Triumph Repair: Car is stalling, fuel pressure gauge, bright sun light

Question
My son has a '76 Spitfire,  it starts up fine but then stalls after a few seconds.  Please tell me where to start.

Answer
Hi Tracey,
The fact that it stalls after a few seconds only narrows the possible causes down to thousands so there must be tests run on the engine to see what is causing it.

Some tools are necessary but they are not expensive. They can even be purchased at Wall Mart. You need a vacuum gauge (one that has a small section for fuel pressure) and you need a timing light. You will also need a spark plug wrench.

Normally all engines only require three items to run, Compression, fire and fuel. With conditions on each.

"Compression" will not usually cause the problem you are having so you can skip that test for now.

"Fire" is spark and the spark must be a strong spark and be at the correct time. The time can be checked with the timing light and how strong it is can be roughly tested by removing a spark plug and reconnect the wire to the plug and lay the plug on a metal part of the engine and have someone spin the starter over and watch the end of the plug for a spark that is colored blue (not in bright sun light)

"Fuel" can be tested by spraying either starter fluid into the intake when it tries to stall out. If you can keep it running by spraying starter fluid into the air intake then you probably have a fuel problem so you need to purchase a "T" fitting to install in the fuel line close to the carburetor. Attach the hose of the vacuum gauge to the "T" (if you purchased one that had a fuel pressure section) If not you will need a fuel pressure gauge form an auto parts store.
Be sure to put hose clamps on each joint in the hoses. Start the engine and watch the fuel pressure to see that it has from 1.5 to 3 PSI pressure all the way to when it stalls. If the pressure drops then it stalls, you have a fuel supply problem. (more tests required)

You should also put the vacuum gauge on a port on the intake manifold to watch manifold vacuum as the engine runs. If the vacuum drops before the engine dies you could have a partial stopped up exhaust system.
Howard