General Tech More Technical Questions—TR4

[KVH]

I saved up a few:

1) my new choke cable which is vinyl coated, and which has the “turn lock“ mechanism, appears to be a full foot too long. I’m reluctant to create a circular hoop just to take up the additional space, but I don’t think that there’s a way to adjust or shorten this cable. Does anyone have an idea why they made it so long?

2) when you test the oil pressure in a rebuilt engine, by cranking it with no spark plugs, what should the oil pressure be? I’m only getting about 40 psi doing that. Scares me. I got considerably more when I ran a test by spinning the oil pump shaft with a drill.

3) is there a new kind of jet needle being used in SU carburetors, one that moves laterally a bit on a spring to assure that it is always centered?

Thanks all

 

[charlie74]

Not sure about 1 & 3 but if you’re getting 40 psi o/p off the starter then you have nothing to worry about. When the engine is at idle speed, it will be much higher.

 

[bobhustead]

When I worked at a BMC dealership, as I recall, we would remove the inner cable and trim the inner and outer cables, then put them back together. Or maybe we would pull the inner cable out by the amount of protrusion we needed and cut them both together.
Don't see how spring mounted needles would work, but keep looking.
Bob

 

[bammons]

Recent.y installed a new choke cable and mine seemed too long as well. I left as much as I could under the dash and I made the loop that I hope is not going to hit the bonnet. I just turned my motor over for oil pressure using the new gear reduction starter and got 40psi as well. I asked on the forum about it and was told it was good. Bruce

 

[KVH]

Thanks, all good to know. I’ll fiddle with that choke today.

 

[Popeye]

Choke cable: yes, cut it. I assume it is always too long to make it a “generic” application for many uses - plus so many of our cars have been tweaked over the years. Cut carefully; best to separate the inner and outer. When cutting the inner cable it is best to sweat some solder at the cut, this will result in a clean end without frayed wires (and be easy to push through the outer housing.)