[patrick ryan]

Thanks.so.i took a spur lead from the solenoid relay out lead to the coil. Guess what? The car fired,possibly quicker then died as soon as ignition key released.the solenoid clearly has lower resistance than the coil! It seems a bit daft to fit a relay from the solenoid lead to the coil but that’s next along with the heater lead. Seems a convpluted approach to increasing voltage.. It still supposes that the battery voltage drops less on cranking than the solenoid. I have put an awful lot of time into thinking ways of not buying a 123 dizzy and new starter motor etc. It’s not I can’t afford it but I am mean. I still can’t really see why have to buy a special coil from 123 but I will consider it

[patrick ryan]

Hi Peter. Thanks. I don’t have a lead from the solenoid to the coil so adding one from the starter relay makes a lot of sense. My starter motor is the original,cranks slowly from cold despite i low engine compression of around 110 psi and probably drops the ignition voltage a lot.maybe an upgraded starter motor might help as well by drawing less current and spinning faster. My Dsuper5 started well as did all my old classics running on points so I feel there must be room for improvement. Having said that my Triumph Stag with lumenition ignition was a brilliant starter.Otherwise I will put in a 123 ignition. My Ds20 lives outside on gravel and is only used weekly or less so that probably doesn’t help eithet

[patrick ryan]

Hi Peter. It’s finally sunny here but not politic to do car stuff today. I bought a new spark rite oil and ballast about two years ago. Coil and resistor resistance were 1.5 ohms then and there wasn’t any obvious improvement over the old ducellier which I kept, although the old ballast resiter fell apart hence the change. I will check resistance and output voltage. Sounds as though i need to check cranking voltage?. In my ignorance i assume its current thats limited not voltage but need to get head around it a bit more. I can’t help feeling that the switched ignition voltage a bit poor as well. I have been adding relays in to the heater and solenoid with huge improvement. May need to wait xmas over before more investigation

[patrick ryan]

Thanks Peter and Paul. It’s a bit cold and dark outside so will investigate tomorrow. I read in an article somewhere that some DS in South Africa were tittivated with cam changes but that would seem a massive engine out job. I have always assumed that inlet manifold was external since the carb is well on the left of the engine. My plan for the engine is to recondition the lot though that will depend on what the cylinder head looks like. I have a good engineering workshop near me in Portsmouth. As regards the flywheel lightening I assume that livens up throttle response. The carb I have is weber and I assumed a dual choke though I haven’t looked further- it’s been the least of my problems up to now.I have been trying to avoid buying the 123 ignition up to now due to the expense but the spark on cranking over is pretty weedy despite new points condensor and cap and a new ballast coil. Starting hot and cold is commensurate. I switched to an electric fuel pump in case vapour lock. Not sure if it made a difference. I take your point about changing awkward components like the handbrake pads and cam seals and bearings.And the clutch is on its last legs anyway i think. Gearbox needs a new 4th gear and possibly a 2/3 synchro.I would prefer a 5 speed box though quite rare on ebay.but keeping eye out for one. I have downloaded the online manuals ,thanks.

[patrick ryan]

I had trouble removing the lock from the barrel.It was stuck fast.soaked it in lubricant overnight,then ultrasonic cleaning then some forced rotation and finally had to screw in a self tapper and then made a small slide hammer. It can’t usually be like this??.Anyway the new lock is in and works fine. Now need to do the doors as I never got the keys

[patrick ryan]

Thanks, more simple than I realised. Ideally just need a strong thin point to remove the circlip

[patrick ryan]

Thanks

[patrick ryan]

so.in series with the mechanical pump I take it and no impedance to petrol flow to the pump.Why not have the pump the whole time?

[patrick ryan]

well, I’ve done most of that. The bonnets been up and down countless times Nd I did do the valve clearances. The car came with a lot of maintenance history unusually.
I think i will try and get everything new on the sparking side and get the fuel pump in and the carb cleaned an adjusted then see.. the air filter is the metal mesh one .
thanks for your input. I will probably buy the lower pressure genuinefacet pump.

[patrick ryan]

Thanks Peter
all useful questions
I’ve had fun and games already. Fitted a non return valve that worked for a few days before blocking the flow! A glass filter that also seemed to block. Have tried to divert the fuel hose away from the engine and water hose. changed the points condenser,terminal fittings coil and ballast resistor to sparkrite(cheap) . New plugs. The timing is correct for the dy2 engine and there is advancement on strobe timing I haven’t changed the bougicord ht leads and the original rotor arm and dizzy cap. I think in the first instance it would be best to renew the conventional set up rather than spend £400 plus the cost of a new coil . I am looking out for a cheap NOS SEV cap and rotor arm on ebay.
Anyway ,I will look at fuelling first. fettle the carburettor check the butterflies opens as they should and get the pump fitted.
I do indeed have a “cheap knock off copy” of the box style pump with 8mm ends I think I ordered the one with lower pressure 1.5-4 psi and I assume the low range posiflow is what you have. I think I will fit my one first off as proof of concept as proof of concept and if successful maybe switch to a facet.posiflow .I will need to use up most of the fuel before iIcut the nylon pipe .Is it difficult and what is the I.D. I assume that brass hose connectors will work instead of the “top hats”

[patrick ryan]

Thanks Paul
It never occurred to me that the carb ferrules could fall out!
I’ll add it to the list
In the meantime anyone else there with 123 experience ;before and after? My engine pickup is incredibly slow when blipping the throttle but perhaps they all are.

[patrick ryan]

Thanks Peter , that’s helpful. I did mean the open channel withe the pipe in. Will try blowing through the pump again to check for resistance to flow and look for a suitable site to mount. I expect all this will take me ages as all projects on this car seem to throw up unanticipated problems

[patrick ryan]

Hi Peter,
I am down near portsmouth.
please see my reply to Paul re the “passive resistance” of my facet pump. I wondered if the mechanical pump could suck through this..I can see it would be alot easire to have the pump running just at start up.I have alos seen a post about wirng the pump into the starter solenoid circuit.I think i will bypass the mechanical pump.
When you say the sill wher do you mean ? All advice suggests as near to the petrol tank as possible so i assume right atthe back. Where did you take the power supply from and how did you route it through the sill.I suppose along the route of the fuel pipe.
Think i will do the fuel pump and rebuild the carburettor prior to the expense of a 123.

[patrick ryan]

Thanks Paul,
I got as far as taking the sill covers off and then bottled it. The facet style pump i bought needs some pressure to blow through so i assumed it would need to be working the whole time the engine is running with a suitable cut out safety switch maybe based on the oil pressure switch and a bypass to the mechanical pump. i was considering adding it in parallel to the fuel line but then the fuel might just go backwards
funnily enough the carburettor side hose perished enough to allow a jet of petrol to go over the coil but i was lucky to spot that one pretty well as soon as it happened.at least I know the nechanical pump works.

[patrick ryan]

Hi
I do have a choice of mountings but I found it very difficult to fit my chosen inertia reel seatbelts in the lower sill mount anyway and the belt was very stiff and got caught up with the front seat, hence the move back a few inches and up to the upper sill that works perfectly but impinges into the passenger entry as though opposite the b post is essentially in the rear compartment. Unlikely to bother me much though will be a bit awkward for passengers. Plan B would have been standard belts.
Next job is to move the seat mounting back as there isn’t enough rearward movement for comfort for my long legs. I bought replacement seat runners from a French car to replace the SA ones. The obvious way is to drill the holes to be further back but no doubt it will be harder than I think. Has anyone else modified the mounting. as my legs arent that long around 33 inside leg?

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