What IS wrong with my car?

[Amateb8]

I am not sure it is the earth strap. When I had problems with mine, the car just went completely dead when I turned the ignition. There was no clicking sound, so there was no power going to the solenoid. The earthstrap looked new and was not loose, so did not suspect it. Despite there being no power, I managed to push start the car. I was baffled! Took the car to Proeitti. The culprit was the earthstrap. The contacts just needed cleaning but as a precaution, they installed another earthstrap. So I have two earthstraps! Good thing is, they just charged me for the earthstrap, and that was it.

[ciaoflyer]

Ok old exhaust off, new one ready to be fitted   Just been out and bought a new earth strap

One last thing also bought an exhaust stud and it came with a slightly squashed/crimped nut, is this so it tightens the stud first and then tightens itself or do I have to replace the nut?

[Rusty's Uncle]

You seem to be going though hell & high water with your car , I hope that you finaly get it sorted. That nut you mention could be a philidus nut. They look a bit like a nylock nut but the top is solid but has a slit/slits in the top section which is then distorted a little to give you a very effective self locking nut. I would be inclined to use two normal nuts , locked together , to wind the stud into position then use the special nut when the exhaust is fitted. If you google philidus you can see images of how the nuts look 

[ciaoflyer]

Thanks Rusty!  The nut looks like this.......dam can't find a photo on google will take a pic of it!  Watch this space!

[ciaoflyer]

Here's the pic.......

[Rusty's Uncle]

Well I am not sure now as that looks a bit like a "poor man's" locking nut with the top crimped in with something like a 3 jaw chuck. If it is plated steel then it may be designed as a one time fitting as it will possibly damage the stud thread . If it is solid brass then it will be OK. If in doubt I would go for brass or stainless nuts if you are thinking long term. I prefer stainless but you can get brass M8 x 1.25 exhaust nuts quite cheaply at most motor factors 
Philidas nuts are a precision engineered item and probably not suitable on the exhaust as they will loose their temper in the steel due to the heat and hence the locking effect will be diminished 

[ciaoflyer]

OK all replaced and fitted but not cured

New earth strap has not cured the problem.  I have checked the rocker gaps and reset.  However, when I took off the rocker cover a piece of metal had been broken off the cover where the rocker had hit it, I have removed this and checked that they are not fouling the cover anymore and this seems fine.

The car is still stalling on revving the engine and there is no power when accelerating, I am at a loss of where to go with it next.

[ciaoflyer]

I am a Tit, look what I have just found on my advance hose....

[Hazey-n-Marc]

You seem to have covered the electrics, engine internals, carb, and fuel pump. Could it be a collapsing fuel line, rust blocking the fuel pick up in the tank, running too lean mixed with cold weather, bad seal between airbox and carb freezing the carb, lose butterflys in venturis, blocked jet, blocked exhaust, advance/retard issue, driving up hill unknowingly?

Just trying to think of easily overlooked things. Hope you suss it soon.

Marc

[Hazey-n-Marc]

You tit

Hope that's the end of your troubles.

[Rusty's Uncle]

Seems that you have to expect the unexpected. I heard a new one yesterday talking to a guy who had fitted the accu-spark type electronic ignition. The car ran fine for a while then developed a random ignition problem, misfire etc. After many unsucessful efforts to sort it he decided to revert back to standard ignition . On removing the electronic ignition he noticed something odd about the magnet rotor part of the ignition. At some stage a small washer had fallen into the body of the distributor then in running the magnet had managed to pick this up and was causing the problem.

[ciaoflyer]

I have also noticed that on the side of the Mag marelli distributor, a rubber plug is missing, it plugs the hole where you adjust the points, can something else be used to plug this hole?

[DEYAN IYI]

 

The little pebble overturns the cart...

And like a bonus there was leaner mixture

Well the "aircoolers" around have an excuse The last thing we would think about is the vacuum advance OK, maybe the water pump is the last one 

Well done!

[Amateb8]

At last!!! Well done!!

[GTMaster]

Regarding the self locking nut, there are nuts that look crimped or have a slightly oval shaped bore when viewed from above. I've found these to be used mainly on suspension components (drop links, stabilisers) but they do work well and they don't damage the thread.