Bear with me through the introduction, the questions are at the end.
UK 1500 carburettor, no vacuum advance, 5 speed engine
Since the introduction of this E10 rubbish I have exclusively used E5 Super or whatever it is called at Shell/BP/Esso (I am told that Esso has no ethanol in it for the moment). I have also reverted to points ignition for the moment.
I have travelled a couple of thousand miles since the last attention to points gap, dwell angle and timing advance and this coincides with my change to Super fuel ie 97 Octane rather than the previous E5 95 Octane.
Given that each type of fuel burns at different rates and does not have the same characteristics as the fuel available when the car was new and the Tech Spec set down, I believe that the advance needs to be increased to allow for the slower burn time for modern fuel.
The published spec for UK 1500 carburettor, no vacuum advance, 5 speed engine is:
55 deg +/- 3 deg dwell
Points gap 0.40 +/-0.03mm
Advance per book is 5 deg btdc at 800-850 rpm idle speed.
I have set the dwell and points gap within spec BUT the performance and running with the advance at 5 deg is very poor.
I had trouble with the timing gun (connections at the ferrite pick up) so set the timing by ear/revs. Later I checked it with the now functioning timing gun and see that at idle I have 20deg advance. It was possible to go further.
There was no kick-back on starting, starting was easy, and driving at over 60 mph (in 4th gear) up a long steep hill did not produce any pinking (that I could hear anyway, but then again, I am poor at discerning sounds) but I am worried about holing a piston or four...
So to the questions: what timing advance are you running with your points 1500 cc engine and chosen fuel?
Have you changed anything since the introduction of E10 in the UK?
What ethanol blend are you using?
Are you and/or your engine happy with the advance?
Thanks
RDS
UK 1500 carburettor, no vacuum advance, 5 speed engine
Since the introduction of this E10 rubbish I have exclusively used E5 Super or whatever it is called at Shell/BP/Esso (I am told that Esso has no ethanol in it for the moment). I have also reverted to points ignition for the moment.
I have travelled a couple of thousand miles since the last attention to points gap, dwell angle and timing advance and this coincides with my change to Super fuel ie 97 Octane rather than the previous E5 95 Octane.
Given that each type of fuel burns at different rates and does not have the same characteristics as the fuel available when the car was new and the Tech Spec set down, I believe that the advance needs to be increased to allow for the slower burn time for modern fuel.
The published spec for UK 1500 carburettor, no vacuum advance, 5 speed engine is:
55 deg +/- 3 deg dwell
Points gap 0.40 +/-0.03mm
Advance per book is 5 deg btdc at 800-850 rpm idle speed.
I have set the dwell and points gap within spec BUT the performance and running with the advance at 5 deg is very poor.
I had trouble with the timing gun (connections at the ferrite pick up) so set the timing by ear/revs. Later I checked it with the now functioning timing gun and see that at idle I have 20deg advance. It was possible to go further.
There was no kick-back on starting, starting was easy, and driving at over 60 mph (in 4th gear) up a long steep hill did not produce any pinking (that I could hear anyway, but then again, I am poor at discerning sounds) but I am worried about holing a piston or four...
So to the questions: what timing advance are you running with your points 1500 cc engine and chosen fuel?
Have you changed anything since the introduction of E10 in the UK?
What ethanol blend are you using?
Are you and/or your engine happy with the advance?
Thanks
RDS