Engine woes. ! !

[JT7196]

Hi Richard, just spoken to Carbex, and they gave me Gower & Lee’s phone No ( 01923-247300) .
The chap there was very helpful, but explained that they had no information on Solex Carburettors as fitted to the LA11.
At least, if I an successful in purchasing the 26AHD Float Chamber Assy, which apparently is “probably” the correct one, then I will at least have some idea as to what the correct Jets should be fitted.
We shall see............
Cheers Al

[classiclife]

Hello Al,

It seems to be progressing in the right direction, so this is good news.

As an aside, I have used G&L many times and their carb rebuild service is of excellent quality plus no over-the-top prices.

Regards.

Richard.

[JT7196]

Thanks Richard, I’ll bear the in mind .

Cheers Al

[JT7196]

Hi Neil, great to hear from you once more, well all I can say is the chap who runs our local Engine Overhauling company looked at one or the Piston Rings, and explained that there was a very sharp ridge on the lower edge , and even demonstrated it by cutting a piece of paper with it!
This he reckoned was coursed by “Fuel Wash” , this of course breaks down the surface lubrication, causing rapid excessive wear.
Actually, when he checked for Bore wear, it was lass the 0.002”, the Pistons themselves looked to be in pretty good condition with only minimal surface marking.
When one of the original Piston Rings was placed into one of the Bores, a gap of around .0062” was found!!!
My own feeling is the just maybe, the Piston Rings May have either been the wrong ones originally fitted( Not checked in the Bore on original build, as of course they were already fitted on the Pistons)
Of of course, they may have been produced from a substandard material.
During my research on Solex Carburettors, I discovered that my Lanchester had been fitted with one that would have been fitted to a Commer, and was of 1950’s vintage, probably changed when the original Thermostarter type expired .
This was a Solex 30 AHG , the correct one is a Solex 26 AHG, I am actually bidding for a 20 AHG Float Chamber assy, this hopefully contains the correct Jets.
At this point in time, I am mid way in completely re- building the Engine, I have to say, that having re-fitted the Pistons in the Bores with the correct Rings now fitted( Approx a .0016” gap) there is absolutely no movement of the Pistons in the Bores.
I’ll let you know how I get on when I know more
Cheers Al

[JT7196]

Hi, managed to purchase that 26AHG Carburettor Float Chamber this afternoon, it cost me an arm and a leg!
I placed an initial bid of £17:00, with a max bid of £50:00 to make sure that I would get it, imajine my surprise when someone placed a bid of circa £47:00 with only 1 1/2 mins to go , ebay automatically bid for me, so the final price to me was £48:00 !
Obviously, these must be very rare ! just hope that it still retains its original size Jets !

More later ....

Cheers Al

[JT7196]

Copy of eMail sent to Neil Sharpe .

Hi Neil, great to hear from you once more, well all I can say is the chap who runs our local Engine overhauling company looked at one of the Piston Rings, and explained that there was a very sharp ridge on the lower edge , and even demonstrated it by cutting a piece of paper with it!
This he reckoned was caused by “Fuel Wash” , this of course breaks down the surface lubrication, causing rapid excessive wear.
Actually, when he checked for Bore wear, it was less the 0.002”, the Pistons themselves looked to be in pretty good condition with only minimal surface marking.
When one of the original Piston Rings was placed into one of the Bores, a gap of around 0.062” was found!!!
My own feeling is the just maybe, the Piston Rings May have either been the wrong ones originally fitted( Not checked in the Bore on original build, as they were already fitted on the Pistons)
of of course, they may have been produced from a substandard material.
During my research on Solex Carburettors, I discovered that my Lanchester had been fitted with one that would have been fitted to a Commer, and was of 1950’s vintage, probably changed when the original Thermostarter type expired .
This was a Solex 30 AHG , the correct one is a Solex 26 AHG, I am actually bidding for a 20 AHG Float Chamber assy, this hopefully contains the correct Jets.
At this point in time, I am mid way in completely re- building the Engine, I have to say, that having re-fitted the Pistons in the Bores with the correct Rings now fitted( Approx a .0016” gap) there is absolutely no movement of the Pistons in the Bores.
I’ll let you know how I get on when I know more
Cheers Al

[JT7196]

Hi again , well managed to purchase that 26 AHG Float Chamber onEbay , cost me a lot of money,
, my original first bid was £17:00 ,with a max bid of £50:00 to ensure that I would get it.
Imagine my astonishment, when somebody placed a bid of £47::00 with 1 1/2 mins to go, of course Ebay placed an automatic bid for me ,and the final price was £48:00 + P&P !
These must be much rarer than I could have possibly imagined ! !

Cheers Al

[JT7196]

Dunno, what’s going on here, wrote a thread, and submitted it, and I’d did not show up, so did it again , and found it’s now on here twice, so tried to delete it and it won’t let me .....over to you John

[Edit - I saw two identical posts and deleted one, you probably saw both if you hadn't refreshed the page but I had already deleted it. Your first post was probably delayed a bit, perhaps the server was busy. It's probably wise to wait a few minutes to see if a post appears. We are probably on a server shared with lots of other completely separate websites and one of them might have been hogging the server's capacity.- John-B]

[classiclife]

Hello Al,

After all your enquiries, you deserve to post the outcome twice !!

Regards.

Richard.

[JT7196]

Thanks Richard, getting there, albeit slowly, just finished lapping the Valves in the Cylinder Head, I have also fitted Mk 1-Escort Valve Stem Seals to all of the Inlet Valve Guides, this seems to work very well, and is a great modification

Cheers Al