a man in holland makes these pannels new by hand.
if you would like his adres? pm me

If you find an old school metal worker with a swaging machine they'll roll the flutes into a flat sheet of steel.

I've had no reply from the chap in Holland, but perhaps that's because A) He doesn't speak English or B) Goggle translates Dutch is a bit rusty

Think the swagging machine is the way to go, though as yet I haven't found anyone with one. If not, I might even try getting something like this?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SWAGER-ROTARY-SHE ... 3cb1bbe9df
And give it a go myself?

Thanks for the ideas

No bodywork at the moment, but hopefully the engine should live again soon







New valve guide installed that is neither cracked, or protrudes so far the valve won't actually close!
Thanks to Mr. Ecas for that advice

Well I've had an offer from someone on the mig welding forum to use his swaging machine (Bead roller, swaging machine - same thing?) so hopefully that'll work out all right.

Now - today's news, the engine runs!
The bad news, only just

Needs about half choke to start, then I've got it to idle without the choke, but touching the throttle at all just bogs it down, same with the choke. Fairly consistent at idle, but wont do anything else. It might just want to warm up a bit I don't know, but looking at the plugs whilst cranking it over, it has a really pathetic spark. It has brand new spark plugs and HT leads, the condenser and points have been replaced with new ones (Timing set statically). I've got two coils, one of which had hot starting issues, the other was fine, and both give exactly the same results.

Rather at a loss as to what I should do?

nice progress on this thread mate! keep it up.
All i can suggest is to check that you are getting enough fuel through, since you have checked most things! e.g that the pump is working, no leaking fuel lines especially the bit that runs up the front NOS chassis leg. Also, have you got a fuel filter fitted? and how new is the fuel?
Good luck!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Crqi56lTOw

Progress of sorts I suppose

Tried again, T'will start without choke, idle fine, but still not accelerate. In that vid, every time it stops accelerating, it's doing it by itself. If I keep the throttle open at the same amount, it just starts coughing, then dies.

It doesn't seem to bad, if feels as through it is idling fairly happily, and if I just let it run for a bit and 'clear it's throat' it would be fine.

However, sparks still look weedy and small, and the strobe will only flash if clamped to the N/S HT lead, not a dicky bird from the O/S lead. Definitely firing on both cylinders though.

Maybe give the carb a proper clean, it seems to be sucking up fuel fine though.

Too tired to think properly now anyway, maybe I'm inventing problems for myself

I'll wrap it up and have another look tomorrow.

patial blockked jet me thinks

George,
fitting the crossbox and swan neck should help make the idle steadier, as well as keep the neighbours a bit happier, even more so if you slip a torpedo onto the end of the swan neck...

If the engine's 'fading' at a steady throttle opening, that's usually a sign of a weak mixture. That might be because there's a partially blocked petrol jet, but removing the carb lid and blowing things through with compressed air should sort that. Concentrate on directing the air down through the air corrector jets, so that any obstruction is blown back out of the petrol jets, instead of being pushed further in.

If the carb's been standing for a good while, the interlinking between the primary and secondary opening can seize up, so check that the secondary butterfly isn't starting to open until the primary butterfly is about 2/3 open.
WD40 and some light 'persuasion' will fix that.

Ditto for the accelerator pump. If it's not injecting a good shot of neat fuel into the carb throat, the engine will tend to stutter as the throttle is opened.
More WD40 and more persuasion needed...

Btw, have you tried reversing the way that the the strobe pickup is connected to the O/S HT lead? Those pickups are sensitive to the polarity of the voltage, as you could check by reversing the polarity of the LT leads.
One plug on a 'wasted spark' system will always require a larger share of the available HT, therefore the side with the lower demand may not trigger the strobe as easily.
That's nothing to worry about, just put the pickup on the side which works the strobe best.

ken.

Ken, that is all such brilliant advice I don't know where to start! I suppose 'thank you' is always good.

Spot on about the strobe, I can now get a flash from either HT lead, I think I'm just imagining problems with the spark - I can be very good at inventing additional problems for myself!

So hopefully, I'll give the carb a good proper clean out, and all will be well with the world . I think the accelerator pump might be suspect, I couldn't get it off before. There are 4 screws holding it on, and once they are out it still wont budge. Didn't want to force it in case there is something else holding it on, but I suspect it's just a rather tired gasket?

And I'll give it a proper blow through, rather than my tiny compressor I pinched from an old fridge

Also the second butterfly starts to open at the right time, but I can feel it snagging at that stage, so that wants investigating.

But good to know that it's nothing more serious. I know where I stand with carburettors, I can do them

Thank you very much, I'll let you all know how it goes!

(Yes, maybe Sunday morning wasn't the best of times to trial run my engine with no exhaust system to speak of... )

compresser pinched from a fridge, do tell more! i know a guy who works at the recycling place!!