[Andy Lawton]

Thank you all for the replies. It doesn’t illuminate when the dash lights are on, so I suppose whatever bulb it has has blown. I’m not going to bother to change it because a) I never use the ashtray so I don’t care about it being illuminated and b) I know that if I try and remove the screws, one or both of them will disappear into the depths of the dash, never to be seen again and if I do get them out safely, I’ll lose them when I try to put them back.

[Andy Lawton]

I’m not sure the car and I are up for a run to Spain! Is there a website?

[Andy Lawton]

Yes, I’m a resident here. Not in Pons, but a little further north near St Savinien.

[Andy Lawton]

The manual I have (the owners manual reprint) says that for the Solex 28/36 SFIF, the idle speed is 625 to 675 rpm. The fast idle is given as 875 – 925, idle 550 pre ’68, fast idle 850 – 900, idle 625 post ’68. I think I’ll leave it where it is!

[Andy Lawton]

Thanks for the reply. Moving the battery is an interesting idea. It would make a lot more room over by the LHM tank. I can’t find a hole in the parcel shelf, but it wouldn’t be too hard to drill one.

[Andy Lawton]

I haven’t checked the compressions, but I have managed to get a reasonable idle.
he carb seems OK – the spindle has negligible play in it, and I don’t think there are any air leaks between the carb and the manifold. I tried the old carb cleaner test to see if the idle increased slightly when sprayed around, but there was no effect.

I think there were two things. The first was the fuel. When I bought the car, it had about half a tank in it. I don’t know how long that had been in there. Probably a while, as the car wasn’t used much. I had also added a bit of fresh fuel, but I could only get E10, as there was no E5 available. I only put a few litres in though. I have been runnng it for a while, and so I decided to put in 10 litres of fresh E5. That seems to have made a difference, as it works it’s way through and dilutes the old stuff.

The second thing is that I was trying to use the car’s tacho to set the idle. That was a mistake! I have a meter that can give you the rpm from the coil connection. It was giving me a speed of around 680-700 rpm, and the car said around 900. I didn’t know what to believe, so initially I went with the car tacho. I could never get a good idle trying to set it using that, so I got out my old oscilloscope and used it to measure the time between pulses at the coil. This gave me the same value as the meter. So I had been trying to set the idle too low. No wonder it was so difficult!. I’ve now got a reasonably stable idle at 680-700 rpm, that I’m happy with.

[Andy Lawton]

OK, here’s the situation so far. I’ve stripped and cleaned the carb in my ultrasonic cleaning tank. Reassembled with a carb rebuild kit. It’s now squeaky clean. I’ve replaced the spark plugs, the ignition leads, the distributor cap and the rotor arm. The carb has cassette points, so I’ve set the dwell angle to the specification. I’ve set the timing to 10 degrees advanced, a couple of degrees more than standard to compensate for todays fuel. I haven’t moved any of the settings that are not supposed to be moved. The only two left are the mixture and air settings. I removed those for cleaning.
I also checked and set the valve clearances whilst I was at it.

Everything is back together, and the engine is running but for the life of me I cannot get a smooth idle. I have tried all the combinations of mixture and air, but it’s still very lumpy. Even at higher rpm, there is still a misfire. I’m beginning to suspect ignition, even though I’ve replaced quite a lot of the ignition circuit. I think that the coil is original, and checking resistance of the primary and secondary, it seems to be within spec. I get a good spark from it too.

I’m at a bit of a loss as to where to go from here, so I thought I’d see if any of you have some other ideas of what to check or replace.

[Andy Lawton]

Does anyone have a basic setup procedure for this carb? As far as I can see, there are two things you can change – there’s what I think is a screw that changes the volume of petrol being used, and another that in some way increases the amount of air allowed. The air screw was all the way in, and the volume screw a long way unscrewed. I had a feeling it was running very rich. I have messed around with them, but to be honest, it seems to make little difference. That’s why I was wondering if anyone has a basic setup anywhere.

[Andy Lawton]

Thanks for the reply. You are correct with it being an SFIF. I found this photo on the Blondeau website that identifies it. As I’m in France, I don’t want to order from the UK because I’m likely to get stuffed with customs duties, etc.

[Andy Lawton]

Bit of a thread ressurection here. I did as suggested – I left it alone. Unfortunately, yesterday the carb decided it wanted some TLC as it left me stranded. Fortunately I was only 2km from home.

I removed the carb and stripped it down. The float bowl had some sediment in it, and the needle valve felt as though it might be a bit sticky. It’s all clean now and the car is running again.

However as I took the top off, I noticed that the gasket had a piece missing, so I need a new gasket for that. In fact, I’d like a complete gasket and seal kit for it. Sadly, I’m no closer to identifying the actual model of carb so I can order one. I’ve added a few more photos to see if anyone can get a little closer.

I’m not convinced that the fuel pump is putting aut enough pressure too. I may change that too, or if there is a rebuild kit available I’ll have a go at that.

[Andy Lawton]

Thanks Paul. Doesn’t look too hard. Once I have the battery back in the car, I’ll take a look at it.

[Andy Lawton]

Thanks Peter. Is this a hard thing to take apart? I would have a look at my manual, but it’s in the garage. I’ve just changed the drive belts and I’m just enjoying a cup of tea after fighting with those!

[Andy Lawton]

I think that it’s a replacement, rather than an original fitment because you can see that the bracket has had something connected to it. It was a while ago though! Do you know if the jetting will be OK? The engine runs as sweet as a nut.

[Andy Lawton]

It’s definately a Solex.

As soon as I work out how to get an image on here, I’ll post a photo.

[Andy Lawton]

Thanks everyone for the replies. It looks as though the carb has been replaced at some point.

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