Triumph Repair: egr valve hissing, rich mixture, egr valves

Question
QUESTION: What could cause a egr valve to hiss? i roll started the car a
few days before it began, i read that could damage the catalytic converter? 77 spitfire

ANSWER: Rob,

Short answer?  Age.   The EGR valves are made of iron and will get quite hot when the car is running, leading to corrosion.  Since the EGR valve probably did not fail before Triumph failed it's likely that you have an original on your car.  It's greatly exceeded the normal design life of such a part.

Roll starting (or push starting) does mean that you jerk the drivetrain, which if the motor mounts are shot does put more load on the exhaust system.   So would dumping the clutch at a stop light.

If you run with a very rich mixture for a while that will cause the cat to stop...well... catalyzing the exhaust.  But that's a different issue.

Cheers,

Jim

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the quick reply.

I will try to find a new egr valve and swap them out. Do you
have any suggestions where to find one of these? My usual
supplier doesn't carry them.

I am no longer required to pass inspection in my state,
could I remove the egr valve and/or converter altogether?

As to that last paragraph.. I may have done that. My car
hasn't been idling unless I fiddle with my manual choke
cable and even then its been kind of high and sounds quite
unnatural. My friend said it was seeking, but I'm not sure
what that means. So I guess I have been running with a very
rich mixture. Any advice?  

Answer
Rob,

I've never heard of any other car using an EGR that's close enough to swap in directly.  Doesn't mean it doesn't exist or one couldn't be modded to fit.

If you want to keep the stock setup you can try putting ads on the Triumph related websites (www.VTR.org or www.NASSHQ.org).  Or check with Nigel at Spitbits (www.Spitbits.com), he's got a pretty good line on used bits and pieces.

If you don't need the cat and other emissions bits to stay legal then that opens up opportunities to get more performance out of your 1500, as it was pretty well strangled at the end of it's life.  

Back in the '80s and '90s all the "smart people" would pull off the cat and EGR and plug the ports expecting to gain back the 20+ HP the car had lost to emission control.   Not that simple.  To meet the US emissions requirements the carb needle, timing, and cam were changed, in addition to the egr, cat and air pump (if installed).   So you can just dump the cat and EGR for simplicity (and maybe get a little removing the restriction of the cat) but to do it right means building up the engine to match a euro spec from the early '70s.  9:1 compression (or higher), twin SUs (preferably HS4s from the Euro cars) and an early 1500 distributor, or an aftermarket setup that matches the pre-emissions timing requirements.

As always, it's a question of what you want from the car and what your budget is.   I've seen some that essentially want Miata performance from a late '70s Spitfire.  Honestly, it's cheaper to find a good Miata, than to build a Spitfire to keep up.  

Unless you can do all the engineering and fabrication yourself.  Even then you won't likely get the reliability.

If you're looking to keep a Spitfire interesting, you might consider the engine upgrades I suggested.


Cheers,

Jim