• RWD

  • Macks 74 144.

G'day all,
A newby here, just purchased a 74 144 deluxe from a gent in Huskisson. Previously owned by a gent in Tamworth who carried out all the work on it.
The body is in very good condition with original paint. The engine has supposedly been taken out to 2.2, with a Waggot 30/70 cam & later model Fuel Injected head.
Intake is a couple of side draught Solex on an R series manifold with what looks like an R series exhaust.
An R series dash is fitted. Runs pretty rough at the moment & has been stored for a total of about 14-15 years.
I've got it roadworthy & registered & will trot it out tomorrow for a warm up/blow out and then do a compression test prior to deciding what to do with the carbs/tune.
More to come as I get to it.
Would list some pics but cant figure out how to do it.
Sounds like a little rocket, will be good to see some pics when you work it out. You have to add your pictures to a hosting website and enter the img code into your post as text. Hopefully this helps you...
2 months later
Well I guess its time for an update.
Sorry I haven't had a look at the "How to post a pic" yet but I will get around to it.
Work so far:
Interior shampoo & exterior polish, release one seized rear parking brake, set of ceramic coated Extractors obtained, compression check done & acceptable (Pending a decent drive) carbs cleaned & ready for a strip/check, Dizzy removed for check/remap, going to tidy up the engine with some new paint and also paint a few other bits & pieces.

The intake manifolds have been cleaned/polished & clear-coated. I tossed up painting them but reckoned the raw alloy look was better.

Sorted a few other problems & hopefully should be ready to run again in a few weeks. I cant find anywhere that can supply kits or knows anything about the C45 Solex so I'm just going to strip minimally & hope that I can source O rings etc that might need replacing.

The plan is to get things running at a minimum cost & then I'll decide whether to go with new Webers or an EFI system.

A new Recip Saw made short work of the old exhaust so that I can just make a simple sleeve join to get me to the chosen exhaust shop to renew the system from the Extractors flange.

Egads has suggested a 123 ignition & it really looks the goods. Just might have to wait a bit until I can justify the spend to SWMBO.

I'll get to work on the pics soon.

Macka.
GDat Mackay , welcome to the Nut house....L.
Welcome Macka! I also recently acquired a 73 144 and have just started to work out some issues. It sounds like you have a hot little 140 in your hands and are well and truly underway to getting it back on the road. I look forward to seeing some pics.
Sounds like a fun project mate. Good luck with the carby rebuild.
There are few carby specialist shops left these days. There used to be one nearby here, but its now a block of apartments. :(
11 days later
Update.
Have got a few bits & pieces together courtesy George Minassian & others. Include a new 123ignition.

Going to try to get it up & running with the Solex but haven't been able to get any new parts so just a good clean. It's a temporary measure & will fork out for some new Webers sometime after July.

Got a lot of info from George as well as some other contacts to follow up.

Will try to get running with all the older bits first then replace with the new bits as & when.

The drive of the dizzy gave insight into Engine gunge so I'll run something through it with a couple of filter changes to see if it can be cleaned up a bit.

Was thinking some high detergent Diesel oil. Any suggestions welcome.
would really like to see pictures :)
Even a litre of ATF and a drive for a few k at operating temp and back home to change it would do wonders. Or even a cup of diesel in the oil and run for a few minutes and dump. Plenty of good options for cleaning up older style engines that aren't as safe on newer style stuff.
Thanks for that. With a bit of luck I'll have it running again this week-end so I reckon I'll give that a go.

Mack.
24 days later
Got this Moose up & running again. Once It got fuel through it started well and idled perfectly, with the throttles on the natural stops.
Not for long however, it was showing a quick rise in temp & started to overheat pretty quickly. Shut it down before any missing etc so hoping for no damage.
Pretty sure it was just an air pocket type problem & will refill with coolant & take a different procedure.
Once I get it sorted I'll fit the 123 Ignition & see if I cant get these Solex to squirt a bit more fuel till I can afford the new Webers.
Sorry, still haven't organised any photos but I will soon.
Mack.
Was the cooling system physically hot? The metal whatsamjig that regulates for the temp and fuel gauges buggers up pretty commonly.
Yeah, was spitting coolant out of the overflow bottle but no missing or spluttering going on & no signs of contaminated oil or coolant so hopefully no damage done.
Iron head and block will be fine with a bit of overheating. If the hg is original though it is your weak link. .
I believe this has been overbored at some point so should be newer hg put on then.
You wouldn't believe it, looks like brand new thermostat is the problem. I ran it for short periods, making sure the coolant level was always good, pumped the upper & lower hoses constantly to pump our air & found the top hose just wasn't getting hot even though the temp gauge was showing near 120 & the coolant was making noise in the head.
Eventually pulled the t/stat out and the head was full of coolant. T/stat would not open in freely boiling water so have just ordered a newie to try again.
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