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MG MGB Technical - won't start, any ideas?

I have been following Lowell's thread about his starting problems which are like mine. I have a 1976
MGB that had been sitting for about 6 months. Last week I replaced distributor cap, points and condenser,
coil, plugs, plug wires, and had the Weber downdraft
rebuilt. Car has new wiring harness and starter. fuel pump works. The car would not start before the Weber rebuild but after the carb. was rebuilt and reinstalled it started right up, ran for about 2 minutes and then died. Can not start it again. Fuel is getting everywhere it should. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Bob
Bob Staffiera

Bob, are you positive that fuel is getting everywhere it should? From your description I would hazard a guess that the float(s) in the Webber are not set correctly or that the outlet to the Fuel bowl is blocked.
Ian Holliday

The carb seems fine. I am now wondering whether the gas in the tank is "stale". It has kind of an orange color which obviously is not right. I will drain the gas out tomorrow. The person who worked on the Weber suggested that I put a couple of gallons of 100 octane airplane fuel from a local airport using airport transfers tonbridge. He used to work on foreign cars and they would always start up the ones that had been sitting for long periods of time with aircraft fuel. Any opinions on that?

Thanks,
Bob

Bob Staffiera

Bob,
I have never heard of that trick to get a car started. Petrol is petrol…sorry gas is gas.. no matter what the octane is. I would stick to the correct octane. Yes I would suggest you drain the tank, just in case the fuel has gone off.
You said that the car ran for 2 mins, can you describe how it ran? i.e. was it running rough, fast?
Ian Holliday

It ran fast during those 2 minutes. I also checked each plug for spark. The spark color was yellowish. Should it be blue?
Bob
Bob Staffiera

This thread was discussed between 07/06/2002 and 08/06/2002

MG MGB Technical index

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