentation is the key. these engines first appeared in the late 60's so were not designed with todays fuels in mind .

the later injection versions are a bit more forgiving ( or the injection system is) 

[discodas72]

Hi All

 

Thank you do much for all your advice 

 

I use a small temporary fuel tank with fresh shell V power. 

 

Will give the carb a further clean and check the screw bits as well.

 

And come back to you all.

 

Darryl

[Trooker]

On 28/02/2022 at 23:13, discodas72 said:

Replace everything started eventually but now wont idle.

Also odd thing the amp gauge has stopped showing battery charge. It used to move before but now remains stationery in the yellow. 

 

I don’t know anything about the family-2 1.8 carb engine but if it was the older 2.0 injection I’d be looking at those electrical gremlins too.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Trooker

[Jessopia74]

13 hours ago, cam.in.head said:

the way i see it was this.....original engines had timing marks that were originally designed for 4 star leaded fuel of maybee 97/98 octane ? 

when we all went unleaded the octane rating also seemed to comedown as well so the timing had to be retarded to allow for this. 

so ( talking 2 litre cam in head engines here  with carb) the original setting of 5 deg btdc ended up being nearer to 0 deg btdc or maybee 2 or 3 deg at best to eliminate any signs of pinking.  different engine conditions,wear,different fuels meaning a little experimentation required. but i noticed that once we went to the e5 stuff the engines wernt totally happy .some hesitation especially when cold and no where near as smooth as should be.

once the e10 roll out was done i thought theres no way that crap is going in any of mine so after a bit of research am now using esso synergy 99 octane(this is zero ethanol and a high octane as well).     this allows timing to go back to as much as 10 deg btdc and smooth running with no pinking is restored.  trying different plug gaps also settled on 35 rather than the standard 30 which makes it even smoother.

experimentation is the key. these engines first appeared in the late 60's so were not designed with todays fuels in mind .

the later injection versions are a bit more forgiving ( or the injection system is) 

The ignition marking in Familly 2 engines(this1.8) is set for unleaded and the pointer on the pulley is 10deg BTDC, so timing gun for these engines is set to 0 for strobe to work properly.

The lower the fuel quality = less advance you can run. 
So quality 99 or 100RON fuel you can run more advance (degrees before TDC) than say 95RON unleaded.

So std unleaded would mean say 2-3degrees ignition retard to stop detonation (mechanically heard as pinking under WOT and load)

But in most older cars, they run very conservative ignition numbers due to the variable fuel quality and life span they need out if the engine. So a couple of degree advance is a good start.
 

 

[discodas72]

On 04/04/2022 at 10:09, Sutty2006 said:

What fuel are you running it on? If it’s not had fresh fuel in a while it might be globbing up in the carb. Also if you’ve put e10 in it, that might cause issues as has done on a lot of cars that aren’t compatible. Is it on auto or manual choke? 

Auto choke on this one 

[Sutty2006]

1 hour ago, discodas72 said:

Auto choke on this one 

Those auto chokes can be problematic too. 

[discodas72]

On 05/04/2022 at 18:36, Sutty2006 said:

Those auto chokes can be problematic too. 

Ok is there anything specific I need to look at. Once running at revs the throttle plate is wide open? 

[Sutty2006]

7 hours ago, discodas72 said:

Ok is there anything specific I need to look at. Once running at revs the throttle plate is wide open? 

I think I should steadily retract back to the closed position, the warmer the engine the more it closes…. Could be wrong. I remember being told a lot that the auto carbs were crap and to convert it to manual choke. 

[cam.in.head]

the choke is electrically heated so from cold.you blip the throttle before starting.this fully closes the choke flap.then if you either start engine ( or just have ignition turned on) the heating element will fully open the flap in 3- 5 mins maximium.

whilst the flap is closed the idle is increased with a stepped cam.this drops down in stages to normal once the flap is fully open.(ie normal temp/ idle speed)

to be honest these auto chokes work well so long as the levers etc are not stiff and well lubricated and set correctly. yours still sounds like a minor blockage in the carb somewhere especially if it ran ok before layup and not been disturbed since.

[discodas72]

Hi All.

 

Does any one recommend a firm to refurbished my Varajet II? North Wales North West area if at all possible or any one on this forum would be willing to do it for a fee?

 

Darryl

[cam.in.head]

hi. are you using the car or is it a resto project ?

you seem to be having a spot of bad luck with it.cannot understand why the blockage ( if thats what it is) hasnt cleared ? ? 

or maybee someone will have another varijet for you ?

if you were nearer ( or you fancy a drive ip to halifax) i could have a look ?

[Trooker]

Alternatively, go manual choke

https://www.webcon.co.uk/products/952-18-1796cc-1982-88/

[discodas72]

On 19/04/2022 at 17:37, cam.in.head said:

hi. are you using the car or is it a resto project ?

you seem to be having a spot of bad luck with it.cannot understand why the blockage ( if thats what it is) hasnt cleared ? ? 

or maybee someone will have another varijet for you ?

if you were nearer ( or you fancy a drive ip to halifax) i could have a look ?

Hi we would usually use the car during summer for days out. Yes its really odd. My only other thought goes back to fuel pump which is after market and wondered if when the revs are up it supplies sufficient fuel. But soon as you take them down it does not supply enough but does not explain why it dies so quickly??

Halifax bit toooooo far 

On 19/04/2022 at 18:35, Trooker said:

Alternatively, go manual choke

https://www.webcon.co.uk/products/952-18-1796cc-1982-88/

Wow thank you last resort but definitely an option.