Diagnose this! I think she's mad at me...(the Landy)

[vlad_d]

Hello Rover-heads!

Wouldn't you know it? Fresh off spending $800 and two weeks installing interior parts on the Landy, I go for a celebratory drive and my car is possessed. It stalls out and dies...and keeps dieing. The weekend's over, so it'll have to wait. But maybe you fine folks may have some ideas.

The symptoms:
* Starts perfect, when sitting. Starts within 1-2 seconds.
* Won't accept gas until warm...gurgles and chokes on more gas pedal. Choke works great, and idle raises smoothly.
* Can't pull away in first unless I am at about 2000rpm, and feels like it wants to stall unless I really gas it and grind the clutch, or it will stall.
* If I keep it in lower gears too much (high rev)Rev, it will faulter and stall.
* Then it won't start up for 2-5 minutes. If I crank the motor, no amount of cranking will start it. I have to wait.
* Strong smell of gasoline. I feel like it's flooded. If I let it sit and evaporate for 2 minutes, it starts again.
* It used to only happen intermittently. But today, it did this cycle about 6 times as I limped back home. Starts. Runs for 2 minutes. Stalls. Won't start for 2 minutes. Starts again. Repeat.

Air, Fuel, Spark.
I got all three. Then I don't.I think the first two are okay(I smell gas). So, I'm suspecting spark? For a while, I thought it might be vapor lock? But I got that little spacer between the intake and the carb(phenolic block?), and the car was kind of cold...maybe 7 minutes from cold start.

I suspect the Land Rover needs some cash burned as an offering to excorcise these demons.

Hit me with your ideas. I'm stumped(for now).

[roverp480]

Sounds rather like my Classic car when the condenser/ capacitor in the distributer went down . Also I have had this sort of issue with very poor fuel, its only happened about 4 or 5 times in 40 years but , adding fresh has solved the issue.

[charles1943]

wHAT CARB ARE YOU RUNNING fUEL PUMP?

[wrongway]

I would take the carb apart and blow out all the passages with compressed air to start.

[vlad_d]

wHAT CARB ARE YOU RUNNING fUEL PUMP?

Zieneth 361V carb. Looks to be original.
Fuel pump is mechanical type with glass sediment cup there, again, looks original.

[vlad_d]

Sounds rather like my Classic car when the condenser/ capacitor in the distributer went down . Also I have had this sort of issue with very poor fuel, its only happened about 4 or 5 times in 40 years but , adding fresh has solved the issue.

I had a Chevy 2500 that died the same way, too. Was driving and it just fluttered out. No voltage at the coil bolts. Replacing the distributer and coil got it back on the road. I also suspect my distributer or some component of the ignition.

Luckily, I have a brand new electronic ignition distributer and coil in the box (I wanted to upgrade soon, so now it forces the issue). Will change that out this weekend and update.

[vlad_d]

I would take the carb apart and blow out all the passages with compressed air to start.

Been contemplating a carb rebuild or upgrade, soon. But, I'm paralyzed by the lack of options:

1) The replacement carbs have a bad reputation.
2) They don't make the Zienith 361V anymore.
3) Don't want to replace all my linkage and stock choke cables. Looks nice and factory correct. I respect Weber as a company...so maybe this is a good option.
4) @JimR on the forum said he had bad luck with carb rebuild kit having totally wrong gaskets inside.

Don't want to take it all apart and find I can't get parts for it! Or rip the old gaskets and can't get proper new ones.

[erik88lr]

The carb may or may not be your problem, but I can add the following...

I've tried rebuilding my Zenith and ran into problems with gaskets not fitting. Got the Chinese made Zenith carb and it did fine for awhile, then the accelerator pump stopped working. Took it apart several times but kept having the same problem. Put in the accelerator pump plunger from the original carb and it worked fine for a few months before it started binding and not squirting fuel. Took it out, sanded it smooth, had it working for a short while again.
Finally got PO'd and bought the Weber conversion. It fit fine. Throttle linkage and original choke cable hooked right up, as did the short fat hose to the aircleaner. Had to heat and bend the pipe at the intake manifold for the brake booster vacuum supply, as it was an interference fit with the Weber. Have only driven the truck a few miles with the Weber carb but it ran very nicely.

[biffidum]

Could be a float bowl issue... overfilling.

[vlad_d]

Thanks folks for all the tips.

Especially appreciate the product reviews about the carbs. I ordered a Weber, and I'm feeling good about it. We'll see how it goes.

I'm going to keep the Zenith carb in a box, in case someone down the line wants it. I find myself feeling like this alot, lately. Hate to throw out an original Zenith, and replace it with a sketchy repro. Also kind of feel bad to deny future generations of one more original part. So. I guess I'm an old parts hoarder now. Hehe.

Maybe I'll take the Zenith apart and post pictures. See who was right. :)

[Poppy1969]

Hi Vlad. Eventually I will need to decide how to approach what to do for my project truck. The truck had not run in 10 years and the carburetor was home to a mouse or some sort of storage facility for acorns : ). I viewed the YouTube video below which might give me confidence to rebuilt the original zenith. Currently I am weighing the options to go with the Holley sniper Autolite 1100 EFI. Last Spring I got my Rover V8 conversion on the road and I went with the Lucas 14CUX Fuel Injection. Initially I weighed the options versus carburetor. Now that the car is running it is the best decision I had made. Yes the cost was higher and there is a bit of learning how to handle the fuel system with a return line being necessary but in the end it was really not that difficult. On the series trucks the fuels system plumbing at least does not travel too far. As I said still on the fence but when I read this type of thread I see the main advantage being EFI just working reliably. Tom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkDwAkRBjaA

[jimrr]

I just thought of this but while reading Hemmings motor news I paused on a few adds for british cars and noticed a couple on carbs. Some of these places have been in business for decades and no doubt have carbs we could use on a series?