Using Daisy On The Road

June 2008

Well, its time for the 'M' word... as some of you may know, Daisy is very good at being a complete cow when it comes to MOT time. Normally, she will break down in spectacular fashion at the mere mention of the word M.O.T. Which brings me nicely on to the fuel problem I have had for weeks, if not months now... Daisy would run fine, for a random amount of miles... then, just when you thought you would get home without any issue ..... cough... cough... splutter.. splutter.... dead. It would then take 20mins to get her started again, and off she would go, for another random amount of time before the whole process started again! So... given that the 'M' word was due, I decided to tackle the problem and fix it once and for all... after all... it couldn't be that hard... could it .. :-D

So.. first things first, it sounds like Daisy is pulling in air, now, I remember making up all the copper fuel lines, and there are a fair few joins. So, it could be that one of the joints has cracked, or a stone may have hit the floor pan, this would cause the air to be dragged in from the fuel line, and could explain the problem. So, rather than redoing the copper, I decided to use a continuous piece of rubber, going the whole length of Daisy, using the current copper pipe as a fixing bracket for the new rubber.

(1/4") 6mm RUBBER FUEL & OIL HOSE TUBING 10 METRE

ebay.co.uk

£25.00

It took a while to feed the entire hose the whole length of Daisy, but it was going to be worth it ..

So, after I had completed that, I was confident that this was the problem, and promptly took Daisy out for a wee test.. all seemed good. I went round the block twice, with no issue. So.. off to 'The Hill'.

The Hill is actually a small incline in the road, a few streets from me. This 'hill' was a constant. Meaning, that the minute Daisy started to climb this 'Hill' the fuel problems would surface, and the time to get out and push began. PFFF I though... lets go to 'The Hill'.

It took me 35minutes to push Daisy home. The air was blue!

Ok, so its not the fuel line... perhaps my new fuel pump is not up to the task....

I have had a couple of earth issues... the pump may not be running at peak performance, so, I decided to undo the wiring that I had completed for the new pump, and wire it direct to the battery, to ensure a good connection, and to wire in a switch, just for the pump, thus ensuring a good contact and operation.

Using croc clips would give me a very good contact.

I wired in the switch, and fitted it just under the dash between the clocks. Now I could hear the pump... chug chug chug chug. Excellent, this MUST be the problem... twice round the block, no problem.... Got to 'The Hill'.

35minutes later I pushed her in to my drive. I was knackered. I put Daisy away for the night, in case I decided to use a hammer to fix the problem!.. .

Back to the drawing board..... I again decided to clean the carb... what else is there!!??? I took out all the jets, and cleaned them.. AGAIN..

They appeared to be spottless. Put everything back together...

.. and went round the block.... three times... no problem... so... yes, you guessed it... off to 'The Hill'... a good start.... 2/3 of the way up 'The Hill' .. cough cough... splutter... dead... drift.. free wheel... swear... curse.. swear more...

35minutes push time... aaarrrggghhh... 

So... where are we now? Well, in a fit of desperation I have replaced all the elements of the carb with new refurbed elements. New jets, new control screws, new float, new needle valve and new gaskets, and would you believe it??!! I have been up and down 'The Hill' twice, and a third time with the kids. The moral of this story is... it doesn't matter how clean the jets look, when the die... they die.. trust your instincts BEFORE you change everything else!!

-------------------------------------------------- Update ---------------------------------------------------------------

Daisy failed her MOT :(

1. Too much play in the steering, it looks like the track rod ends may need replacing. I shall replace all 4, just to be safe.

2. The left hand McPherson was not taking the load from the wheel, the spring seemed to be doing all the work, so, new strut inside ordered from SmallFordSpares

Hopefully Daisy will be ready to by the end of the week..... fingers crossed (again!) ...

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