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Driving me NUTS....

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ronzet

ronzet

Jedi Knight
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LBC Fans,

A little while ago I posted a query about the Flamethrower distributor and many had responded with a suggestion to contact Advanced Distributor to rebuild my original. I have yet to send the Dizzy so decided to rebuild it myself this weekend....

New points, condenser, rotor and cap, new coil, lubed the advance plate and checked for correct movement under vacuum, checked all the wiring inside and outside the Dizzy fixing anything that even remotely looked suspicious.... Put is all back together and the car ran PURRfectly... started on the first turn, idled smoothly.... Sooooo

Took it out this weekend for a drive through the hills... ran GREAT.... Drove it around on Sunday and Monday, to the store, around town, waving happily to all ... NO problems... :driving:

Went to pull it into the garage last night..... crank, crank, crank.... no spark yet again!!! :wall:

Before pouring gas all over it and throwing a match to it...

Can anyone suggest A N Y T H I N G?!?!?!?
 
I will be of no help with your problem,,, but speaking of "driving me nuts"...

A Pirate walks into a bar,, a steering wheel shoved down the front of his pants. The Bartender says to him, Pirate,,, why is the steering wheel shoved down the front of your pants?,,, The Pirate says,,,, "ARGH,,,,, It's driving me nuts!"


I hope someone else can help you out with the problem.
 
ICESWH,,

Ouch.... that one is a real groaner..... :crazy:
 
Your first post said rebuild the distributor? When you redid the points and etc., did you check for bearing wobble? I would recheck the points and see if they are burnt. If burnt repost.
 
Larry,

The 'rebuild' was the electrical components, i.e. points etc.

I did check the shaft for any apparent lateral movement (wobble) and found it to be OK, at least as far as I could tell. I also checked for rotational movement of the advance plate and the movement of the vacuum advance diaphram by sucking on the advance tube... Caused a terrific headache... I did get a slight movement... I guess I don't suck as much as the manifold... :smirk:

The points that I replaced were not burnt but I replaced them with a new set while I was at it...the condenser that I replaced was a new one from Moss, but like the points, I replaced it with a new one from NAPA just to make sure.

I will check the dizzy this evening to see if the new points show any anomaly....

I guess the main concern is if there is something upline or downline that is the culprit rather than the distributor. If I eliminate the dizzy as the cause then I will move out of the dizzy and look for something else in the circuit.... As you know, it is a darn simple circuit with not much to go wrong... but wrong it goes...
 
Since it ran good, I would check for a loose wire connection (distributor-coil terminals, ground tab from the condensor, etc.) I sometimes forget to tighten a nut or 2, could've vibrated loose during the drive.
 
Kenny,

Thanks for the suggestion... If I don't have a bunch of 'honey do's' when I get home, I'll check it out...
 
Advance plate ground wire.
 
Hey Doc....

Nice to hear from you...although your witty reparte is not up to your usual form... :jester:

The grounding wire aforementioned is the ONLY thing that looked suspicious... and I did not replace or repair it... As I have been laying awake fretting over this I kept coming back to that little, itty bitty, length of wire...

In other words... I think you might have it... I'll check it out tonight... :thumbsup:
 
Doc,

One other question....

The ground wire is rivited to the plate. If you have replaced one, could you elucidate me to the method used???

Thanks...
 
A Q&D: Rig up a length akin to the "old" one from braided "shielding" wire (Radio Shack, etc.), remove the plate from the dizzy, drill out the rivet (some were secured by "spot weld" too) and tap the hole (assuming PLANNING here :wink: ) to 8-32, attach small lugs (I ~solder~ everything, some folks like crimp fasteners... another discussion) with a SHORT screw to your braided pigtail and install. I've used the protective covering from the originals or substituted with flexible insulation from Radio Shack or other electronics supply.

HTH
 
Doc,

Thanks for the guidance... I will try to get this project out of the way this evening and let you know how it turns out...

I think that I have eliminated anything else that could be the problem... Hopefully this will put me back on the road :driving: with a modicum of reliability... :rolleyes:

Besides, if it is the problem, I have a handfull of good parts that I thought were bad... :wink:

Thanks again... :thumbsup:
 
I agree with Doc,

was scrolling down the threads, and after you said you rebuilt it, same thing popped into my head, grounding wire.

Then Doc popped in and told you. So I repeat it, they cause more ??????? w*T*F problems than a lot of people realize., then faulty condensors, then faulty coils.
 
Ron,

Thanks for popping in...

It is one of those 'pebble in your shoe' problems that eat up a ton of gray matter time.... :wall:

Where but the British Car Forum can you find such a wealth of experience and advice as in 'been there, done that' and here is how... :thumbsup:
 
That wire almost always gets pinched between the dizzy and the cap when I check the points, and replace the cap.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Nice to hear from you...although your witty reparte is not up to your usual form... :jester: [/QUOTE]

I'll endeavor to rectify that directly. :smirk:

...I figger'd you needed wisdom more than wit in this instance. :wink:
 
Doc,

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]...I figger'd you needed wisdom more than wit in this instance. [/QUOTE]

Too true...

Be advised that you have saved my car from having a gallon of gas poured ON it rather than IN it.... :devilgrin:
 
Kenny,

I think that this is one of those engineering <span style="text-decoration: underline">features</span> that are resplendent in LBCs...

Like that of a float bowl overflow pointed directly at the exhaust header pipe... :smirk:
 
and the impossible-to-reach motor mount nut on the LH side
 
Kenny,

Ah yes... I have considered having an additional elbow added to my forearms between the wrist and God's installed elbow... :devilgrin:
 
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