VK Drama's

[XeKToReX]

Hey fellas,

I've had my first car for about a month, It's an 85 VK SL, Auto, Black Carby 202, 160,000 on the clock, For the price, It's a relatively good car!

I have had some problems with it since i bought it, for some reason it chewed teeth of the dizzy (thank god for the nylon gears in em!) so I've had to replace that, The car hasn't been driven for about a year, so things are cropping up.

It does need a good tune up, which it shall get next week when it gets a gas conversion, and that might explain my first problem, but before i get into that, i must say that it has been getting worse over the last week.

OK, so, start of last week, i jump in and off i head to trade school, car is running "ok," and by ok, i mean, how i've known it to always run (rough)
Start her up to head home, all is well, as soon as i stop, stall.
Crank her over again, and off i go, next set of lights, stall.
Happened a good 6 or 7 times, i had to sit in neutral and keep on the throttle just the tiniest bit so it wouldn't die, and hope i dont kill my auto by dropping it into drive with a little bit of gas.

The car has been known to stall on occasion, i just put it down to how badly tuned it is, maybe once a week. but never this bad! Would this be a tuning issue? It idles high on the auto choke and runs rough when it's off!

My next problem, i believe my starter motor is shot, initial tests indicate the solenoid is drawing way too much power, as soon as i try to crank her over, the battery drops to 3v from 12/13v, Had 2 quite knowledgable people give me 2 different answers, shot battery, or shot starter, I am with the latter, as the car doesn't have a problem running the cd player or anything for a good hour without the car running.

I was also considering a Weber 34 ADM conversion to get rid of this pesky varajet carby, I've read nothing but good things, can anyone give me a definitive answer as to what troubles i will have in doing this, I've read about accelerator cable and kickdown cable, I am only considering this, because 250 K's to a tank just isn't affordable to an apprentice!

Any help appreciated!

Thanks,

Joel

[Wrayza]

A good tune could clear up the stalling issue. Sometimes if the idle screw isn't adjusted right and in turn it idles low after warming up all it takes is the load of the box at a set of lights to stall it.

If your pretty sure your battery is fine, it is probably the starter. But first off, it might be a wise idea to clean up the grounds (battery posts, chassis ground which i beleive is behind the battery, starter connections). A high resistance joint there could be the cause of the starter drawing excessive current.

Then if you want to replace the starter, I find the larger older type draw less from the battery than the later geared reduction ones.

[Tom_1569]

Grab another battery, from another car even and try that to eliminate the battery. But most times i have had that happen it has been the battery but have had it be the starter once.

Cheers Tom

[Rossco]

Check your vacuum lines for cracks or if any have fallen off as well.

[Tree cutter]

Pull the spark plugs out and check the gaps. They should be set at 40 thou. I have seen Blue and Black motors running with the plug gaps at 80 thou and they run very rough and stall easily.

[Matt0]

It doesn't need a tune to fix the stalling problem. It's a problem with your carb and not the timing. Bad timing will just make your car run rough most of the time. Check the idle cam on the carb. It's probably falling back too far causing the idle to virtually drop dead.
As for the 2nd question, need more info on how long it takes to start. If it's dropping to 3volt it's ok. If it starts your car in less than 5 seconds then it's fine.

[burnz]

if the car hasen't been driven for a year your carbie is f*cted, dried out.
new gasget kit.
new float for the bowle. (assuming it's plastic)
new needle and seat.

[burnz]

as for dizzy go old school steel gear's
same goes for cam gears they too are nylon.

[Matt0]

if the car hasen't been driven for a year your carbie is f*cted, dried out.
new gasget kit.
new float for the bowle. (assuming it's plastic)
new needle and seat.

I wouldn't bother replacing the float unless it was inspected to be 100% faulty. They are expensive at about $30.