Centurion Fuel Filter

[jdmcm]

Malcolm that is a good setup! I am jealous of the amount of space in there with no engine installed! The gear shifting is something to get used to for sure, we don't have much space so if I can get into third I feel like I am going 100mph! Gear changes require double clutching but unlike a normal highway truck as soon as you push in the clutch and move the stick to neutral the tank instantly loses momentum and if you aren't quick you are stopping, starting in the basement and trying again. Normally you can start out on flat ground in second gear which really helps, the upshift from 1-2 i find quite difficult but 2-3 is a snap now...Tony you have burst my fuel mileage pipe dream, but what you say makes sense and explains why we are in this mess...disbelief! Perhaps I will have to start including a fuel level check on first parade!

[Malcolm Towrie]

Boy, did I misread that! Wishful thinking.

One circuit of our tank arena is about 1/4 mile and we'd normally do about 5 circuits in a show, so about a jerry can. That's not too bad. We don't have the space for an extended drive unfortunately. And the steel tracks prevent us from going off-site.

John, I've found a neat 12V pump for pre-start priming the engine with oil. Puts out about 35 psi and only draws 6 amps. I'll put it to the test when I prime the engine after installation and let you know.

Malcolm

[eddy8men]

john you are right we did clean the fuel system from the tank forward, i was conscious of the cost of a dead tank needing transport all the way to your place.
don't over think priming the fuel system, just crack a union after the filter and suck it through with a cheap plastic bulb pump (like the ones you get on an outboard)
you can't really double declutch on the way up the box, only works on the way down due to loosing speed. you need to learn to stick change. it's quite easy and you'll be super slick once it's mastered. engage clucth, move gear lever to neutral, flick any steering tiller back, engage next gear. release clutch. simples

[rob love]

There are currently 24v fuel pumps at princess auto in the surplus section for about $14.99 each. I believe they are salvaged from some larger piece of equipment, and appear to be brand new. With one of those and an inline check valve, it should be possible to set up a priming system for any 24 volt vehicle.



The pump is the same pump we used on multiple types of equipment back in my days in the military. I bought 3 or 4 for future use.



Just thought I would mention it in case it was of any use to those in Canada.

[Malcolm Towrie]

Good to know. I'll check it out.
Malcolm

[jdmcm]

Excellent suggestions all, appears we may have a bigger problem, I now have fuel on the carb side of the fuel pumps, but so far no start...not enough time at the moment to go further but hopefully next week can steal an afternoon to see what is up. Rick I have been hoping to try that steering trick but one small hurdle first...it has to run! Wondering if possibly we are having an electrical fault and no spark...Is there a test for the booster coil? Cant do a mag drop test from the drivers hole until she is running. Need to pull a sparkplug and check we have spark but currently not enough hands available. I have also read that a low coolant situation can trip the mags and ground them to prevent driving in that event...has anyone encountered this? I am going to grab one of those fuel pumps Rob suggested for future use. Would seem very odd if both mags quit at once would it not? Rick I will be in touch next week to get those parts from you and have them sent off to Carl's...almost brave enough to try sending the container back to Canada...almost

[Malcolm Towrie]

John, it takes a lot of pumps of the priming lever on whichever fuel pump is pumping to fill both carbs. When the carbs are full enough to close the float needles, you should feel the priming lever stroke doing less work.

You can test the booster coil by unscrewing the booster coil connection from the right hand mag and holding the end about 1/4" from a ground while pressing the starter button. (The booster coil only works while the starter button is pressed.) You should see lots of sparking.
But based on my experience, the booster coil provides very little assist to starting. I bought a NOS one and it bench tested ok. But when I cranked the engine with just the booster coil providing the spark, it just fired occasionally and came no where near starting. As soon as I put the mags in service, she fired right up. I figure I wasted $400.

On our Mk 5/2, there's no shutoff on low coolant. There's no level switch on the header tank, nor on the wiring diagram, and the only thing that grounds the mags and stops sparking is switching the ignition switch to off, or pressing the mag test buttons.

Malcolm