74 Triumph 2000 mk2 dangerously slow and sluggish.

[Bdraw97]

Hi guys,

Basically I'm just wondering if you could shed some light on a situation I'm having.

I've recently bought a triumph 2000 mk2 that has been sat in storage for a very long time. 35 years if I remember rightly. The car is the 2.0 manual overdrive with twin strombergs and basically I'm having a vit of trouble with it.

When I rev the car it's slow to respond
It's slow to rev up
The rpm drops slowly after revving
The car is dreadfully slow, I have to drive flat footed just to get up to speed at a somewhat safe pace.

Whilst pulled up in a shell garage I had a look at the carbs diaphragm and oil pots, both were fine and the butterfly valves were opening fully as they should. As if things weren't bad already on the way home from the shell garage after realising she's not well I changed into 3rd and thought I'd play with the overdrive. I flicked it into overdrive and it made a noise like an automatic box changing up a gear. Then all of a sudden I lost all power, there was a deep tone and added vibration and then the car cut out. It would start up again although it sounded like it had a misfire. I'd just fited a new sports ignition coil so I knew this wasnt an issue and there was no lights on the dash. All my points are as they should be and the engines timed correctly. At the time we assumed we might have dropped or bent a valve although we decided this wasnt the issue as the engine itself wasnt making any nasty noises. This was then leading me to beleive my overdrive is shot and I need a new overdrive solenoid. After a quick check it turns out that wasn't the issue either. I decided id get some carb cleaner and squirt around the carbs. It was quite clear that I have a vaccine leak between the carb inlet and the manifold. I can take the manifold intake pipes off and cover them completely with my hands and the engine will still run fine. Would something this simple make such a drastic change in performance? Please exuse my lack of experience. I have a young inexperienced mind being just 21. I've never owned a triumph, used a manual overdrive box or owned a car this old. Any help or advice you could give me would be much appreciated.

A bit of info for those interested. The car is a 2.0 with twin stombergs and manual overdrive. It has covered just 36,000 miles from new and has been dry stored in a garage under cover and all the crome taped for what i beleive was 35 years. The original owner bought it when it was just a year old to pull a caravan, the caravan was sold after 3 years, his misus used it for a couple years after and thought it was too big so it was stored ever since.
Thanks.

Regards,
Ben.

[Tinsmith_Skippy]

You have exhausted my checklist in the ignition/timing department. I haven’t owned a carb 2000, being a Stromberg version I don’t know if it has a vacuum advance on the dizzy, if you suspect a leak and all other vacuum inlets and outlets etc are behaving themselves this diaphragm could be split.

Your problems aside for a moment looks like you found a cracking car there. Good colour as well!

[johnnydog]

Hi Ben,
As Ross says, it looks like you have found yourself an original unmolested gem there!
Without actually pinpointing your issue, in 2013 I recommissioned a late 1969 Mk1 2000 that had been off the road for 25 years. During its period of storage, the carbs were bunged up with a tar like substance from solidified fuel and old leaded fuel had blocked the front to back fuel pipe. The fuel pump and float chambers were full of dried silt. The carb diaphrams were not supple, the pistons in the carbs were not free moving and didn't fall with a metallic clunk onto the bridge. The fuel tank also had corrosion inside which contributed to blocking the fuel outlet and would have restricted the flow of fuel. There probably isn't an online fuel filter on your car as was fitted to facelift cars so any bits of crud would get sucked into the fuel bowl and float chambers and can then block the flow of fuel into the carbs. You haven't said how much recommissioning you had to do to get it running after 35 years, but the majority of your symptoms sound fuel related.
Incidentally, all the rubber fuel pipes and water hoses needed replacing as did all the hydraulics and most suspension components. Most overdrive problems are either low oil level in the box which causes it not to engage, or non engagement is down to furred up electrical connections or a bad earth. An A type overdrive is quite an abrupt/ thump like change, where as the J type as on later cars is smoother.
Perhaps you could outline what recommisionng you did to get it running , and this may help in suggesting other things to check.

[Baller]

Sounds much like the fuel side rather than electrical as johnnydog says. Mine had been off the road for ten years and sure enough the carbs were silted up , once cleaned up ( I took mine off) it was fine,

[Bdraw97]

Hi guys,

Thank you for your responses and kind words. I did spend an hour of my morning writing a bucket load of info for you all to try help, although the page refreshed and I lost it all. So.. safe to say I'm not too pleased haha I'll get back to you all tonight when I have a little more time.

[Alec]

Hello Bdraw97,

another little, but important point to check is the distributor mechanical advance mechanism (Not the vacuum advance) in case it's seized due to standing. This will have a severe effect on performance if it has stuck.

Alec

[Peter Douglas W]

I had a simular thing. It was not just one thing it was several. a.) Accelerator pedal not going down far enough because of the thick carpeting, b.) Measured the fuel pressure going to the carbs (somewhat down) i.e Not enough fuel. Cleaned everything changed the filters etc. c.) checked the timing took it out for runs, advanced until it pinked (I needed help as my hearing has gone) then backed it off a bit. Did a vacuum test, got max vacuum in idle and backed it off a bit. Every little thing helped.
Each time "good, I have found the problem" result each time perhaps 3 mph more!!!!!!!!!!!
Did a compression test and found one cylinder was duffy. Head off, one valve was starting to burn through. Had the head done up with new valve guides Valves and seats. Suddenly I had a jump in power of about 25%. The car ran before the whole time Ok, beautifully smoothly but no power. The was no feeling that the head was wonky. Even the plugs had the right colour. So Bdraw97 don*t dispair. I am an experienced Triumph driver and it happened to me. Keep driving and be happy, you will work it out one day.

[Carboy0]

When we bought Rusty Custard, the only way to drive it was ‘foot hard down’ as the engine didn’t pick up until half throttle.

The problem was finally diagnosed as the throttle linkages, the accelerator cable would pull the mechanism down immediately but the adjustments on the carburettor connecting rods were set so that idle they sat half-way in the gap on the fork on the throttle spindles. Half the throttle movement was needed before the gap was taken up. 10 minutes with a 2 BA spanner sorted it out.