Hi All you lovely commer folkies....been a loooong time.... engine trouble!

[Dodgegirl]

So after leaving it in the hands of a local classic car guy to sell around last october... he contacted me in jan saying hadnt been able to start it.. o i thought... prob a petrol issue as the tank indicator is inaccurate.. so 2 jinny cans later.. still no luck... AA guy came... classic enthusiast and was dismayed that after an hour working on it.. it had him beat! So with a slip on the computor he organised a free tow to the nearest garage...i was convinced it would be a small thing.. but after couple months covid... they finally got to work on it... and found water in the carburettor... so stripped and cleaned on the friday and got it working... prob is.. on the monday it again wouldnt start again... so did the same thing over next couple days.. the needle keeps sticking so to indicate petrol going through it... and they reckons it needs a new car carb...? Ran this by a friends dad who has engineering background and he says hes never heard of that... Can anyone suggest anything before i fork out £xxxx and it doesnt solve the prob?
Many Fankles
Nicky

 

[Panky]

Hi Nicky and welcome back
If there was water in the carburetter then it's possible it's come from the tank and is being drawn through, I have heard of occasions when water has got in through the filler cap on the Dodge set up. To check some of the tank needs to be drained through the outlet connection and the fuel line blown through to remove anything that might be in there, then clean the carb out again. If that works then happy days.
The original carbs are not very good once they age and replacing them is a common upgrade, the easiest way to do this is to fit a Webber carb kit (Martin Maltas does them I think) which is a direct replacement. Ideally an SU carb can be used but this needs a modified manifold and is a lot more work and expense. Hopefully the inside of the tank is OK and has not been affected by the water in there.

 

[Dodgegirl]

Thanks Panky, reliable on the smarts as always ... Unfortunately Martin maltas doesn't have carb.. Any ideas as to source? Martin my usual go to ... Think I uploaded pics but doin this on phone so anything is possible

 

[Dodgegirl]

Thanks Panky! Reliable source of perfik info as always... Tried Martin but he doesn't have the carb... SU Hif44... Any other stockists that u may know about?

 

[Panky]

Is that your set up in the pics? If so you've already got an SU fitted and I would stick with it. Have you tried draining some of the tank to get rid of any water? that is the first step.
On top of the carb you can see a plastic nut it should unscrew by hand. unscrew it and draw it out, it is attached to a small rod with a piston on the end. When it's out pour a couple of teaspoons of engine oil into the tube you can see down the hole where the little piston has come out of then push the piston back in. You will feel resistance as the oil is displaced but this is normal, the piston acts as a damper and if there's no oil in there then you will have trouble starting and poor running.
The SU is one of the simplest carbs there is, parts are readily available from Burlen Fuels System if you need any.