SU HS8 carburetters on 2200 engine.

[J.Lackland]

I'm trying to get my 1968 2000 TC back on the road. The engine is poorly (loss of compression and worn bores) so has to be replaced.
I have 2200 TC engine in good condition in store, plus a separately acquired pair of HIF6's complete with manifold. So far so good.

The plan was to swap the engine and carbs, but it's perhaps not as simple as I first thought, as my car is a UK-spec RHD one, and I live in i a LHD country.
This affects the availability of spare parts needed for modifiying the throttle linkage, which means it will take more time to get the necessary items.

My back-up plan is to install the 2200 engine together with the old HS8's, which seem to be in good, or at least restorable condition.
With the engine running, sorting the rest of the car, which has been off the road since 1982, can be done one step at a time and,
when it's fully roadworthy I intend to do the carb conversion as described in redrover's excellent thread.

My question is: has anybody here on the forum advice or views on my intended set-up? Will it work?

All help is greatly appreciated.

Yours humbly / J.Lackland

 

[johnsimister]

I have just rebuilt my 2000 TC engine, which is now overbored to 2200 and has a 2200 TC head. I have refitted the original HS8s, for originality's sake and because if these hefty carbs worked on a 2000 they should certainly work on a 2200. I'm hoping the engine will have a little more top-end power than a factory 2200 TC on HIF6s would have. Once the engine is run-in I'll get it set up on a rolling road, but at the moment the car hasn't been out on any sort of road. Today's task is to set the ignition timing with a strobe (it has the 2200 TC distributor to suit the 9:1 compression ratio), then balance the carburettors and set their mixture. It won't necessarily be correct all the way up the speed and load range but it will be a starting point before the rolling road session and a possible needle change. But even now, with no carb adjustment, it runs very sweetly.

 

[The Rovering Member]

You'll get to know Harvey on here & mainly on his advice but also because of general running & reliability issues, I'm giving up on my HD8's & fitting Hif6's. When l say reliability l don't mean starting, that's never been a problem but they've always tended to over-fuel somewhat though power-wise, they're pretty good. Tuning-wise however, they don't tend stay that way for long. I think general consensus is that the Hif6's are the best for steady everyday use & when they're tuned they stay in that condition & they have a better choke linkage. Rover fitted them to the 2200 so that probably says something but it depends on your outlook. My four-pot P6 is not particularly original but generally speaking though my P5B is & l'm also replacing those HS6's with the Hif6's. There is a current carb-suspected running problem there but rather than mess around with the originals & the Heath-Robinson choke connection, we're going with the Hf's.
Horses for courses.
Welcome to the forum.

 

[J.Lackland]

QUOTE#(it has the 2200 TC distributor to suit the 9:1 compression ratio)
Thanks for the info - I haven´t thought about which distributor to use till I read this! Cheers!

 

[J.Lackland]

Many thanks for the info on the reliability of the respective carb's, something I didn't know of before! My plan A is to use HIF 6's, but keep the old HS6's up my sleeve in case of delay in getting parts. As a matter of fact, I've been on and off this forum since 2012. At that time I had bought a 2200 TC which had an excellent rustfree body, but could be described as being "mechanically sound", ie having a lot of mechanical faults, though none major. The forum was invaluable to me in getting to understand the car and it's function. Usually someone else had experienced the same problems as me, so there was seldom any need to post a new question, just patiently read through previous posts! It is a real goldmine!

 

[johnsimister]

I have just been for a brief run to the petrol station in my now-2.2-litre 2000 TC with its newly rebuilt engine, running on the original HS8s. On this first run since completing the rebuild and getting everything set up properly it ran absolutely beautifully, with plenty of low-revs pull and a perfect idle. It wants to rev but I'm keeping the revs down until it's run in, which is clearly going to be a while away in the current state of the world.

So don't feel you have to abandon the HS8s…

 

[mrtask]

Nice one John Simister!

 

[sdibbers]

It wants to rev but I'm keeping the revs down until it's run in, which is clearly going to be a while away in the current state of the world.

I'm interested to see how she pulls when you have run in the new engine. I have HIFS on my conversion and she pulls and runs very well, but I do feel she'd do better at higher revs on the HS8s. Having said that I think I've found the last fault on the HIFs that was affecting fuel mixture. Stay tuned...
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