1850hl carb problems

[vraksianrebel]

So new car new problems.
Over Christmas I picked up a new dolomite 1850hl, the car is great the bodywork etc is really solid and everything seems to be in rather good working order, sadly the engine is massively down on power to the point that pulling away is actually hard work and far more likely for the car to stall than actually start to move.
If I pull the choke out a bit it sorts out most of the issue, it's not perfect but at least she's drivable. The carbs have been hard mounted with some solid steel tubes rather than the rubber shock absorbing mounts and I think they might be leaking and letting in air, I have ordered some replacements from rimmers and they assured me I only need 2 gaskets per car, is this right? If so which side of the rubber mount gets the gasket ?

And is there any other suggestions for things to check to sort this lack of power out?
I've replaced and gapped the points, New condensor, New coil, New leads and plugs. And I'm running it on shell super. Oh and the timing is spot on now as well.
One other thing is the temp gauge never goes above the first marker 1/4 I know it has a thermostat and I think

[Mark Hammond]

I maybe wrong but IIRC the gaskets go between the rubber mount and the manifold.  Have you checked the rotor arm and the cap?  This would produce more of a miss rather than low power so presumably it isn't misfiring?  Those mounts are probably the culprits as the carburettors are probably taking in too much air.  There is no need to use Super unleaded.

Mark

[vraksianrebel]

Yeah the rotor arm seems to be fine. We checked over all the distributor first and other than a little slack in the fly wieght springs the dizzy seems fine.
So you think the rubber mount goes straight to the carb body without a gasket? Seems weird that there's not one on both sides lol

[Mark Hammond]

Put one on each side if you're worried…….

M.

[vraksianrebel]

Well I'm a bit worried but only have two gaskets so would have to wait for more if there's supposed to be one either side

[Nick Jones]

It's been a long time since I had an 1850 but I'm pretty sure you'll want gaskets on both ends of the rubber mounts.  Fairly easy to make from cereal packets or similar cardboard.

They are never that keen to move off as they have a very high first gear.

Nick

[trubac]

It seems to me that you have a very weak mixture  ... have you check the carb richness ?

[vraksianrebel]

That's basically what it feels like to me that the mixture is too lean. I assumed that this was being caused by an air leak,
Is there any easy way to check the  richness of the carb mixture? And if its the carbs themselves that are the problem how would o adjust them ?

[Scimher]

1218 wrote:

I maybe wrong but IIRC the gaskets go between the rubber mount and the manifold.  Have you checked the rotor arm and the cap?  This would produce more of a miss rather than low power so presumably it isn't misfiring?  Those mounts are probably the culprits as the carburettors are probably taking in too much air.  There is no need to use Super unleaded.

Mark

Is the 1850 happy on 95 unleaded, Mark - I know that the handbook for the 1300 Dolomite specifies 97RON.....

[Mark Hammond]

1850 and TR7s will run on unleaded, not sure about Sprint but can't see why not.  Iron headed Dolomites i.e. 1300/1500 will NOT be happy in the long run on unleaded.

Mark

[Steve P]

Look at the spark plugs to see how its running,white and glazed electrode=lean,black and sooty=rich,should be greyish brown for normal running.

Adjustment is by lowering the jet with the nut underneath,downwards for richening.
S

[Toledo Man]

Have you topped up the dashpots? I recommend using ATF in your dashpots.

[Beans]

1218 wrote:

1850 and TR7s will run on unleaded, not sure about Sprint but can't see why not. ...

Sprint indeed runs on unleaded without problems.

[vraksianrebel]

Awesome well the second set of gaskets have arrived today so I'm going to try and fit the new rubber mounts tonight and see if that sorts the problems. If it doesn't then I will have to try adjusting the jets to enrichen the mixture but that might wait until this weekend as I don't really know what I'm doing without the correct tools which I can borrow on saturday