A little more thought and I think I see where you are coming from. Sorry if I'm a bit slow. Yes, the exhaust gas going through the inlet manifold would warm up the original auto choke faster but I believe its main purpose is to warm up the whole inlet tract and this will have a similar effect regardless of carburettor type.

Whilst in limbo, have not been idle. With a lot of stuff out of the way gave engine bay and block a good clean and it came up quite well. Renewed all the bushes on front anti roll bar as they were tired and had a critical look at all the other bushes at the front end - which appear to be new or very recent. Fitted new shocks all round - GAZ adjustables - springs were new last year before I took possession. This was all stuff I'd identified and planned to do over the coming months/years and had already accumulated the bits.

Am back on the road - or I was briefly - but more of that later.
As per below have now been through front suspension in its entirety and then turned attention to the engine. Decided to renew anything suspect so new cam, followers, pushrods, water pump, timing chain and sprockets, valves, collets and had the heads done.
Inlet manifold looked decidedly mucky particularly under the metal plate on the underside so took the plate off and there was a big crack.
Had an extremely generous offer of a loan of a manifold from a contributor on here to get me rolling again - thanks again - but in the end SLJ were able to supply a second hand one at a reasonable cost. After a weekend of cleaning it to within an inch of its life it's now painted and on the car.
After "breaking in" cam, initial driving impressions are excellent - not a night and day improvement but engine even smoother and handling great - and that's before doing the geometry properly.
Only fly in the ointment was a petrol pong which I presumed would be something not done up properly in the engine bay. Not so - I had a boot full of petrol (again), culprit being the SU fuel pump. Have had enough and am going the Facet route - even if it means building a little sound proofed home for it in the boot.
It might be of use to some to know where I got the various bits and bobs from so here goes.
Timing chain and sprocket, full gasket set for poly engine, valve springs, harmonic balancer all came from Real Steel in Uxbridge.
Cam, lifters, valves and collets came from Falcon Global in the USA.
Pushrods from https://egge.com/
Bushes and other suspension bits from Classic Bristol Car Parts and SLJ (who also provided water pump).
Track rod ends - Amsteer.
Thanks again to those on here who have been in touch with advice and offers of practical help - much appreciated.
Andrew

Andrew,
We put a facet pump in the boot of my 411 and used bonded rubber bobbin mounts to isolate the mounting plate I made from the boot bulkhead, when we fitted one on my 603 I followed the advice of the late Martin Barns and put the pump and a pressure regulator in the front drivers side wing bay where it works fine , I did not use a pressure regulator on the bigger engine and had no problems.
Geoff.

Thanks Geoff - effective isolation seems to be the key!

Which Facet pump did you use Geoff? (there are several available for cars with carburettors)

I've been using Carter fuel pumps - I say plural because the first one died after very little use - maybe that was part of the problem. I gather they don't like infrequent use and they are cooled by the fuel itself.

One good thing about the Carter pumps is that they are relatively quiet - you certainly can't hear my boot mounted pump when the engine is running. They also come with rubber isolating mounts.

I have an Edelbrock carb on my 411 and use a fuel pressure regulator set at 5.5 psi.

My pump is connected to the original fuel uptake pipe, but with hindsight I would look at mounting the pump underneath the car to guarantee an instant gravity feed of fuel.

I should get back from Canada to my car by the end of the month. I have a long to do list and the extremely noisy Mallory pump fitted in my boot is high on there!

David
1964 408 Mk1

Fitted the pump this evening - went for a Facet Silver top. I used the same location in the boot but spent a bit of time making sure that it was unable to vibrate against anything and used the bobbins provided as part of the kit. On a brief test run it seems to work fine and to my ears is quieter than the SU - I cannot hear it at all when the engine is running.
Andrew

Andrew,
would you mind posting a photo up your pump set up. Are you taking the petrol feed from the top of the tank?


Thanks,
Kevin

Yes I'm using the pickup from the top of the tank. The flexible pipe had all been renewed last year (from tank to pump and pump to hard pipe going forward) in an effort to ward off E10 issues and because the old one was pretty ropey anyway which made the pump swap easy - otherwise I would have done that at the same time.
The Facet pump also comes with the ability to change the pressure by unscrewing the bottom and using a different spring (like the SU dashpot spring!). The carb on mine (a 500 cfm Edelbrock) wants a maximum of 6.5 psi and the pump as it comes is 6 - 7 psi so I changed the spring to a 4-5 psi one.
Happy to post pictures - will have a read how to do it!


Andrew

Thanks Andrew,
I have actually created some new improved instructions on attaching images on forum posts, but I haven't got around to posting them yet!
I will do so asap.
Kevin

Brief update - using car daily until recently - and getting more impressed with it day by day! Handling is lovely and all is quiet within apart from what used to be slight whirring from the rear that is now becoming more audible.
With this in mind I dropped it off at Hardy Engineering with all my new bushes and they will go through everything.
Drive up there was swift and enjoyable and was pleased to be shown three other Bristol axles they'd just rebuilt - it appears the car is in good hands but time will tell!

Well I picked car up yesterday and all is silent from the rear and leak free.
To celebrate, dashboard clock sprang into life and has been keeping good time ever since!
Drive home was spirited and good fun - only downside was not keeping an eye on the petrol gauge and having to fill up on the motorway at £1.81 a litre!
Not much left to do - bit of fiddling with adjustable shocks - ride is a bit too soft for my liking and sorting out the under dash fresh air vent lever...over to the left still gives a gentle breeze when it should shut it off. Didn't seem to matter much in warmer weather but it's more noticeable now. Hopefully it's something simple.....

Excellent! Any other jobs planned or can you just enjoy it for a while?

Just like to put some miles on the car really and the aforementioned tinkering..rebuilt top end only has a few hundred miles on it so will let all that bed in and then probably a rolling road session just to fine tune the carb and the timing.
Touch wood .....

Amsteer
 

Has anyone done business with Amsteer lately? I am trying to get a quotation for a complete set of modified trackrods for my 411 since the end of march.
Send them four emails - nothing. Called them many times, mostly no one picks up the phone or I hear promises..
Does it make sense to continue to contact them again or ..

Regards

Thomas

When I dealt with them it was great when you spoke to them but they were very busy and understaffed.
It may be easier just to get the track rod ends from them or someone else and have the threaded bar made up locally to you.
The cost from them for making up the two small rods with a LH thread one end and a RH one the other (the big one is already like that so nothing to do) and supply new track rod ends for all of them was £180 inc postage and VAT - last year.
From memory I didn't bother with a quote but just packaged them all up and sent them off with a covering letter. They then emailed me a quote which I accepted and it took three weeks for them to return the finished goods which work a treat. The only reason I sent all the rods as I was unsure of which track rod end I needed.
My car was in dock at the time having other work done so time wasn't really an issue.

Hi Thomas,
I have used Amsteer and found them to be an excellent company to deal with. When I dealt with them early in the Pandemic, they were exceptionally busy. Fortunately, I live only an hours drive from them so I was able to drop in and chat with them directly.
You know from their website the cost of the track rod ends, the only addition is the link bars which will not be a great cost. Why bother with a quote? Just package your old ones up and send them off via a courier together with your order for the items in question.
The reason I would send your old ones is to make sure the tapers are correct and the length of the bar is also correct with the right amount of thread at each end.
My 410 was initially fitted with 4No. LH track rod ends, when I rebuilt the front suspension I converted them to the more conventional system of 2 LH and 2RH. I don’t know the setup on the 411 but it’s worth checking, in my opinion you don’t want to end up with a 4LH track rod end setup.
Good luck with Amsteer
Brian

Senior moment at this end - had forgotten most important bit - the quality the product (TRE) is excellent so worth persevering IMHO.

Hi Brian and Andrew,

my two problems are:

1. I live in Germany and sending parts to Amsteer would involve Amsteer to clear the parcel through UK customs..

2. I can not take off the track rods from the car, as the car would be immobile for several weeks.

3. Yes, I could order new track rod ends and then manufacture new rods, but it would be a hassle to obtain the correct lh threaded tap I think.

Therefore I hoped that Amsteer could supply a complete new setup with lh/rh ends.

I will try to phone and email them again…

Regards

Thomas