Ignition Woes & Water Pump Replaced

After the trip to the British Motor Museum, at Gaydon, the Corsair was running a bit rough, so a bit of a fettle with the points gap and it ran nicely on a mid week local run about on a cool sunny evening. Come the following Sunday, I had planned to see a friend but the car ran lumpy under load and was basically undriveable, so the trip out was cancelled until I could fix the problem. One thing to note, I refuelled the car to the top again after the Gaydon trip (200+ miles) and estimated the fuel economy to be about 30mpg.

Continue reading “Ignition Woes & Water Pump Replaced”

Summer 2020 Update

Plenty of driving had been done in the Corsair, mostly for errands as well as pleasure and I made one trip to work (50 mile round trip) on one of the hottest days in June. It was lovely and fresh in the morning but stifling hot (30°+) on the way home and the Corsair didn’t appear to be overly hot either once home. July saw the Corsair return to the first informal car gathering at Sturminster Newton after the lockdown restrictions had eased, which was a pleasant, socially distanced occasion.

Ford Corsair convertible at Sturminster Newton

A bit of time was also spent adjusting the handbrake to be more effective which in return improved the feel of the foot pedal braking. I had spoken recently to a neighbour who owns a very good condition 1957 Hillman Minx and he was describing the poor running of his car which sounded just like the Corsair was suffering. He said it was more likely to be a spark plug breaking down, as was the case with his Minx. So I looked up how to test spark plugs on YouTube using a multimeter. Of the four plugs, two on the left hand bank had failed and were not showing any resistance. I had a nearly new set of plugs to try out which all showed to be good with resistance when tested with the multimeter. So, once fitted all seemed good and the run out to Sturminster proved the previous plugs had been at fault.

A few errand runs and local drives for fun were the mainstay for July, but a lovely warm and sunny run out to Stourhead one Friday with the wife (after a week of working on doors for the ‘workshop’ at home) came as a great way to round off a hard week. The car received many appreciative looks and waves from other classic users on the way to and back from Stourhead. My wife took these video clips of the run through the village of Motcombe and then a brisk drive up out via the hollow to Shaftesbury.

Hope you enjoyed the videos – 38 mph was probably quite fast enough on those narrow lanes in an old car with single circuit non-servo assisted brakes.

January 2020 update

It was a good start to the year with the New Years Day run, another pleasure drive 10 days later and the MOT pass. With the weather taking a turn for the worse I took the opportunity to send off the distributor base plate to H&H Ignition for the screw threads to be repaired. They didn’t disappoint and returned the base plate with new screws a week later – so I fitted it at the weekend and ensured I didn’t over tighten the condenser or points in!

At the beginning of the year, I also started to use a fuel stabiliser due to the fuel in the UK now having 5% ethanol. The additive claims to prevent ethanol fuel from going stale and improve starting as well as engine running performance. After fitting the repaired base plate in the distributor I had to fire up the Corsair to test and it fired straight away – well by the third attempt it kept going without dying. This was good, and much improved from previous starting occasions especially as it was a cold and very damp day. So I was believing the fuel additive has improved the fuel igniting properties for an easier start, 6 pumps of the pedal were still required though. For the Lucas brand, I added 5 ml to 5 litres of fuel and should have 45 litres of treatment – bottle cost about £13 from Amazon.

Lucas Ethanol additive

I have another brand to use when the Lucas one is used up that claims to have similar claims/properties but it is a smaller bottle and treats 25 litres of fuel but in proportion a similar cost. For the coming months I hope to sort the nearside rear bake cylinder and get some more driving in before embarking on the front strut insert replacements task I need to do this year.

The Annual Inspection

MOT for the Corsair
Annual MOT Inspection Jan 2020 at 5 Square Motors, Shaftesbury.

How time flies, and the annual MOT inspection was due at 5 Square Motors, Shaftesbury. Technically in the UK, cars over 40 years old do not require an annual vehicle safety check. But for about 45 minutes of an inspectors time with the car up on the ramps and myself being there to assist, it was worth being done for the peace of mind. On the day the car was booked in for the test, a storm was looming and I had chosen potentially the wettest afternoon to take the Corsair but at least the wipers and lights worked as they should. The Corsair passed with an advisory, as per last year, but this time I’ll need to change the front damper inserts within the front struts over the coming months. The rear nearside brake cylinder was also something to look at aswell judging by the results on the brake tester.

Continue reading “The Annual Inspection”

New Years Day car run 2020

Sturminster Newton New Years Day car run

The Corsair was still a ‘pig’ to start, but a fresher battery meant I had plenty of cranks to get it going. The morning was cool, foggy and a bit damp but I had a good drive down to the Sturminster Newton New Years Day car run. I was reasonably early and directed to park in a good slot near the front of the starting pack. I was soon accosted by one of my neighbours who had come down to see the cars and we had a brief chat. Later, I also caught up with Chris and Bob from the Saturday meets at Sturminster as well. There was also a very nice Mk2 Cortina 1600GT (in Lotus colours) that was a Crayford conversion, and the owner knew of Hugh F-W and seemed pleased to know that the Corsair was still about. I decided to give the driving tour a go and registered to get my bumper tags. The car park in Station Road, Sturminster Newton was packed by 10.30am with all manner of classic cars, trucks and military vehicles. Watch the Youtube video further on down, the Corsair makes an appearance with a drive-by at 3.37.

Continue reading “New Years Day car run 2020”

One Hot Easter

At the entrance to Pythouse near Semley, Wiltshire
At the entrance to Pythouse near Semley, Wiltshire

I thought I would have a closer look at the condenser issue this month (April). The old condenser I put on at the end of last month, to get the car back in to the garage, was also faulty but good enough to run the engine on tick-over. I only found out it was dodgy because I thought I would take the Corsair for a quick spin to warm it up in readiness to taking it out to the Haynes Breakfast meet the following day. I barely got out from my road and the car was lurching all over the place under light acceleration, very quickly suspecting the condenser, I headed back for home and put the car away. A week later, after some contemplation I decided to go the electronic ignition route (Powerspark) but also bought a new coil and couple of spare condensers as back up.

Continue reading “One Hot Easter”

March update – Spring driving

Spring had definitely sprung by mid March and therefore no excuses for not taking the Corsair out for a good drive. The first decent run (Sunday 17th March) was to Blandford on the A350 but I was soon frustrated by a large and slow camper vehicle, so once at Fontmell Magna, I turned off to head up to the higher road and then had a hassle free swift drive until I made it to Blandford. I then took the A345 towards Salisbury, and some time after Tarrant Hinton I took a left turn off via the lanes towards the Larmer Tree to later pick up the B3081. This particular ‘B’ road is superb with a long fast section (after the Ludwell turning) with grand views across the Wiltshire/Dorset countryside towards Shaftesbury and then to go down Zig Zag Hill finished that section off nicely. It was a very pleasant run of 28 miles with no issues.

B3081, just prior to going down Zig Zag Hill, Dorset
Continue reading “March update – Spring driving”

The drought ends

Being somewhat dismayed with life and other things, I had left the Corsair well alone – there was no need to involve it in any work, feeling the way I was. Typically though, the weather had been extremely nice from the first May Bank Holiday weekend with it still continuing to be hot and sunny, including today, the day I finally ran out of excuses not to do something for the Corsair. So, feeling brighter and more confident with myself, I chose to use the day to clean up the spare fuel tank I bought way back in February.

Continue reading “The drought ends”

More Electrics – The Coil

Chasing the electrical fault recently, led me to Youtube to teach me how to use my multimeter properly. With the new found wisdom I tested the coil. I got a low reading of 1.6 ohms on the Primary circuit (between the – and + posts) which should have been 3 ohms or more. On the secondary circuit, the one that goes to the distributor, the reading was 1, meaning there was a fault or the coil was dead.

Continue reading “More Electrics – The Coil”

The Starting Problems Continue

Moprod fuel pump and filter. Original set up.

Since the Corsair spluttered to a halt on the on the driveway back on Christmas Eve, I’ve been tinkering away trying to solve the fault. Testing the fuel pump, checking the points and condenser, rebuilding the carburettor and fiddling with all manner of idle mixture settings, had not made any difference. The Corsair would start, fire on the first turn over then cut out.

Continue reading “The Starting Problems Continue”