Carburettor and distobutor woes

[oldbanger]

Ive had the car for all of 4 weeks and its not run right  since I bought it ,  I tuned the engine, to discover the fault lay with the carbs,  - I dont do carbs - never have,  I only eat meat !  

I do Tapits, dwell , timing and always leave the carb - but this time it needed someone to look at it

Point is - first ,

Can I add auto ignition (on  a delco distrubator - cos Im feed up with dwell)

Also how important is setting dwell - I do it every time I tune - but some mechanics have had a look at me car over the last two weeks and neither bothered with a dwell meter- they just used feela guages (is that wise ??)

Also

The chap (mechanic)  today (seemed a nice bloke, looked at me carb and changed the needles because they were the wrong size - I dont do carbs so dont fully understand)  He says the carbs seem to be for a 1300 ,  (which mine is suposed to be).  But he says its behaving as if the engine bor  were a 1500 - and suggested that it may be 1500 cos its not burning proper at high revs -  then he went on to tell me that the engines FCUKED  Worn and he could build me a new one,  at which point I turned off due to overload

The guy knew his stuff (I think)  - and certainly worked on the carbs etc and earned his money - Im not worried about that - but I am worried that my enigne my be the worng sixe,  or so worn that it will never run smooth - which is what he said.

As it is - the car is starting better (but floods easy),   still stinks of fuel,  and misses at high revs,  oh and my oil presure ticks over at 20psi - is that ok too?

Does anyone have any similar experience and/or advice

ooow; let me add -
I not looking for the car to do 1-60 in 12sec or burn off every dick in renault clio - I just want to tootely along at a steady pace

[GT6Craig]

Wo wo wo! Family forum, no swearing! ;-)
Carbs are the essence of classic cars, do you not fancy understanding them? It does sound like issue lies in your timing, did your mechanic tune by the book? Really needs to be tuned by an experianced ear as the timing data would be out for even a moldy worn engine

where are you in the world?

[oldbanger]

ooops  sorry - forgot about the family bit.

Carbs have never really done much for me - the way I see it , they either work or they dont - they rearly, if ever, need adjusting.  Ive run classics before (before they were classics)  and never needed to mess with the carb.  only Tappets, dwell and timing,  by the book.

Ive had time to digest what the mechanic said ,  and concluded that it may be worn but thats no excuss for it to run badley,  Ive had other classics (20yrs ago) which were worn - but even they could be tuned ok.

[rotoflex]

Get a handle on what exactly is worn first.  Do a compression test and see what it says.