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Q & A: Starving for Fuel

Dear Mr. TWIST,

I have "recently" acquired a 79 MG MIDGET , about two years ago . Since my ownership of the car unfortunately , I have only put about 100 miles on it. When I purchased the MG, it had just finished a complete engine and transmission rebuild, with paper work and receipts to prove. On my way home after just purchasing the car I ran into a little difficulty keeping the engine running on the open road "highway". The MG runs fine around town as long as I don't get my "foot" into it. If I try to accelerate to rapidly than the MG starves for gas. The electric fuel pump does run extensively to try to keep up with the demand for gas.... I'm sure this won't help the longevity "life" of the pump . After pushing in the clutch and taking it out of gear and coasting for a few seconds it recovers and I can continue on my way.

Since this glorious drive home I have taken it to a mech. that works primarily on European cars. I have had It in and out of the mech's shop since that first day . The mech has rebuilt the carburetor with a kit from Victoria British , adding new dampening oil , new rings , gaskets , ect. what ever comes in the kit I have no idea . I took the vehicle home , assuming that the problem was fixed , well to my surprise It ran a little better but still had a problem accelerating fast and getting over 50 - 55 miles an hour. I took it back to the mech. , for further diagnosis .

Well more parts and labor involved , the mech. installed all new fuel lines , a fuel filter and a new fuel pump, 3.5 to 9 lbs of pressure on the pump. Once again I took the car home and encountered the same problem . I of course took the car back to the mech. .... and after further test he assured me that the carburetor was built properly and the lines were all correct , as well as the fuel pressure was proper. We even took a drive In the car together with a fuel pressure gage hooked-up to make sure that the carburetor was getting all the gas that it should. Well extremely discouraged I took the car home and parked it for quite some time now. Still starting it occasionally to let the engine idle and run for a while to ensure that it stays clean and free of "inner garbage".

I have recently spoken to another individual that insist that the car must have a venting problem... and that the carburetor isn't "drawing" the gas like it should . As well this individual has suggested to ditch the carburetor and get a Weber. I would rather try and find out what exactly is wrong, before dropping around $650.00 into a new Weber , and intake to find that this doesn't fix the problem either .

Well that's about it , if you have any ideas or suggestions what so ever " please , please ", email me back, or drop a letter on your site how ever you might contact me . Any help is greatly appreciated. By the way great web site , I have just found it and it has lots of information , and possibly if the "problem can't be solved ..... I might think about making a long road trip from TEXAS with the car on a trailer just to get it to your shop.

Thanks
Thomas "no-gas" Dimase
79' MG MIDGET

THOMAS!

There are two easy answers -- try these and then get back in touch.

#1 -- make certain that the original air cleaner is on the car. It simply will not run well with some chromed up, aftermarket thing.... read more