relatively new owner of a '79 Spider 2000; bought 3 weeks ago (pics coming soon); It ran fairly well up until a couple days ago when on my way home the engine cut out when I was coasting to an intersection. It' started backup, but I ended up repeating this the rest of the way home (luckily only about a mile away).
Got it in the garage started to tinker.. It wont idle at all, but it runs smoothly if I give it a little juice on the accelerator. If I let it sit cold, it will start and run until the choke turns off, and it'll cut out.. I noticed that if I keep the choke butterfly "mostly" closed, I can keep it idling around ~1k (by ear; my neck isn't long enough to reach over and look at the tach); the moment I take my hand off it, it sputters and quits..
It's got the ADHA stock carb on it... I did notice some fuel leaking from the accelerator pump (*this is what it was labeled on the exploded view of the ADHA on PierceManifold's site) and upon removing the cover and inspecting the gasket it appears to be pretty worn - no visible cracks, but fuel was able to "flow" through the seams (not sure if that's "ok" or not). It's enough of a constant drip that I've noticed a pool form in one one of the pockets on the top of the intake manifold directly underneath the pump lever.
I read in another thread started by hvnfn to try tighening down the 4 nuts that hold the carb to the manifold - tried that, with no luck.. I've replaced the fuel filter, though I havent tried the carb cleaner spray trick, but plan to give that a try tomorrow... Just wondering if there's anything else that anyone might suggest..
On a side note, after reading that thread from hvnfn, I think I may look at swapping out the carb with a better 34 ADF if I can find one for a reasonable price, but I'd really love to get the car back on the road in the interim if possible... I'd also love to rip out all the emissions junk and simplify the whole thing since we dont have to worry about that stuff in MN
Thoughts?
Thanks!