Hi, I've recently bought a Mk2 Escort running a 1650cc xflow and R1 carbs. The engine once started drives fine and rev's up lovely - I have a receipt for work done on the engine and it's pretty much had everything done to it thats possible.

I am experiencing 2 problems:

1. The car is very difficult to start when cold - you can hear the fuel pump priming but when you turn the key the engine turns very slow and takes many attempts to actually get it started. Was initially drawn to the starter motor but then noticed that the battery terminal (+) was getting hot so I cleaned the terminals and it started better but its still not right when its been left for around a week - it's still very difficult to start. I am going to clean all terminations when I get a bit more time, but did wonder if it could possibly be related to problem 2?......

2. Carbs! when the engine is running, it will tick over fine - then all of a sudden the pump (motorbike) will start knocking, the engine will start to die but when you give it a little throttle it picks up and will be ok for 5 minutes or so before it does it again. When the engine starts to lose revs and almost cut out, I noticed that fuel was pouring out of the carb overflow pipe (the one towards the front of the car and I think its the lower of the two open 'T' pipes). Also the car does this when travelling downhill on a bumpy road. One thing I've read about is the location of the bike pump - I've read that it is better to be mounted near the fuel tank as they push fuel better than they pull? The pump on the car is mounted right at the front of the engine bay.... is that ok or should I look at mounting it closer to the tank as read? Anyone else experienced this problem? Did concider a sticking float but why only on idle and so intermittent?

Any help or info would be much appreciated.

 

.....Also its currently running on points, I've got an electronic ignition to be fitted.

 

You should check out the carbs if coming out the overflow, as if the level is high it will run very rich and could cause it to run bad and cut out.

 

Yeah, think I'll strip and clean them and take it to get set up, it doesn't miss a beat in drive though, It's just on idle and like I said give it a little throttle and it might be fine for the next 5 to 10 minutes idling.

What do you think about the position of the pump? struggling to see why that should cause an over-fuel problem but it is noisy (clunking) on idle and it's probably as far away from the tank as it's gonna get and also its positioned quite high concidering its gravity fed.

 

Got the car out today and she was running fine, ticking over as should and the fuel pump was nice and quiet. Took her for a run - parked facing down hill and left it for around 10 minutes - when I went out later to start her up, she started playing up again - The pump was clunking and the engine wouldnt idle without me giving it a bit of throttle. Could it possibly be a defective pump? How would I check?

It's all too intermittent, the only consistant thing with it is that it definately plays up worse when the car is facing down hill.

Also the 'T' connection that the fuel pours out of is positioned on the incoming fuel rail (from the pump) - Correct me if I'm wrong but the 2 open pipes between bowl 1 & 2 / 3 & 4 are overflows ..... so what would the lower one be? When set up on a bike could it have possibly been a fuel return? Any one with knowledge of these carbs to shed a bit of light?

It's all a bit new for me .... if it was a Vauxhall Red Top I'd be over it like a rash :-D