A Potential Rebuild Project

[Jack Taylor]

Hi All,

My family has owned a Carina since new back in 1990. It has about 220k miles on it I belive. It has been sat for a very long period now, and has degraded badly. We'd really love to start getting it back into good condition, though I think it maybe really hard to source a lot of the parts we need.

Fingers crossed we manage to find some stuff for it! The question is, can it be saved! We have cleaned it off today, and managed to free off the brakes, which has been a small start to what I imagine will be a huge project. Hopefully this will become a restoration thread. Who knows!

Hope you are all well and have had a nice break over the Christmas period.

jack

[Jack Taylor]

Well, today I decided to do a little more work on this.

• Clean out engine bay.
• Changed oil.
• Charged Battery.

I cleaned out the engine bay, as it was full of old acorns and leaves that must have come from nesting squirrels over the last 12 years or so! I also drained out the oil that had been sat in it for the same amount of time, and put some fresh stuff in.

The car has been periodically started & moved, but recently hasn't been firing (narrowed this issue down to the carb, which will be the next repair task on it!)

I also put the Battery on charge. That has held up well as it was only 3/4 years old and used only to start and move the car around when needed.

I also found out that the tape player and Speakers still work! As does the 20 year old Blondie tape that was in the glove box!

 

Next Tasks

• Drain and replace old coolant. This has been in for many years and needs flushing.
• Fix or replace carburettor that is stopping it from firing.
• Remove interior door cards and any other parts that could be hiding issues.
• Check all electrical systems. (Lights, sunroof, dials)

[Roy124]

It looks good as is.  What about the soft furnishings? 

[Jack Taylor]

37 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

It looks good as is.  What about the soft furnishings? 

I think the photos are miss-leading to be honest. The arches are all thoroughly rusted through, as are the sills etc. It'll need a lot of plate welding and new panels welding into place I think!

The interior weirdly is the best part. It's hardly damaged!

[Red_Corolla]

How long is it since the car was properly refueled?

If it's only been started up to move it around and never actually been taken for a drive, the fuel in the system may have aged beyond its useful life. I would concentrate on making sure the fuel system  is thoroughly emptied and then (only then) try with some fresh before laying the blame on the carb, although the carb could well be gummed up for the same reason.

Good luck with your project, it looks a nice car. Hopefully it can be made roadworthy without the costs becoming excessive. 🤞

[Catlover]

Do keep the forum informed how it progresses. It looks an interesting project.

[Jack Taylor]

18 minutes ago, Catlover said:

Do keep the forum informed how it progresses. It looks an interesting project.

I will do 🙂 Fingers crossed we can get some good time on it over this year. 😄

18 minutes ago, Red_Corolla said:

How long is it since the car was properly refueled?

If it's only been started up to move it around and never actually been taken for a drive, the fuel in the system may have aged beyond its useful life. I would concentrate on making sure the fuel system  is thoroughly emptied and then (only then) try with some fresh before laying the blame on the carb, although the carb could well be gummed up for the same reason.

Good luck with your project, it looks a nice car. Hopefully it can be made roadworthy without the costs becoming excessive. 🤞

It's been given fresh fuel. I've tried all sorts. It'll run fine once you get fuel into the carb. I am going to strip it down tomorrow and see if I can clear it out. Last time I did I struggled on one bit of it (Through fear of breaking it). Now we know it's going to be a project we are willing to go through with, I am not so bothered as if I do break it I will buy a new one or a refurb kit. 🙂

[forkingabout]

Check all the rubber fuel hoses carefully for perishing / damage - you don't want any fires.

Suitable replacement rubber fuel hose will be cheap enough.

[Jack Taylor]

5 hours ago, forkingabout said:

Check all the rubber fuel hoses carefully for perishing / damage - you don't want any fires.

Suitable replacement rubber fuel hose will be cheap enough.

Good shout. All look okay amazingly. I am sure if we decide to keep it and fully go forward with it, we'll do the whole lot anyway. 🙂

[Jack Taylor]

So, today has been somewhat of a sucessful failure.

I decided to try and prove out the problem with the fuel system. The first step, was removing the fuel supply pipe (from the filter) and the fuel return pipe from the solid metal pipe that returns to tank.

I then put both end of those pipes into a glass jar and filled with fuel.

I removed the banjo bolt that connects to the carb, and turned the engine over. Fuel was pumping fine from the banjo connection, so the fuel pump is definitely good!

Next challenge was to re-connect the banjo, and then check the float in the side of the carb. No fuel (or very little) appeared to be making it into this chamber.

I decided to take apart the carburettor (The top half anyway) and attempt to get at the needle valve seat mesh filter. I managed to use a very large flat head screwdriver, with an adjustable spanner on the handle to snap it free. (It was very tight as to be expected for a 31 year old joint).

The mesh was a total green clogged mess. Which is weird, as when it was used it didn't really have an issue with fueling. I cleaned the mesh gauze, and reinstalled it. Then reassembled the carb.

I turned the car over (using fuel from a jar still) and it fired first time. I kept the revs up at around 2000rpm and it ran for around 60 seconds, as soon as I let go of the accelerator, it idled for about 2 seconds then died.

I went back out after the rain, and had another look at it. Looking through the sight glass on the side of the carb, it appears that the fuel level is too high. (Nearly over the top of the glass).

 

The only logical thing I can think, is that I've knocked the float or not sealed the needle valve body well enough and it is overflowing the float chamber? This wouldn't be an issue perhaps at higher revs (when I was holding it at 2000rpm), but then floods the engine at lower RPM once revs are dropped? We couldn't get it to start after the initial run unfortunately.

Any ideas would be much appreciated!

Cheers.

 

[Jack Taylor]

Afternoon all. Good news. The car lives!

I decided to mess about some more today and see if I could get it to fire up again. I have found something rather strange that allows it to run. If I hold the choke flap shut when first starting the engine, it will fire. When it is just sat cold, for some reason that flap doesn't shut fully (Which I believe it should?). I have put a little red arrow to it on the photo below.

Once it is fired up, you have to keep the revs up, otherwise the flap will open again and kill the engine. Once warm however, it'll stay running and idle lovely. (All be it at a slightly higher than needed RPM, 1500rpm).

I ran it up to full temperature, then turned it off and it fired back up with a little effort. I have put a gallon or so of fresh fuel into the tank and will be getting some more 0 ethanol fuel from Esso tomorrow to fill it up some more.

 

What I think I need to do now is find a refurb kit for the carb. So far I have not been able to find one other than in America with a price of $99 dollars and most likely extortionate shipping costs to the UK.

This is the carb I have, so if anyone knows anywhere that has one, please shout up! It's the K-Type carburettor. It has the long float bowl and then two venturi sections.

[Cyker]

Oh hey, I didn't realise Esso's E5 super stuff actually has no E in it  

Are they the only ones still selling E0? (albeit legally mandated to be labelled as E5)

[Jack Taylor]

1 minute ago, Cyker said:

Oh hey, I didn't realise Esso's E5 super stuff actually has no E in it  

Are they the only ones still selling E0? (albeit legally mandated to be labelled as E5)

In some parts of the UK it is still 0 but the website can be a bit vague. As you say it's legally mandated to say E5 however their website states.

• "Although our pumps have E5 labels on them, our Synergy Supreme⁺ 99 is actually ethanol free (except, due to technical supply reasons, in Devon, Cornwall, North Wales, North England and Scotland). Legislation requires us to place these E5 labels on pumps that dispense unleaded petrol with ‘up to 5% ethanol’, including those that contain no ethanol, which is why we display them on our Synergy Supreme⁺ 99 pumps."

This is for UK though so you'd have to check their website for local to you.

[Jack Taylor]

Hi again all!

I have had another play around with this car again today. I have been trying to improve how easy it is to start it up, but nothing I seem to do wants to help get it going other than manually closing the choke flap, and then fighting the revs for ages until it warms up.

I had a go at adjusting the choke electronic control, turning it as far anti-clockwise as I could (to richen the mixture). This doesn't seemed to have helped, and the choke flap still stays open about 2mm when the car is cold.

I have also spent this morning flushing out the coolant system as well. The wather was rather filthy and I'm hoping there isn't too much damage to the inside of the block / heater matrix as the dirt can only be coming from rust I assume?

I have refilled with as much 50/50 coolant antifreeze mix as possible. I reckon I am probably up to around 30% antifreeze concentration as I don't think I managed to fully drain some parts of the system before adding the 50/50 mix.

The engine seems to be extremely difficult to start, and kicks out a lot of white smoke. I am hoping that the water jacket / cylinders aren't leaking. I am not sure how to test for that. I am assuming one of those liquid tests that change colour with the presence of exhaust gas in the coolant?

 

I have a few questions I am hoping people maybe able to answer.

• I am assuming there maybe vacuum leaks. I haven't got anything to measure diameters currently. Does anyone know the range of diameters of vacuum hose that connect all the carb, intake manifold, and distributor? I'd like to get some and fully redo them all to rule that out.
• I have disconnected and blanked the AAP system as I heard this can cause poor running and missfiring if it's leaking fuel into the intake manifold. This didn't fix the poor running. Any other ideas? It smells like it's running really rich, but I can't adjust the mix as it has a weird cap on it, and I'm not convinced that's the issue.
• Does anyone know where I might be able to find a carburetor gasket kit? I have had it apart and done my best with gasket sealant, but this might be the root of a lot of my issues!

Thanks for reading! 😄

[flash22]

The fuel tank needs dropping and cleaning and the lines need replacing (rubber) as it may be sucking in air, ideally the carb need a rebuild and the jets cleaning, no doubt the diaphragm has gone crispy

PM  me with your vin so i can look up the correct parts

 

https://automotivetechinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/1988/09/Aisan-2-Barrel.pdf

[Jack Taylor]

9 minutes ago, flash22 said:

The fuel tank needs dropping and cleaning and the lines need replacing (rubber) as it may be sucking in air, ideally the carb need a rebuild and the jets cleaning, no doubt the diaphragm has gone crispy

PM  me with your vin so i can look up the correct parts

Hi Flash22.

I think that might be something that needs doing. The float chamber on the carburetor seems to stay nice and level (mid way) though, so I am assuming it is getting enough fuel to not be starving. If anything it smells really rich.

Like you say though, the carb is almost certainly in a bad way, and I really need to get it rebuilt and properly cleaned out. I will PM you the VIN later if that is okay? 🙂 Thanks!

[forkingabout]

Once the fuel system is overhauled you can get the carb settings basically correct just by ear / smell.

Once it eventually see's a MOT station, ask them nicely to tweak the carb while its hooked up to the emissions tester. 

Unless you can find a friend with a Gunson Colortune - that would be helpful for tuning the carb settings at home.

[Jack Taylor]

I have had chance to do a little bit more work on this car yesterday. I decided to tackle the lovely challenge of making a gasket for the top of the carburetor. Opening it up at all in the first place was probably a bad idea (however it wouldn't start so doing so was the only option I think).

The process I took to make a new gasket was the following.

1. Use drawing charcoal to rub over the face of the top of the carburetor, making sure to coat it in as much powder as possible.
2. I got some normal paper, and cut bits out for the high points on the carb top cover, then pressed it onto the top cover leaving a charcoal imprint on the paper.
3. I then drew round the charcoal to make it easier to see, filling in any gaps I noticed by eye.
4. Then I cut that template out, and glued it onto some gasket paper.
5. Using a scalpel I then cut the gasket out (Real pain in the backside!)

I then cleaned off both the mating faces on the carb and fit the new gasket.

The car fires up much easier now, and doesn't struggle as much to stay running. I now need to replace all the vacuum lines as the revs hang when letting off the accelerator (which I think is a combination of both a vacuum leak somewhere and a slightly sticky throttle control mechanism.

 

 

 

[Roy124]

That didn't take long I am sure 😁

 Fascinating watching you virtually reconstructing the car from scratch.  Are you logging the time spent.  My Mercedes Garage were restorers too.  Father and son.  Dad used to work on Yorks so that gives an idea of his vintage. 

They had a Mercedes in, 1950s or 1960s, body work had been resprayed and it was on its wheels but the interior was stripped. I asked him how much.  He said about £25k, but if you want Concorde d'elegance another £25k.

[Jack Taylor]

59 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

That didn't take long I am sure 😁

 Fascinating watching you virtually reconstructing the car from scratch.  Are you logging the time spent.  My Mercedes Garage were restorers too.  Father and son.  Dad used to work on Yorks so that gives an idea of his vintage. 

They had a Mercedes in, 1950s or 1960s, body work had been resprayed and it was on its wheels but the interior was stripped. I asked him how much.  He said about £25k, but if you want Concorde d'elegance another £25k.

I'm not particularly counting, but I've had about 6 days on it with probably 2-3 hours per day. A lot of my time is spent messing about as it's all a bit trial and error at the moment. I can now take apart and put together a carb very quickly though which will help going forward. 🤣

I plan to keep this thread updated with how things are going, and hopefully I won't loose motivation with it as I will have a good tracker of what has been done and how far it has come.

 

I suppose that £25k was the extra couple of hundred hours or so hours they would have to put in to make it perfect?

[Roy124]

And you will not aim for perfect?  I rather think you will 😊

Keep a tally, then use your personal hourly rate and a garage hourly rate. 

[Big_D]

3 hours ago, Jack Taylor said:

I decided to tackle the lovely challenge of making a gasket for the top of the carburetor.

Yes, making gaskets is an art. I remember making them years ago when I was rebuilding an old VW Beetle. This was back in the 80's. 

[Jack Taylor]

32 minutes ago, Big_D said:

Yes, making gaskets is an art. I remember making them years ago when I was rebuilding an old VW Beetle. This was back in the 80's. 

Nice! It's not something I want to do again too often, although as I can't buy them I'm sure I will have to at some point. 😕

[Big_D]

I learnt to make them using a ball peen hammer as in this video

 

 

[Jack Taylor]

1 minute ago, Big_D said:

I learnt to make them using a ball peen hammer as in this video.

I like the idea and the method, but I didn't think it'd work that well for the detailed parts of the carb. Not to mention if I damaged it I'd be left without a carb then. 🤣