This is a typical story. The early Jap "SU's" (Hitachi copies of SUs) are almost identical to British Skinner Unions but usually work better, basically because most are a lot newer. Most SU's were a 1950's era carby.
If you get a pair of SU's in good mechanical condition, balanced so they open at the same time and the same rate, and with mixture needles that are right for the engine, they will perform extremely well on a road car. A good balance between power and economy and trouble free operation for years with minimal or no tuning/adjustment required because of their simplicity. As a rule of thumb, if you've got to fiddle with them to keep your engine tuned, they have mechanical wear in the linkages, pistons or butterfly shafts and should be rebuilt. They usually only use damper oil if they are stuffed. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Abraham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, 4 September 2002 18:33 PM Subject: Re: SU Throwing Competition > I'll fight you for it :) > > It took me about 6 months to get my SU's 'right' (the car was my daily > driver). > > One of the ways I managed for so long was to have a dash switch for the > electric fuel pump. > Before you start in the morning turn the switch on to put some fuel in the > bowls. > Turn it off for the first 200 metres or so after you have warmed up. > Then leave it on. > > Remember to turn it off at traffic lights and during slow driving. > Make sure you have a good battery or are a champion bump starter because it > is going to stall often and in inconvenient places! > (eg the bottom of Galston Gorge, half way through a rallysprint, in traffic > etc..) > Also, SU's follow the British engineering guidline that stipulates the time > spent trying to restart the car should be proportional to the inconvenience > of the location. > > And be VERY careful that you don't start a fire! > You may hear a 'drop-HISS', 'drop-HISS' - it will be raw fuel dripping onto > the 'HOT' extractors. > > Also carry dashpot oil with you everywhere you go, because you will need to > top it up daily almost. > > OR you could learn from my experience and clean up the SU's, polish the > domes and put them on display in your garage (they are shit but look good). > Then go out and get yourself Hitachis (Jap copies) Mine are not the best > condition but I bolted them on and it started first go and never missed a > beat! > > Regards, > Nick > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bob" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 5:31 PM > Subject: SU Throwing Competition > > > > Hello membersozdat, > > > > Is there an SU throwing competition out there? I recon I am about > > charged up to challenge the title. > > > > I took in everyones advice, now, here is what I did. Checked the > > needle/float setup on each of the carbies, all looks good. As an > > experiment, got some clear tubing and checked the float level on the > > front carby, it seemed good, and as both bowls seemed ok, didnt > > bother to check the back one. Pulled off the piston setup, checked > > the needles, the needle in the back piston is bent, front one isnt, > > so I very delicately attempt to straighten the bent needle as a > > temporary thing. Turn the fuel pump on with the pistons out, fuel > > fountains out of the jets, that doesnt seem to be right to me, cause > > the float bowls should just be maintaining a constant fuel height, > > which probably lends more weight to what Nick was saying about using > > a pressure regulator, but I wanted to check cheaper things before > > opening my wallet. > > I put the pistons back in, start the car, next thing fuel is > > dripping from the front carby where the hose to the jet connects to > > the fuel bowl - there was a little o ring thingo in there when I > > took the hose off, it must have fallen when I was putting it all > > back together after checking fuel levels, and now it is missing. > > > > So, does anyone have one of those o rings they can sell? I havent > > been able to get that regulator yet, but im not going to even look > > at the car until I get one now. > > > > -- > > Best regards, > > Bob mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > --membersozdat------------------------------------------------------- OZDAT Mailing List Please Note:- Send (un)subscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send submissions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] No unauthorised redistribution of this email http://www.ozdat.com/ozdatonline/index.htm http://www.ozdat.com/ozdatonline/listindex.html http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------
