The ClubVan... Back in business!!
Turbo Mini Forums

Oh ya nice motor... immaculate interior!!

Yeah it's so frustrating, it was all coming together nicely..

Any ideas chaps??

So it sounds like a stuck float... from reading other threads.

Just what I needed.

quite possibly and a stuck needle valve. The last time I had that, dried the plugs and started it with out the pump running. it drained the carb and the valve re-seated itself. Worth a try before you strip it out.

you certainly don't want fuel pissing everywhere though - you got it insured?

Yes its insured.. don't say that lol...

Too late, went back out there and pulled it apart. So the float was not stuck, its moving up and down with no issue at all. Needle valve all seems fine too. With the aid of my bro-in-law, we held the carb, manifold and plenum (all 3 bits still together) and the fuel flows out of the manifold with the fuel pump turned on. The idea of the float is to stop that from happening right.. we did even disconnect the fuel feed from the regulator and blow down the tube, once the fuel had blown through we pushed the float up to simulate full of fuel and this stopped the air flow... so the float seems to be doing its job.
Put it back together again, pumped fuel in again and same thing...

Bro-in-law thinks the fuel pump may be delivering too high a pressure, but it was fine when we initially started it and for the rolling road so I'm not convinced about that.. is that not the job of the regulator??

Carb is basically filling up with fuel and overflowing with nothing shutting it down, everything seems fine internally... gazumped.

Adjust the regulator while doing the test you describe above and see if it makes any difference, but I think your brother in law is right.

Dave, this very much sounds like the air isn't balancing in the float chamber as the fuel is pumped in. I had a similar problem, the fuel was entering the chamber but I had a blockage with the vent (the spigot next to the fuel intake) which wasn't allowing the the air to escape when the fuel came in. So the chamber became pressurized and forced the fuel out through the jet like a fountain. It drove me mad for days, I stank of fuel for a week. And all it was in the end was that the said brass spigot next the fuel intake must of had a knock as it was pushed into the body of the carb just a bit too far, I gently gripped it and twisted it out a few mil and hey prestow sorted. The lean off pipe that connects between the carb body and butterfly end, pull it off from the butterfly end and blow down it. It has to be able to flow down into the float chamber and the plenum. You can see moulded on the side of the carb the internal pipe which connects them together. Follow it down and it is joined to the base of that brass spigot which mine had been pushed too far in and blocked these passage ways. You will have to remove the plenum to test my theory as you need to put your finger over the small hole on the plenum side to see if the passage isn't blocked to the fuel chamber. I had even bought another carb to compare before I sussed this f ing problem out.

This is just one idea that it could be and well worth looking at. We need to get you too Brighton as I would like to see this car.

Also keep a very close eye on that oil pressure, if you have the turbo oil pump fitted there was a bad batch going around a couple of years ago and mine had failed on my benross motor about a week after being on the rollers. It was a batch from minispares. But my benross motor is mint and has never let me down since.

Good luck fella.

Roy B

Ok chaps, thanks for taking the time to reply and help me figure this out. Just been up early and went out for another look.. I thought I would take some pics and show you what is where before I start fiddling and potentially make things worse..

So in this pic, you can see what I've blanked off.. the fuel inlet is disconnected and the blue silicone hose routes round and is connected to the valve that was left open to atmosphere on the turbo (from the actuator on the intake side).. this was done by Neil when he set it up on the rollers for me..



Same but different angle..



And looking from the top..



Like I say, just to see if you think my plumbing/blanking off looks correct.

Thanks again in advance chaps!

Providing that vent hose is not blocked through to the fuel chamber then it should discount my theory of pressure in the chamber. So blow down that blue pipe and you should hear the air entering the fuel chamber and plenum as they are linked. The T piece trick can sometimes help with boost problems but because your car has been running already I doubt that would help your case.
Obviously you need to check the usual fuel regulator, needle valve, etc.

Back in business folks! L2B is looking good again all of a sudden!!

So it would seem my strip-out of the carb and manifold and all the other bits to get them off were all done in vain!
Stripped carb back and inspected, nowt wrong.. gave it a good clean out anyway with some carb cleaner. Started fiddling with the fuel regulator and blew down all pipes... and... hang on a sec... return line to the tank seems to be blocked.. hmmm..
Got underneath at the back, the joining hose from tank to copper return line is completely kinked!! Arrggghhh!!
Must have somehow knocked it when I was working on mounting the rear number plate and lights yesterday... Shite!

So put it all back together, and hey presto!! She fired into life.. not a drop of fuel anywhere!! Whohoo!!

So the fuel had nowhere to go and the carb couldn't take the pressure so pee'd it out all over the place... as simple as that!

Well here she is, purring like a 'puddie cat'...





In fairness, as much of a pain in the arse it was.. it taught me a lot about the car and the workings of the fuel system..

Brighton is looking closer once again..

Happy days

So it was excess pressure anyway - just not for a reason that we couldn,t anticipate.

Well done for spotting it. Happy days now.

simple in the end then
it didn't catch on something when you had it on and off the trailer?

Good news! Yeah i too thought trailer was culprit... cant wait to see van at l2b.. and i cant wait to hear what you finally think of a turbomini drive!

Yup excess pressure! Thanks again for all your help and comments..

It wasn't the trailer.. it was me yesterday doing the rear number plate... doh!!

Yup looking forward to it now lads!! :)

I've had that before after the engine stood for a while. Just needed to free up the float bowl and 'needle' valve (not sure whats its called)

Well atleast I have a nice clean carb now 😂