Hi all, thanks for watching and supporting the channel. More old-car vids available via the Old Classic Car channel's homepage:ru-vid.com/show-UCKaTg9fPUvmUQi94FcnDbrg#classiccar #classiccars #oldcars
Back in the mid 70's, a neighbour had a Prefect E493A. I remember him doing this exact job on it with the same result. I haven't seen John for about 40 years (he got married and moved away) but I reckon he started my interest in classic cars. He also had 2 Singer Hunters which were more rust than metal!
Oh how this takes me back to the 1960s when I drove a Ford Popular and was an apprentice motor mechanic in Kent. Couldn't the leaky float halves be separated, then resoldered? I did a quick search for replacement brass floats and one supplier has over 200 in stock, priced at around £12 each. I reckon a modern car designer would specify a plastic float. An interesting exercise would be to 3D print one!
Hi, yes I believe they are available and could be fixed, the challenge on that day though was to find something there and then that would return it to working order :)
At various times past I owned an Autstin Somerset, an A30, a Rover 90 and later basic Minis and 1300s. Apart from rust these cars ran well and were easy to work on. My presnt car has so many dash lights, switches, cameras and assorted gizmos I have to remind myself what they are for. Maybe these things detract from actual concentration while driving? As I was reminded as a lad "keep it simple stupid".
That was lucky to have had the right spare float. There should be a gasket on the bowl for a leakproof fit on the carb body. And since the carb is right on top of the hot exhaust, better carry a small fire extinguisher in the car - some of the old classics had them from factory.
Thanks for watching, I don't think this type of carb ever had a gasket (SU carbs do have a gasket on the float chamber lid, but not the Zenith fitted to the Ford AFAIK). Thanks for watching
When you hear the hissing of the leak on the float, with soapy water ,test the solder joint or the leak .then resolder it after draining the fuel inside. My first car when I started work as a teenager and driving was a 51 prefect 4 dr.
Bought one of these in 1971 for £5 with 12 months mot. Bought it off a teacher who couldn't get it started. After giving everything a thorough check over I couldn't find the problem. I took the float bowl off to check if fuel was present. When I removed the bowl the float basically level with the top. The bowl was full of crud. Took me a week to clean it using paint thinners to break up the crud with the aid of a small electrical screwdriver. Ran a treat afterwards. I 'gave' the car away when I joined the Royal Navy 7 months later - not the first or last crap decision I've made 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Love these car's, in 1970s a mate had one that he fitted engine and gearbox from escort mexico, never did anything with the brake's all go and no whoa, funny how those day's absolute fear meant fun!, hope you dont do a full on restoration it looks perfect the way it is.
Glad that's sorted..I wish I could do quick fixes though , I would have to take carb off and submerge it In petrol and blow out all passages new gaskets etc..carb cleaner ..but as long as the problem is solved that's great and a lovely car you have there..rock on .peace..
Cheers, thanks for watching, invariably if I start doing more jobs than were originally needed I end up breaking something, so in this case I was happy just to put it back together :-)
Did you take the needle bolt out and check that the needle was seated properly. With repeated use, as small ridge forms that can allow the needle to always leak slightly. Take it out and with very fine sandpaper or even a sharpening stone remove any ridges . Check the seat as well for lips and ridges
hi i remember these cars in the early 60s as a child,my uncle used to double-de- clutch when going in to 1st gear when on steep hills .he taught me the art of correct driving.i do not know why these cars were not fitted with an oil bath air cleaner or a simple wire mesh air cleaner , back in the early 70s my friend had a 100e it was a great car and side valve engine
Looks very similar to the pre-war Austin 7 Zenith 26VA.I gather that the prevailant Ethanol in petrol can wreak havoc on lead solder which I assume could affect the float assembly.
I've not read about ethanol affecting lead solder but I wouldn't be surprised, I need to gather my relevants spares into an easily-accessible location, I was just lucky that I knew where this lone spare carb was located and fortunately it had a usable float in it. I might just check it again this afternoon just to make sure that it's still floating ...
Having the carburetor over the exhaust manifold is just bad engineering (like VW (having it over generator)). Also there is a chafing point (needle on float). Stromberg is better, having float separate to needle with the actuator in between. However, perhaps by attaching a piece of harder metal on top of the float may help. Thanks for your hard work, cheers 🍻
My 1954 consul had the same sort of carb, one night the 2 float bowl bolts became very loose and petrol was spilling over the exhaust, next day I was able to just tighten the bolts, lucky it did not catch fire.
Enjoyable bit of classic car repairs there ! Just a mention for those two annoying bad actors doing their silly adds at the start, thank god for my mute button,
A nice easy fix! Well done! Might you plan to solder the defect and keep this as a spare? New ones are available, but whether the size is correct or not I have no idea! Thanks for sharing!
Really useful video, interesting to a non mechanic to see how these things work certainly fairly straightforward unlike some modern cars. I noticed that you have a vacuum tank fitted, does this improve the working of the wipers on hills and overtaking or are they still a little slow at times?
Thanks for supporting the channel, to be honest I've only driven it briefly in rain (see the tip run video!) but I would imagine that the presence of a vacuum tank would only make a modest improvement to the efficiency of the wipers, so really they are still a poor substitute to electric wipers I'm sure
@@oldclassiccarUK As you say electric wipers are far better. Vacuum work well on tickover but on full throttle they slow down and stop when the vacuum tank is empty, and only recover when you take your foot off of the throttle. The 100e also had vacuum operated wipers.
So Rick, do you think this is synonymous with the dreaded ETHANOL in modern petrol? I too had a float that became porous in my Daimler Fifteen. I have since replaced it with Burlens " Teflon" replacement with no further problems but I have heard of quite a few cases. If so, the ethanol is a proper nuisance and could result in serious fires in classics which would very worrying.
It may well be, I've not looked into it particularly but from what I hear it could well have an effect on the solder. Certainly something to keep an eye on and I'll dig out a few spares to keep in the car I think
Is it usual that there is no provision for an air cleaner? The 1948 Prefect that my parents owned here in Australia certainly had one. It also had electric wipers.
Hi, export Fords probably did have air cleaners (not sure about wipers), here in the UK they just had small tin covers fitted to the top of the carb, as it shows in the vid. Thanks for checking out the vid!
I’ve a Porsche 981 cayman you take pot luck that it don’t go u/s or will cost a fortune to fix. This is why classics are still going I’m considering looking for an interesting classic which will be easier to keep on road. S.
