Timothy Keith-Lucas

OK, I believe in simplification, too. Two square tubes, a 1" with an inside square of 0.76", and the other with an outside 0.75". Weld on the ends from the old column. Turning torque is taken up by their being square, and a little silicone between them will cushion it and keep the wheel from moving in and out. I'll let you know if it works.

Thank you muchly, MV8. I ran into no end of trouble mating the Borgeson shaft to my 9/16 shaft - adaptors are not available in those sizes and I don't have a lathe. I'm thinking of a 5/8" inch ID tube pinned to top and bottom stubs. I can get 12" of collapse from that. The available free shaft, from the splines at the steering pinion to the frame that mounts the master cylinders is (surprisingly) only 25". A collar around the shaft just below the mount for the master cylinders should make sure that it collapses, without transferring the thrust to my hands or my chest. Mr. Chapman certainly believed in simplification, but having the steering column anchored only at the steering pinion is impressive. Release that clamp, and the entire shaft slides out the back, with only a bend in the steering wheel as it goes over the seat back.

The solid steel steering column on my 1962 S2 scares me. Any frontal impact and that sucker is aimed at my chest. I'm thinking of designing and fabricating a collapsible column, but am wondering if anyone has already got a design, or if there is a substitute column on the market. Thoughts?

Thanks. Interesting approach. At the moment I'm trying to resurrect my positive ground original. I would prefer a mechanical unit, for simplicity and accuracy. The electrical unit has lots of problems, but re-wiring may solve them. I have not found a generator with the mechanical take-off, complicated by my 7 being positive ground.

Ooops. No joy. No threads under the cover. Sounds like a new generator is in my future if I want a mechanical tach.

Wonderful! So it's under the projection out the back end labelled "OIL". I will pursue said, and thank you.

Is there a port for a mechanical tachometer, or a way of rigging one, on the Austin etc. 948cc engine? I've got a digital run off a spark plug lead, and the original electrical tach which I've modernized, but the plain reliability of a mechanical tach is appealing. Any ideas appreciated.

My S2 1160 America has an even simpler mirror, with a clamp holding mirror glass. It's possible that the previous owner, who raced the car extensively in the 1960s, went minimalist with the mirror. It is at least the mirror it had back then.

Found it! The problem went back to my buying a set of thin wrenches that inexplicably lacked a 5/8 inch open end. The locking nuts on the jets were as a result not as tight as I should have made them, and the two carbs self-adjusted to the lean side, particularly the rear one. Too lean to fire. Setting them back to two turns from the top wasn't enough either; these carbs need 2 1/2 or so. Thank you for all your suggestions - they were not wasted, because I now know a bunch about SU carbs that I didn't know before I started. It is a bit of a challenge to master this car when there is no nearby source of expertise.

The engine acted like it was running out of gas and then died. Spark plugs are the right shade of brown but dry after attempts at starting. Spark is present on all cylinders. Fuel level is correct in both bowls, and the electric fuel pump is delivering fuel to both bowls. Compression is above 150 PSI on all cylinders. I'm down to suspecting the jets are clogged. Yeah, I delayed putting a filter in the line and one is now on order. If I've made the right diagnosis, what is the easiest way to clear clogged jets? I could come from the top, remove the needles, and run a fine wire through the jets. I could detach the fuel feed at the bottom of each carb and blow air upward while holding the needles up. Maybe there's a standard way of doing it and you folks know the secret. Is must be a pretty common problem, but it doesn't earn any comments in my SU carb manuals. It certainly is on other small engines. Some mechanics just blow carb cleaner up the jets and hope for the best.

I Got it! Typical "I'm new to this piece of machinery" mistake. I followed your instructions (all of them, THANK YOU!). No joy, so something had to be wrong beyond adjustment. I took the anti-bird nesting screens off the carbs to watch the throttles rise and fall. Both throttles were stuck in the full-up position..... I had not noticed the tongue and grove on the sides of the piston and the dashpot case. Locked them full open. Runs one hell of a lot better with working throttles. Still needs some tuning, but that I can do. So thanks to all, and to all a happy holiday season. --Tim.

Thank you, all. I'll get back to work on it in the morning. The central problem is that this is a new installation, so a cold engine, rather than tuning existing carbs on a running engine.

Two turns was from the point of the jet adjusting nuts fully compressing the springs. It's acting like it really isn't getting any fuel from the carbs, just starter fluid. Perhaps open the jet adjusting nuts some more?

I've got a beautiful rebuilt set of 1 1/4" SU carbs on my Austin 948 engine. I've been following the step-by-step in the Street Sport "Tuning SU Carburetters" guide that MV8 recommended. I'm on page 26, step #19, with the choke and throttle disconnected and the jet adjusting nuts two turns out. The problem is that the engine is cold and even with starter fluid and holding one choke in place I can't get the engine to run long enough to warm up so I proceed to actually tuning the carbs. Any advice on the next step?

As a kid, I loved the TC and TD. If I had not seen a Lotus 7 while hiking as a Boy Scout (circa 1958) I would want one, and there is one in my area, beautifully restored, for $22,000. It is interesting to compare the technology on my 1962 S2 Lotus 7 with that of my wife's 1924 Ford Model T.

It's been claimed by a high school auto shop restoring an MG TD.

Somehow I've ended up with two of the Wingdilly carb manometers used for balancing SU or other side/down draft carbs. If someone wants it, PM me an address to mail it to.

Wonderful! That's the sort of answer I was hoping for. I'll stop and compute the added displacement from the overbore, assuming that the very successful first owner took advantage of that allowance, and know for sure. Thank you. That comes to 5.39 cc, for a total of 953.4 cc. Got it.

Is there a simple way to confirm engine displacement in my 1962 S2 America with an Austin engine? Not only do the sources I can find contradict each other or allow for options, the car was raced in SCCA FP class with two engines (I have both) being traded out. I do have the original engine (not in the car at present) with the dataplate AEA-17 RS19576. Best bet seems to be the 948 CC version at 43 HP. The carbs (SU AUC549, AUC930R) which I'm told are wrong for that car just complicate the issue.

Thanks so much! Leads for me to chase down. Drakman, I'm thinking about the choke (as well as the idle) because the front carb pulls very little suction. The back carb just about pulls my hand into the engine while I can put my hand over the front one with no effect. I'm also going to look for an air leak into the manifold.

The presenting problem is that my Sprite 998 engine with an SU AUC549 carb for the front two cylinders and AUC930R for the rear idles at 2500 RPM with the idle screw all the way out and a bit of slack in the throttle cable. The rear sparkplugs look just the right brown color while the front two are out-and-out wet after running to normal temperature. Overall power seems OK and I see some soot but not enough to be visible in the exhaust. Tightening what appears to be the jet adjusting nut (below the spring) on the front carb has no effect whatever. Not even Herb Adler's "The Idiot's Guide to Tuning SU Carburetters" is any help. What's going on here? Is there a guide that might help me?

As an aside, my radiator happens to have a brass upper chamber. The leak was under a brass tag left there by a radiator shop to cover the original leak. It took me a few tries to seal it up completely, because the previous repair was a rather large area of solder, and the leak kept sneaking out from under it.

Unfortunately, my kinky mistress sits in the bay immediately beside my wife's sugar daddy, a 1924 Ford Model T., which is also beside my pop-top Miata. Model Ts have a somewhat Victorian air to them. That's gorgeous work, Stevensonjr. I think my problem is solved - my solder job has held, and I'm back on the road. Thanks for your help and a very interesting conversation.

Across the battery. Having replaced the charge used in starting and having a functioning voltage regulator should result in about 14.3V and a balanced ammeter. Disconnect the alternator, or have it fail, and you get a negative reading reflecting amps used by the car. I'm getting 14.3 and a negative reading that is proportionate to the car's uses, including the fan motor and lights. I always run with the lights on, given that drivers around here are predominantly in jacked-up Ford F-150s.

Thank you, MV8. I'll try tracing the wiring according to the diagram.. Thanks for posting it. --Tim.