72 1300 spitfire - trouble starting cutting out when revving

[davswilson]

I've recently purchased my 1972 mark IV spitire and it seems to have been ok for a 100 mles or so. After driving 60 miles yesterday it cut out and i had to have it recovered. After half a day playing round and cleaning the carbs it's trying it's best to start and has done on a couple of occasions but as soon as revs are applied it dies. It seems to be struggling a lot and taking several times to actually get it started. Can anyone help?

[GT6k]

Sounds like fuel supply as one carb out completely wouldn't actually stop the engine running. Probably fuel pump, fuel filter or even blockage in the fuel line. You could remove the supply pipe from the carb and securely position in into a container, ideally a bottle so you can see in. Then turn over the engine and you should get a a fairly substantial flow.

[tapkaJohnD]

Struggling to start could be fuel, but a sudden cut-out has to be electrical.

Still on points in the dizzie? How's the cap, rotor arm and leads? Replacing all those isn't a king's ransom, esp. the rotor arm of which there are many cheap copies that fail quickly. Get a RED rotor from the Distributor Doctor or now many Triumph suppliers, as your first step.

Then if that solves it, consider electronic ignition with an optical or magnetic trigger in the dizzie. Christmas is coming!

JOhn

[//j17]

Try to start it and when it goes/dies when you try to rev whip a screw driver out and check both float chambers. You should have plenty of fuel in each and if not it's a fuel issue.

If that all looks good go for a full ignition refresh: plugs, leads, dizzy cap, rotor arm, condensor and points. Probably worth doing on a new car anyway as you don't know how old they are.

See how that goes.

[cpas]

...and don't forget to replace the coil with a decent quality one, and check if it should be 6V or 12V.