The Snail

[sunbeamsam]

So, I thought I’d fit a fuel pump with the priming lever to make starting after a winter slumber slightly easier. However the lever seems to foul the chassis rails, looks fixable with a hammer and file but weren’t these standard fit on some Commers?

Or are my engine mounts just knackered?

 

[Panky]

Not sure, not seen that type of pump fitted to a Commer before but it does seem a little close. I'll take a look at Harvey's tomorrow and check.
Good news is it will be self priming once the engine starts shaking about

 

[sunbeamsam]

Interestingly the sunbeam alpine wsm has the lever but the Commer wsh doesn’t. Also interesting that it says you can adjust the fuel pressure by shimming the pump away from the block. Never knew that.

 

[sunbeamsam]

So I’ve ordered some new engine mounts hoping that will give me a few more mm. I’ll also use a hammer to adjust the rail flange. Reckon I can make it fit.

drilled out the main jets on the bike carbs tonight, hoping to get them fitted over the coming month.

 

[sunbeamsam]

Been getting annoyed about not being able to see what I’m doing in the engine bay so bought some of these

 

[sunbeamsam]

Stuck 4 of them round the engine bay on a switch. Quite effective.

 

[Panky]

Now that is a brilliant idea

 

[PaulJL]

You just gave me an idea...

 

[sunbeamsam]

So if someone says they are ‘just’ going to change their engine mounts - tell them not to be so stupid. Wasted 2 hours. Gave up. That’s not a job to try with all the ancillaries attached in a garage with a ceiling too low to Jack the van up.

filed the primer handle and offending flange off. All good. Would have been simpler to fit an electric pump or one of those hand primers like what you get on a boat. Still, where would the fun be in that.

so bike carbs are on whilst I ponder the next load of issues. So far these seem to be:

1) fuel pipe routing - looks like it needs to rather convoluted and rather too close to the exhaust manifold.
2) servo and dizzy vacuum take off - there isn’t one
3) throttle cable - current method fouls the engine lid

 

[S0updragon]

Ooh good luck. You have 12 weeks to finish it only a fool breaks the 2 meter rule

 

[sunbeamsam]

So need to add:

4) make up some form of heat shielding to stop the carbs being cooked above the exhaust manifold.

good news is I’ve sorted the throttle cable, it might get in the way of a future air box but it is good enough for now. I’ve also found a nice bit of stainless heat shielding I robbed off some industrial machine many years ago.




and with a bit of polish

 

[sunbeamsam]

Next is mounting it to the manifold. Bolted two bits of steel bar to it so far

 

[sunbeamsam]

 

[sunbeamsam]

Omg! it actually started! Have just driven it out of the garage

 

[sunbeamsam]

Running a bit rich idle and the throttle linkage movement isn‘t ideal but a good start

 

[sunbeamsam]

That’s air fuel ratio on the black dial

 

[Panky]

Fantastic, it's been a ride
Any chance of a little vid

 

[jimberlake]

Wow - nice to have good news atm. Yes a vid would be amazing. After doing something similar at one point to remove carbs - are these injected bike throttle bodies or standard carbs?

 

[S0updragon]

Definitely classed as an essential journey

 

[sunbeamsam]

These are bog standard bike carbs not throttle bodies, maybe in a future decade... but I’ll probably be plotting a Tesla conversion by then.

van is currently on axle stands without a diff. Will do a vid when I put it back together in a couple of days. I also want to swap the servo over for a slightly less aggressive one which is lucky as I really want a slightly more aggressive one in the alpine so plan to just swap them over.