Spritely Problems
Recently I have had a couple of very annoying and frustrating problems with my Sprite
Suspected vapour lock
A bit of history: about 12 months ago I decided to give the Sprite a complete tune up (new spark plugs,points ,condenser,distributor cap ,leads etc). Everything went well until Spring when the weather started to warm up .Whenever I idled for any length ,particularly at traffic lights ,the engine would rough and sometimes stall. It gave all the indications of suffering from vapour lock( I thought that it was because I was now using ULP).
I flushed the radiator ,changed the thermostat ,relocated and lagged the fuel lines .It didn't seem to make any difference the Sprite was still playing up.
I borrowed a Colortune 500 tuneup kit from a friend to check the SU Carbies and discovered that it diagnosed a faulty condenser in the Distributor.I replaced it and immediately the engine ran smoother A test run on a very hot day (35C) showed that the problem had disappeared.
The new condenser which I had installed when I gave the car a tune up had been faulty and was breaking down when hot.
Overheating
The Sprite has always overheated when caught in traffic on a hot day. To overcome this I installed a thermatic fan (bought for about $20.00 at a swapmeet ) and wired it to a switch so that it could be turned on when needed. I later installed an electric thermatic switch to automaticly turn on the fan when the temperature got too hot.
I also reverse flush the radiator regularly and run non glycol radiator inhibiter.