Coil ashes and brake line leak

[jayhawk]

I'd been having problems with the engine cutting out periodically and had traced it to the primary lead from the coil.. on my TR3 it is one of those bakelite "nuts" that keeps the bare end of the primary wire pressed between a washer and the bottom of the hole in the top of the coil. I first discovered that the bakelite nut was cracked and the end was dancing around in the connection. It was a wonder it ran. After buying a new nut, cleaning the hole in the top of the coil of what I thought was dust, and reconnecting everything, it ran better but still missed occasionally. This last time after the guys in the garage heard it, they blew out all the "dust-- which really was ash from the poor connection. The bottom of that coil connection was now half again the size it should be and there was no good conduction material left. A new Sport coil stopped the miss. The leak which I thought was from the front wheel cylinder turned out to be a split washer in the brake hose! The mechanic said they'd been seeing too many of those but it was a quick fix. Poor materials or overwrenching? Anyway, thought I'd share what I learned.