Persistence Pays Off

Well with RPIs help we finally got to the bottom of the engine running problem.

I went to purchse some new plugs, because even though they had been recently replaced before I purchased the car, I also understood that upgrading the sparks could cause a plug to fail.

On removal one of the plugs was sooty and crudded up. When we looked at the new Magnecor leads, one ws cracked and burnt. What had happened was the angled metal plug caps fitted to the leads had rotated and this caused the lead to touch the exhaust and eventually start arcing. This is prone to happen on the left bank (looking from the front) where clearance is tight. The remedy is to fit a loose cable tie round cylinders 4 and 6 so the plug cap cannot rotate. RPI replaced the burnt lead FOC and I also fitted 8 new metal plug caps as the old ones looked corroded.

The new plugs were gapped to suit the new ignition upgrades and what a result. The engine is now 100% and smoooooth as silk. The tickover still takes a while to settle down but I have only done a few miles so hopefully it will cure itself as the ECU gets used to the changes. If not RPI will sort it for me when they improve the EFI air flow. I spent £63.45 today but it was money well spent.

I like RPI, they let me get my hands dirty and help if I want and I can make suggestions, on the one condition that I listen to their combined 61 years of Rover V8 experience! Chris Crane even took time on a busy Saturday to thrash the nuts off my car to make sure it was now running OK. Top Bloke!

All drive line shunt and the slight mis-fire has now gone. Hopefully now I can set a "Base Line" for the engine, to establish how further upgrades affect performance.

The engine temperature sensor has come from Wilco costing £9.35 but I shan't bother fitting it now. I also bought a selection of blade fuses as these can blow unexpectedly.

The Renovo hood refurbishment kit has also arrived and I have cleaned the hood to good effect. The next stage is to mask off and apply the colour restorer and water proofer.

I am a happy bunny and the sun is shining too!