Fingers crossed. I've been following your drama with interest. Not least of which because in September 2020 you had almost exactly the same thread title and went through the mill then! What an odd coincidence...hope you get to your destination tomorrow. If it misbehaves, I suppose there's always the big yellow taxi to get you there.
Yep did a tour of Scotland in 2020 and had a misfire then on the way back but that didn’t go when warm. Anyway over the winter I have changed plugs, leads, cap, rotor arm, new oil, set valves, timing (with a gun), carb (with a dwell o meter) new rear oil seal, new clutch, new rocker covers, fuel lines, filter and probably a few other things as well. Anyway got it running spot on after months of reading, bloody fingers and cold garage floors. Fast forward to 2021 travel 400 miles without an issue and it starts misfiring again but then goes when warm. These vans are certainly a labour of love. In for a new Devon pop top tomorrow as this one is sagging. If the engine is okay the next job is try to replace gearbox oil as the drainer plug has been battered by a previous owner and won’t take the socket/Alan key and think about how I’m going to tackle the rust patches that are starting to appear. Oh to top it off today my indicators stopped working again, a problem I had in 2019. Luckily had some previous knowledge on that one as well.
Sorry, only just seen this! Happy to lend you any tools you might need @77bay, although sounds like it'll be at least drivable to get it to it's destination on Monday? I'm guessing you're off to Leon at Concept Poptops for the roof? He knows his aircooled cars so might be able to help. Failing that Simon at NOSVW in Wimborne.
When you do your points gap, do you take the dizzy out and gently clamp it in a vice? So much easier and more accurate. Oh, and take the 13mm nut and washer off of the clamp behind the dizzy, instead of undoing the 11mm nut at the front, then pull the dizzy straight up. Keep your finger on the washer, on the clamp, if it’s not off already.
A dwell meter's even more accurate . Worthy tip re the dizzy clamp though , I'm half looking for another clamp for my spare distributor - for if/when the Pertronix packs up.
Made it to my destination this morning, no misfire but does cut out at lights etc on low revs so needs a tune up. Still don’t know what the misfire was but thinking fuel starvation. Now possibly running a bit rich but it gets me from A to B at the moment without sounding like drive by shooting which is a bonus.
Try this. Valves at 0.6 Points at 0.4 Plugs (the right ones) 0.4 Top screw on carb screw in fully (not tight) back out 2 turns Bottom screw on carb in fully ( not tight) back out 3 turns Then the timing. Depending on pulley wheel, you may have 1,2 or 3 notches. When running, if you have 3 notches, the far right one should be in line with the case join, if 2, still the right one. Also, make sure your dizzy is oiled up so that the vacuum advance plate moves when you suck on the vacuum pipe, and add a drip of oil down the hole in the shaft where your rotor arm sits. Check your solenoid on the carb by taking the wire from it, turn the ignition on and touch the wire onto the connector. It should click to show it works. Check the electronic bi mettalical spring choke by taking the filter/ pipe off of the carb and look down to see if the flap is upright. I take it you have checked for air leaks at manifold boots. Only other thing I can really thing of is the coil breaking down when warm. Incidentally.., I had a whole host of problems with my van. Sometimes it started, sometimes it never. No. Plate light wouldn’t work, no matter how many connections I cleaned/changed. Fuel guage was all over the place, etc. I put a new ignition switch in, then everything worked! May not be your problem, but it seemed to be mine…
Update. Had to get towed home, holiday cut short by 2 days. Despite best efforts on keeping it going the problem got worse to the point of losing power and stopping on busy dual carriageways twice. One very helpful repair man got us running again by advancing the timing but the same happened a few miles on so we cut our losses and got towed. Back in the garage, the new roof looks great and fits under the door with mm to spare on the mushroom vents. Can't recommend Concept Pop Tops enough, a really nice chap Leon! So spending a few days without thinking about it but now it is home I can start the diagnostics and run through all the basics but my thinking is a combination of both fuel (empi carb), electrical (electronic ignition or loose connection) and now timing. It seemed happy to be home, started on the button, drove off the tow truck and into the garage with no issues and randomly the dashboard lights now seem to be working. I think the old girl was home sick!
