The Contessa

[Richard Fridd]

Perhaps the inlet valve could be raised/ lowered somehow? Thin spacer?  After unnecessary experimentation my glass showed that there wasn't an adjustment required. I remember the problem on one occasion was a partially blocked filter hidden near to the tank, which was of course only a problem under load. Hence the car would stop at about 3/4 mile from setting off. Then restart perfectly. Despite no visible dirt in the carburettor I would recommend a clean to a professional standard as only after a long time has the carburettor been satisfactory.  The glass would have shown up the slightly blocked filter as the level would have reduced before ones eyes at a fast tickover. In hindsight I think that filter was a worsening  source of problems.

[frankxhv773t]

I'm off on a weeks holiday in Cornwall from tomorrow so when I get back I'll investigate all parts of the system. Fuel was flowing before the carb rebuild but that revealed that the accelerator pump diaphragm was on the point of being crispy so I anticipate the fuel pump diaphragm will be in a similar condition. 

[chriswgawne]

Going off at a slight tangent, I had a problem with my Aurelia B12 when I first put it back on the road which ended up ( after checking and changing filters, fuel pumps, condensers, distributors, carburettor etc) being a plug of crud in the underfloor reserve fuel tap.
The car would idle all day and also drive slowly all day but driving briskly caused the engine to peter out. Stop and wait for 5 mins then all was well again.
So obvious in hindsight!!
Chris

[frankxhv773t]

That's interesting. I have a fuel tap in the back corner of the passenger footwell which I have assumed is just a security cut off. I've not seen anything in a Flaminia handbook about a reserve tap but the only handbooks I have are for a slightly later model.

[Spider2]

A thought
I have just driven an Appia 2 from Holland to the UK. It performed really well but the day before leaving I experienced fuel starvation just after refueling. Without sufficient time to fully investigate i put an airline down the fuel feed pipe into the tank. This cured the blockage. I got home without refueling but when I put 5 liters in from a can it blocked again. I dropped the tank to investigate. Washing and sloshing the tank with first hot soapy water and then a water/vinegar mix I have managed to extract 1/3 of a pint of crap, mainly sand but also some rust particles. The tank drain/filter was filled with crud although the mesh had completely disintegrated.
If the Contessa has been off the road for a while it is well worth dropping the filter (14mm hex on the Appia) and reverse blowing down the feed pipe. My guess the drain/filter will be clogged. In my case I think the act of fuel going down the filler neck disturbed all the crud next to the outlet pipe. I hope my DIY cleaning efforts work OK, if not I will take it to a specialist.

[lancianut666]

Hi Frank
Idly perusing back posts on the Flaminia I came across one on the tap and the owner found it was partially blocked with detritus. Worth a trawl through?
Clarkey

[frankxhv773t]

The Contessa was restored in 2016 and has been out and about sparingly since. I started messing with the fuel system because I was getting too much fuel! One of the accelerator jet delivery pipes was constantly dripping when the engine was running and the plugs were sooting up. Once I'm home and fitting the electric fuel pump I'll check all the connections for crud and blast things out with the air line.

[Richard Fridd]

One 'sooting up' occurred when my cold start device was not fully returning.

[frankxhv773t]

I'm back on the job and working through the fuel system, not helped by having 25 litres of fuel in the tank.

I bought a siphon but couldn't get it into the tank through the filler pipe. Is there an anti siphon grid in the Flaminia filler neck or is it just getting hung up on the bend I wonder.

Anyway, as the fuel gauge reads three quarters full regardless of what's in the tank I gained access by removing the sender unit to investigate that. In Lancia's usual style it doesn't just have a float on an arm coming out of the sender. It has the float pivoted from the bottom of a bar that goes to the bottom of the tank then a shaft and various gears to transmit the movement up to the sender. The gear at the top wasn't engaging with the quadrant on the sender because the teeth are worn. Thankfully the over engineering means I could adjust various bits to effect better engagement.

I did try swapping over the top and bottom cogs on the shaft as they appear to be the same and the bottom one isn't worn and has better engagement with the float end quadrant at the bottom but, no, the bottom one is fractionally larger and jams on the bar if you try to fit it at the top.

I got one of the two tank drain plugs out and there was minimal crud under the pick up filter. The other plug is mashed up so I can't get a grip to remove it. I'm not sure yet why there are two plugs but possibly it's two pickups at slightly different levels with the lower one being for fuel reserve. That will need more investigating. 

[fay66]

Frank, I have a couple of Fulvia gauge units that have similar gearing, so if you want to see if the gears are of any use please let me know.
Brian
8227

[simonandjuliet]

Interesting to see the sender/float unit - I have a new one but never knew what it was for .... let me know if you are interested

I'll dig it out and take a photo just to be sure !!

[DavidG]

Obviously Frank has first dibs but I would be interested in your sender. As you can see mine has seen better days.

[simonandjuliet]

Memory is a terrible thing ..... I have these 2 but put them together in my head !

[lancianut666]

At least you could still remember where they were Simon...
Clarkey

[frankxhv773t]

Thankyou for the offers everyone but I think I'm good.

As the worn cog at the top wouldn't reliably stay in engagement with the quadrant I reckoned I had nothing to loose by trying some modifications. The worn cog fitted OK to the quadrant at the bottom and some judicious filing allowed the bottom cog to engage properly at the top.
 
Putting it back together I realised the alignment of the quadrants was critical otherwise they can pivot beyond engagement with the cog and the teeth can jam on the return. The quadrant at the top stops at the full position and is still engaged with the cog so I set that first. I then fitted the bottom cog and quadrant in engagement with each other at the other end of their travel and adjusted the wire stop for the swing arm to prevent it from rotating out of engagement.

It seems to move reliably on the bench and shows varying resistance as it moves so hopefully it will work the gauge when I refit it. (Hopefully not famous last words.)