MG
The Classic Marque

Thanks David I whizzed them out and they seem fine. I will try turning them out a couple more turns Daniel and see if that helps. I do plan to have it all set up on a RR when the new engine is in but thought if at least I could get it to run it would be a start. I plan to get the new engine started and bedded in on the SU’s that I know work. I’m just south of Birmingham.

I had to google the difference between F8 and F9 idle jets and it seems that the F8 lets in more air than the F9. So, it might be that 55F9s might work out better for the engine or 50F9s or 60F9s etc.

The other choices for idle jets are F2s (which I have used) and F11 which I have not.

Having said all that I wouldn't have thought the difference was big enough for the engine not to ...

And whilst I have the plugs out, a compression test. 15 spins, WOT. :

DRY. WET.
1. 172 195
2. 152. 185
3. 162. 190
4. 165. 190

1098 engine.
So wet figures ok, suggests valves are good?
Dry figures a bit low, but evenly so compared to wet so some bore wear but nothing catastrophic.

Anything else to be gleaned?

Forgot to say, the 24188 dipstick uses a tube only 45mm long.

As your dipstick tube is 110mm long, you should be using a dipstick with the part number 24407.

And the plugs. This afternoon a 50 mile journey, much of it at dual carriageway speeds, though slower, 30's, for the last mile or s
#4 is the longer plug.

A bit like Anamns exhaust smell, but I get fuel smells with the frogeye. If it were a wiring 'leak' one could go through a logical sequence with a meter or test bulb to eliminate and narrow down the fault. But I dont know of a similar logical way to chase down a smell!

There is a faint wiff of fuel with the car parked in the garage, but more alarmingly one can smell it on the road at 60mp...

Anamn, does your system have an exhaust pipe support bracket underneath at the back of the gearbox. Earlier cars had it. I think that the length of the vertical down pipe with effectively an integral manifold must put a lot of leverage on what is a narrow band where the bolts, all in a line, secure to the head. Add a bit of inertia reaction whenever you blip the throttle, plus perhaps soft rubber ...

Mike,

It's worth checking the ends of the idle needles are intact. It's not unheard of for them to get jammed in and the ends break off, a mate traced problems with his 2nd hand Weber 45 to that.

Hi Daniel 55 F8 if I’m looking at the right thing