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TR2/3/3A TR3 No spark - Ignition mystery

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[ QUOTE ]
...I am pretty sure that I have the engine at top dead center or thereabouts. I didn't see any notch on the pulley but I did feel a distinct bump with my finger on the engine side of the pulley which is matched up with the real obvious pointer above...

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It is not a notch, but rather a hole in the pulley... that is probably the bump you felt. The timing you want will be around 4 degrees BTDC -- that is about 3/8" on the rim of the pulley if you're eyeballing it. This is the point at which you want the points to begin opening. Almost anything in that ballpark will get it to fire and run, then you can dial it in from there.
 
Pay dirt!!!!!!

It was the Petronix Ignitor electronic ignition module(s).
Not one but two strangely enough. I managed to get the points in correctly and do the static timing thing, many thanks to all especially Mr. Hahn and Wayne with the incredibly nice '49 roadster that I am now lusting after. So, with my 20/20 ignition hindsight now I can see that I have been running with a sporadically misbehaving aftermarket igntion module. Let that be a lesson to me. I was so cocksure that these new fangled space age things would either work or not work...not half work or work poorly for who knows how long. How many times did I pull into the garage after warming my black beauty up to twist and turn the distributor thinking that I could get rid of that miss when I was accelerating out of corners. Finally it started to actually cut out on one or more cylinders mimicking EXACTLY what a neophyte like me would assume was a fuel starvation problem. It also appears to me to have done an excellent job of mimicking a coil going bad. It would only show its ugly symptoms after like half an hour of driving. It must have had to get that module up to a certain temperature for a certain length of time. Then I would sit by the side of the road contemplating the hassles of a tow and by the time I gave it one last try it must have cooled down enough to start this vicious cycle over again.

In retrospect my biggest mistake was being so afraid of putting the points back in. It was a heck of alot worse thinking about doing it than actually doing it. If I had put the points back in when I first started noticing hesitation on acceleration and occaisional backfiring I could have saved myself some wear and tear. But I wouldn't have learned my lesson as well that is for sure.

I guess I am just a lucky guy. I think that I have been running for the last year or so with a flaky module, then replaced it with a module that was negative ground instead of positive ground...or had a short in it from the beginning. I can't believe how little there is to the points. From all I had read I had the impression that they were the worst thing since unsliced bread. Piece of cake.
Now I know why my purist buddy mocked me for stooping to such 21st century Tom Foolery.

Thanks to all who replied and I will create another post to warn those with Petronix ignitors to not assume that these do-dads either work or don't work. Don't be a scaredy-cat like me and be afraid of putting points back in at least as a test if you have one of these modules and have any sort of ignition related problems no matter how minor they might seem.

Thanks again to all. I'm sure I will come up with some more rudimentary mechanical questions now that I am back on the road. Time to put my steel hardtop on and dust off those sidescreens.

Thanks to all,
Jim Lee
 
Ooooh... the joy of hearing that engine fire up!

Yes, it is the hard-won lessons that stay with us the longest. Glad you're back on the road.
 
Referring back to the second post in this sequence, I repeat......

Bill
 
You was spot on Bill. He wrote in part:

"I, too, have had electronic ignitions ( 3, all Crane/Allison ) shut down for no reason whatsoever. Went back to traditional points and have zero problems."

And according to my calculations within 18 minutes after my original posting. So it is reassuring that at least some of this new fangled electronic wizardry that no one really understands, I work in software tech support trust me, like the internet, actually does improve our lives.

Unfortunately it doesn't appear from my recent experience that the retrofitted electronic ignition, or at least the one I chose has reached this high standard at least as far as long term durability and factory QA testing. The 'hook' is it is so darn easy to put these gizmos in. Anyone who wasn't around, or interested, in the era of every day point/timing gap settings, gets this impression that you have to be a master mechanic to set or replace points successfully after reading the Electronic Ignition propaganda. That's fair enough. Another lesson learned. Assume that everything that is being sold as a no brainer "Golden Era" improvement on an original design vastly exaggerates both its benefits and the trials and tribulations of what it is replacing.

All I had to fear was fear itself.

Thanks again,
Jim Lee
 
Jim, I'm racing a 948 Sprite using points! The last car had a super trick, expensive, electronic crank triggered ignition. The new car has points. Hmmmmmmmmmm.
Jeff
 
[ QUOTE ]
...Assume that everything that is being sold as a no brainer "Golden Era" improvement on an original design vastly exaggerates both its benefits and the trials and tribulations of what it is replacing...

[/ QUOTE ]

Though an exception to that (IMO) is the spin-on oil filter adaptor. I do not miss that ole cartridge & canister one bit.
 
Jim, I'll take you on my team for anything, you didn't give up. Great job. Wayne
 
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