Update 5 November 2016.
So the last trip of the season was another 400km. Unbelievable weather, morning was cold, but afternoon was in the twenties and in the evening went home top down. Event itself was not to be repeated, but it was such a joy to feel the last sunrays driving open top. Anyway trip itself car proved reliable with good fuel economy, but clutch release bearing is starting to squeek and the left doorwinder frame broke because of fatigue in the aluminium. More stuff to sort out prior to the new season.
As a positive side note there has been no more tyre chafing. It seems the large rubber upstop cones do their job. The suspension in general is just brilliant. I can't remember having so much fun with this car. It just flys through the bends. In total did 1400km this year, not bad for a SORNed car.
Carburettor
Last job was to replace my brother's carburettor. I have been loaning it for at least now 4 years and we need to get his Midas back on the street or make it sellable. I found a nice HIF44 secondhand, but upon receipt I noticed it had the butterfly disc with poppet valve. So I ordered a bunch of spares from Minispares.
Plain disc versus poppet disc:
This was the second kit they sent. In the first kit I received SU had put a poppet disc in as well. Seems they want to get rid of them!
Replaced the disc, put a red spring in and my custom needle. Since I had sold my heatshield as well with the turbo SU, I had to buy a new one and found a beautiful stainless steel on
http://www.stainlessforclassics.co.uk/minipc104.htm. Only 3 pounds more expensive than the original, so a no-brainer.
I bought a pancake filter from KN, these are on sale which saved me 25 pounds over a cone filter with identical performance. Upon speaking with a tech rep. he pointed to the KN naval section for a vacuum hose connector. Although expensive (25 pounds) it saves me drilling a hole in the filter base plate:
They come in various sizes and the plate needs to be shortened to fit between the top and end plate:
Engine was started up, carburettor adjusted which was a piece of cake with an onboard lambda probe and gauge. Can't wait to test it out on the streets. With this setup the tone of the exhaust is a bit darker, possibly due to the red spring. I have parts for an injection system, but according specialists a proper setup SU carb is hard to beat, simple and reliable. So probably will use the Emerald ECU only for the ignition system. Another job for next year. When all is done hope to make the trip to Britain again one day.
(pic. by Rolf Rozeboom)