Engine trouble - Newly purchased TR7

[Richie]

Hi, I'm new to the TR scene, and just bought myself a 1982 TR7. After driving it back home (200 miles) I have a few problems. When warm, the engine refuses to idle, and stalls. Hard acceleration causes the engine to give up and loose power, the exhaust making a butterfly 'fart' sound. I'm just about to service the distributer, replace the ht leads and coil in the hope that the ignition needed a 'tune', and clean up the carbs. I removed the plugs and found them to be in an odd condition - one side is oily and black. the other is deposit free and tan coloured. I'm aware that the engine probably needs a good service, and that's what I'm going to do, but I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on what may be causing the problem. Btw, the car blows no smoke at all - a bonus huh?!

[rayjones]

Sounds like your carbs are badly out of balance, what are they SU's?

Ray

[Richie]

Yes they are. The air filter was missing the gasket around the filter unit, and the carbs are full of deposit. I have some K+N filters that I'm going to put on. Is cleaning and balancing a job I can do myself with limited knowledge and a Haynes manual???

[Beans]

Quote:

Might be some worn valve(guide)s.
Also have the compression off your engine tested, just to be sure

Is it an oil or a fuel deposit that's on the plugs ??) Could be that oil is sucked into the engine through the inlet valves and not getting burned properly.

A good service for the engine sounds like a good idea. Check everything on the engine (ignition timing, plug and contact breaker gaps, valve clearance, strength off the sparks etc. before you dismantling anything ::)

As for the carbs, it is fairly straightforward to clean up SU's. Check if they still have the original waxstat-jets. Can sometimes give problems if not functioning correctly.

[Richie]

Many thanks for your advice. This weekend I changed the coil, and that tidied the engine up a lot - started idling properly. Then replaced the condensor (contacts were new and ok), sparks, ht leads, and put on some K+N air filters. The previous problem seems to have gone now, and it does look like all that is needed is a general service. Thanks for the advice. Hopefully when it starts looking tidier, I'll post some pictures.