I'm scared !!

Hi all. just wanted some advice/confidence boost.
I have had a few classic cars in my time and as much as i love them they always let me down in the fuel dept. i had a volvo 1800 once and the float bowls would always leak or it would stall. it worried me so much on the road that it would put me off driving any further than 3 or 4 miles just incase. i really want to have the confidence in my X so if there is something going on 30 miles away i would drive the car in confidence. its not giving me much trouble its just that i find if i start it after its warm and i pull away quite fast, the revs drop while changing gear and it just stalls and cruises quietly until i stop. it starts up again but will only idle, if you put your foot down on the accelerator while still and parked it just struggles to go higher revs. you can only leave it idling. once i pulled up and squirted carbon cleaner down the jets and it eventually got better. then i could drive back home. whenever this happens it just puts doubt in the car and reliability. so when other classic car owners ask me to go quite far i just think breakdown and being on a motorway just freaks me out. will someone please give me some advice on gaining confidence in the car and how to make it more reliable or just not be so scared as to driving other further than 5 miles. Thanks guys.
jimmy

I will guess that this engine has a carb.

I have seen the mating surfaces between the upper half of the Carb and the bowl warp. This causes fuel to leak from the bowl into the barrels. This causes an over rich mixture and the engine will struggle to run. First off take the air cleaner housing off of the car, then tighten the screws that hold the top of the carb to the bowl and body. See if they are loose. If so, a bit of tightening maybe all that is required. If they are tight, then look down the barrels at the seam and use a torch or ( flash light) to see if there is fuel weeping between the seam and gasket. If so, you may have to either file the surfaces flat again or replace the carb.

TonyK.

Jimmy. I had exactly the same problem with my x1/9. Spent ages trying to find it. Spent a load of money on ignition parts only to find that it was indeed two very cheap gaskets that go between the base of the carb and the inlet manifold. It fixed everything and the car runs like a dream. So much so that I trusted it on a 300 mile round trip for a magazine shoot.

Before u do anything else. Do those gaskets. They are cheap. Easy to replace and I would almost guarantee to provide the fix.

Where are u based?

Thanks for your help and advice. I will look at those gaskets. would it be hard to dismantle and fit. i am based in east London. thanks again. jimmy

Jimmy it is an easy job. Remove the air filter. Unclip the throttle linkage. Remove the fuel pipes and water pipes from the carb. Then undo the four bolts holding the carb to the manifold. To be fair i would do it anyway. It is such an easy job and makes a massive difference if there is even a slight leak.

Just make sure u do it with the engine cold as fuel spilt on the exhaust manifold below would not be good.

Also good practice to replace the fuel pipes especially if the look like the originals with the steel overbraid. They crack when old and cause an engine fire. You will need 6mm and 8mm bore fuel pipe to do the job. If u need some help let me know. I am not to far from the smoke