Go on, help the mechanically challenged.

[stuart131]

Hi All, couple of questions I would really appreciate a bit of help with.
First, my 131 has developed a bit of a cough. At idle, chunters away ok, but every few beats theres a phut or cough sound through exhaust.sometimes it does this 2 or three times in succession and then stalls. I thought it might be my distributor cap as the contact in the centre appears to be missing and a small sooty ring is left. replacing cap car starts fine but does this odd coughing. Got a cap on its way from brookhouse but incase its not that any ideas? it has done this to a lesser degree for about 6 months and this is the second cap in that time so somethings not quite right.
Secondly, got a slight seep from the water pump. Thought about being brave and replacing the pump at the weekend, if anybody has done this, Id be really grateful for an idiots guide and anything I should be careful of.
Please bear in mind that im mechanically inept...you could save me from deep embarassment.

Last thing (dont want much do I ?), Ive got a recon stromberg to fit after this, cant remember how you tune it though, is it turn the adjuster nut beneath fully in then 3 full turns out for the basic setting?its a CD 2 without that flipping temperature sensor on the side.

[Snowman]

I can help with No 2 as I've just done this on my (144) B20 and what a breeze of a job!

Drained the coolant, removed the hoses, rad, fan belt and in my case, pushed the alternator out of the way. Removed the fan and there's the pump! From memory, held in place by four bolts, once out pull the pump downwards to remove, watching the solid pipes that fit into it.

Using the old pump as a guide, fit the new supplied O rings over the pipes, clean off the old gasket from the block, offer up new gasket and pump goes upwards into place. Push in pipes making sure they seat properly and then tighten. Fit everything else, fill up with coolant and away you go!

Assuming no leaks, you're done!!

[Derek UK]

It's surprising that the car runs at all if the carbon brush and spring is missing! I've had a car running on just the spring and that left a charred mess. The spark goes from the coil to the plugs via the carbon brush and rotor so any breaks in the path will give you problems, The new cap should hopefully cure that.
You've got the info on the pump. Make sure you use the correct size sealing ring and that the recess in the head is cleaned out. A little silicone grease on the pipe O rings helps. If it leaks around the pump seals after fitting, undo the bolts about half a turn and put a suitable length of wood between the pulley and a trolley jack tucked under the front of the car. Jack up until it starts to push the car up a little. The holes in the pump are a little bit bigger than the bolts so the pump can move up a bit and this helps to compress the seal.
Can't help you with the Strombergs. It's explained in the Haynes, as is the pump replacement.
Mechanically challenged maybe, but reading?

[stuart131]

Sorry for delayed reply, I check the forum every day but ca nt use at work so can only get on rarely.
Thanks a bunch to Snowman and Derek for your help with my queries, very much appreciated. The waterpump is sorted but Im afraid I was worse at reading Haynes than you can imagine and got the carb tuned by an old guy at the garage in the village.
Ive now got some more woes which youll see in a new thread. A bit fed up as had 2 years problem free now seem to be getting a run of them.
Thanks again, appreciated your replies.
Stuart

[austingipsy]

Always seems to happen that way, but I suppose it gets them all out the road in one go, still a right pain though until you get to the bottom of things. Hope your luck changes before you end up doing a basil fawlty on the car ! been there.