I will add more: I live in Ukiah California. Are there any members who are close to Ukiah? I have worked on Porsche 356s and early 911s for more than 35 years. I havenât worked an E-type for 20-plus years and the last was a 1971 12-cylinder. I thought I was aware of âfree playâ and it felt as if it had free play when the rod was too long on the first try and then too long again after I had cut it shorter. If I would have used the new rod I would have had to cut it shorter and lengthen the threaded part. I didnât have the correct die to cut the threads. Is it a 5/16-20 BSW thread? I felt that it was an issue with the length but not knowing all of or some of the different issues these cars have from time to time; I wasnât sure of what the problem was. I am impressed with all of you guys who took the time to write to me and share your experiences. Thank you all for giving me some of your time and helping me solve the problem with the brakes.
Now I need to go finish tuning the carburetors. I may ask a question about this too. There is a gentleman named Pat Harrington who has given me some of his time during this process of getting this car back on the road. Unfortunately, he lives about 8 hours south of me in Southern Ca. Los Angeles. If any of you know him please share with him how grateful I am that he reached out and gave me advice.
I was hoping you were in the Bay Area but regardless, it sounds like you are hot on the trail. Are you saying you have put in the shorter rods and the problem is solved?
Since an Etype has 1/2 as many carbs as an early 911, that part should be a piece of cake for you 
BTW I started out with 356s 50 years ago (it makes me feel old just typing that!) and had one 912 before kids came and I moved on to Volvos!
I am educating myself on the carburetors. I have had them off of the car along with the manifolds and water tubes. I rebuilt all of them. I didnât replace the butterflies nor did I change the throttle shaft seals. I felt that they were very tight. The car only has 45,000 miles on it. Maybe I should have changed the seals. It doesnât seem to have a vacuum leak at the shafts or anywhere else. I am not used to the simplicity of the SU carburetors. I am still in school as to where to have the idle enrichment screws. (not sure what these are called.) They are the screws that control the mixture at the diaphragm height. Is it possible that these would be up to 4 turns out? I know they are set up at 2 1/2 turns down for the initial setup and adjust from there. I am unsure of how the idle raises when the slide is opened 1/32 if it is immediate or if it raises the idle and then stays a bit faster or what. I think I am close. I know if I get it too lean it doesnât want to pull good RPMs when the fuel demand is high. It is hard for me to verbalize what I am trying to say. I hope that all of you understand.
Sounds like youâre following the manual mostly âŚâŚ itâs not an exact science sometimes itâs only 1/8 turn on the mixture screws âŚ. Check colourof plugs ! Should be a light gray brown colour
A lot has been written about tuning of SUs. Since they were used on so many British cars of that era, a simple Google search turned up dozens of articles and videos for me. If you want direction specific to the Etype, use the Search function, as this has been discussed here on the forum many times. One thing to keep in mind is that if your air intake/filter system is not dead stock, the stock/default needles will not work and things get more complicated.
This worked for me after I spent time making sure the linkages were synced up. Evidently world famous.
Clive,
I kind of have the opposite problem with the servo on my â64. I canât adjust the eccentric nut far enough to push in the plastic button and activate the boost. There is only 180* of rotation between minimum and maximum, right? The operating lever touches the button but doesnât push it in far enough to introduce vacuum.
Any ideas for a solution?
Thx, Al
Does it look like the adjustable lever has been bent at all in the past? Either way, you could remove it and bring it over to the vice and tappa tappa. Just measure before hand to know by how much it needs to change to get you in the correct range. You might also be able to build up the button with epoxy or something but I wouldnât advise it as this is the brakes weâre talking about and the epoxy might snap off.
It doesnât appear that the lever has been bent, but I think your suggestion is probably the best bet. Iâll just tweak it a little. I think it only needs about a 1/16â. I might experiment by adding a few layers of tape to the lever to simulate the tweak.
Thx
Speaking of the âbuttonâ, does anyone know where to purchase one?? And by the way, either the rear master cylinder or the rear calipers are locked up on my car. Getting ready to investigate next week. Everything was new or brass sleeved when I put the car together nearly ten years ago, but the car sat unused for six or seven months per year. I suspect corrosion in the new (now old) master cylinderâŚ
I really doubt itâs sold anywhere. Did yours break? I have no idea what the hidden part of it looks like but a competent machinist should be able to fabricate one.
It was lost in about 1984 when I disassembled the car. I have a functional kludge at the moment. For the OP, you can probably insert a tiny shim inside the bore of the button (and then get the dimensions of the button so I can have one fabricated⌠
I would try Welsh Enterprises. They have a lot of salvaged stuff.