Spitfire 68 Spitfire carb question

[William Mapstone]

My 1968 Triumph Spitfire has been in storage for a couple years. I am having trouble with the carbs. I am pretty sure its the carbs, because if I manually prime the carbs(squirt fuel into the carbs with a syringe), the engine will start easily and run a couple seconds untill the fuel burns up. First I thought that it was the fuel pump, but fuel does flow to the carbs. By the way, the engine is stock with the original carbs. Any ideas before I waste my time pulling the carbs apart. Thanks!

 

[Andrew Mace]

Given that the car was stored for a lengthy period, it's quite possible that the entire fuel system is somewhat clogged up with bad gas and/or bits of rust or other particles.

If you're pretty sure fuel is flowing well from the tank to the pump, put on a new fuel filter (or add one before the pump). Then consider pulling off the pump and disassembling it for a good cleaning out. Likely there's a bunch of garp in there.

As for the carbs themselves, you might be able to get by with no more than pulling off the float bowl lids, cleaning out the float bowls and making sure the needle valves in the lid are also clean and free. Odds are the carbs are ok otherwise.

Keep us posted!

 

[Bugeye58]

As Andrew mentions, the needles are more than leikely stuck shut. Easy fix.
Jeff

 

[William Mapstone]

thanks, i'll let you know how it goes...