I remember these kinda problems last year and the board folks helped get it straight. I no longer have the stock air cleaner and my carb runs good in warm weather. During cold it takes awhile to get going good. I don't have the link in front of me, but it had to do with tuning up the manual choke style carb.

sounds to me as if your float has sunk, ie: saturated with gas, either that or there is trash stuck in the needle and seat.
another possable thing to look for is a needle and seat that has come loose and started to unscrew it's self, I've had this one happen to me before.
make sure that your fuel level is centered in the float window at an idle.

Hey Buff, since the compression is very good, I wouldn't bother with a leakdown test.

The bad idle is almost always either spark or fuel. Probably is the carb causing the problems ... check out those air leaks, and are you sure the choke is opening all the way and staying open?

One thing that can really cause a frustration is if the heat riser valve is stuck ... though not too common it will cause poor running. This is the valve in the exhaust manifold. Make sure it turns both direction or is stuck in the open position (not stuck partway open).

You should be able to lean out the carb at idle enough to kill the engine. If screwing in the idle screw all the way doesn't stop the engine, you've verified the problem is with the carb.

i cant believe how many people say they cant get a 32/36

ALL 2ltr Ford Escorts and Cortinas had them, and the wreckers are full of these things, only prob may be getting the adaptor plate but i believe they are easy enough to buy anyway

carb should be no more than $50, more likely 30-40
adaptor around $50

then maybe a rebuild and definatelly rejetting, upto $200 to have someone do both

benefits - HUGE

Back Again....
I checked the valve clearances - all good apart from Number 2 and 3 exhaust valves were both a bit tight(.010") adjusted them up so they are all fine.
I was starting to think I was having a win and convinced it was a vacuum leak/leaks somewhere........took it for a decent drive went fine, accel good, idle still a little erratic but still convincing myself vacuum leaks.....then came the highway run.
1,2,3,4, gear all smooth under light or heavy acceleration, next to no black smoke, now here comes the biggest gremlin of all.
After about a minute of highway driving about 100kph i accelerated hard up until about 130 then let it coast back to about 100 again - everything fine. I repeated this a couple of times still ok came to a bit of a hill put the foot down again to check it out...........seemed to be hesitating / flat spotting up slight hill.....went to accelerate hard again and it started PINGING ITS HEAD OFF! I eased up straight away and under light accel it was not to bad and after about another 1km of light driving I could accelerate hard again and it was ok.
But repeat that same process again same conditions, time frame, engine temp etc the same thing will happen. WHY THE PINGING!!!!!!!!really bad.
Engine temp guage read ok whole time.Returned home double check everything for the 2 billionth time. Dwell, timing, float level, vacuum advance etc etc etc. Cant fault anything.
I cant see anything carby wise that can cause this can it???????????????
HELP I'M RIPPING MY HAIR OUT!!!!!

you are right there 1200rallycar, they should be easy enough to come acroos at the price you mentioned but unfortunately down here in Tas we are about 15 years behind everyone else. Most wreckers are very hard to deal with, have nothing and if you do manage to find what yoyr after they want top dollar. I found a couple of 32/36's that would have been ok - I was told $120 just for a carb! and the thing would have needed a full strip down and repair as well. These are the type of clowns I have to deal with down here.
Once upon a time i lived in NSW so I can appreciate the difference. Up there, there is plenty of competition down here no one seems to give a $#%##@%$#@
I need to find a good mail order place i think.
I fell much better now getting that off my chest.

Buff, check the mechanical advance in the distributor, maybe the pivots are worn or springs are broken. If it sticks on the advance it could cause the ping. Also check the side-to-side play of the distributor shaft: there should be none whatsoever. You checked the vacuum advance diaphragm to make sure it doesn't leak, but does it move smoothly and spring back? If you have an electronic distributor the advance mechanism tends to have problems.

Or maybe the fuel/carb is dirty or has water droplets in it?

im happy to grab you a carb and send it if you like, like i said shouldnt be more than $50 plus postage, there is a place that has em for $20 but i grabed both of the ones he had and have already sold em (at cost), 2 weeks ago

To / 1200rallycar,
By all means. If you happen to come across a decent one drop us an email and i could organise something with you. I should be able to organise the necessary adapter plate down here somewhere or even through mail order.

To/ ddgonzal,
Actually you raise a good point there that I may have over looked "the mechanical advance".
I take it what you are saying is that evrything runs fines maybe a couple of times or so under heavy acceleration but sometimes is not releasing from the advance position after I back off the throttle?
In theory this would make sense as to what happened the other day. As after a minute or so and a some light throttle applications it probably free'ed up and returned to its position thus the pinging stopped.
I did check this with the dizzy cap off in the usual manner turning rotor and ensuring it springs back ok but maybe it is sticking out on the road if driven hard.

The more i think about this i reckon i'm chasing two different problems
1) Vaccuum leak at manifold & throttle shafts causing the weird idle.
2) Possible the advance mechanism or something causing this pinging problem.

If 1200rallycar could source a good carb then i would go that way to start with as i dont really fancy spending any money doing the Hitachi.

Anyway I can prove this is the mech advance other than a dizzy rebuild?

Thanks.

cant you test the advance by sticking your finger in one hole and blowing in the other or something (yes im still talking about cars )

either that or pull the hose off and drive it to see what diffrence that makes


btw, yeah ill grab ya a carb, if you dont want it in the end someone else will, i have bout five people wnating the 2 spare ones i got and i didnt even advertise