Old adage from a Buick mechanic that was 300 years old when I was about 16.
"You need four things for the engine to run."
1. Spark
2. Compression
3. Fuel
4. Ignition
Now those four things, PLUS 6,000 other little minor points, make a TR engine
run nicely.
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Babcock
To: fot@autox.team.net
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 1:10 PM
Subject: RE: Engine won't run
Yuck. This is probably preaching to the choir, but here's the approach I
would follow.
First--pull one plug lead and connect it to a test plug. You make one of
these by wrapping a little safety wire tightly around the metal plug base
and connecting it to an alligator clip. Then bend the ground electrode out
so you have at least a big gap--at least .100. If you get a spark jumping
that big gap and you'll have enough under compression for a spark.
Don't assume because you replaced the coil that it's eliminated. I've
replaced a coil and still found inadequate spark. You might also have a
bad
condenser--take a good look at the points, looking for "spattery" looking
spark pattern on the point faces. Remember that in a dual point ignition
it's the SECOND set of points that open that take all the spark damage.
When
the first set opens nothing happens.
While you have the test plug in place, check your timing. Look for the
timing jumping around, or ridiculous advance/retard. At engine cranking RPM
the ignition should be at fully retarded. Your dizzy probably has 10 to 15
degrees of mechanical advance so your probably looking for something from
15
to 20 degrees advanced. Anything in that ballpark should run.
Pull all the plugs and do a quick compression check. A leak down too if you
can, though that's more likely to indicate a problem when you're down on
power.
If all that's good, check out the carbs. Make sure the idle circuit is
clear. It sounds a lot like a carburetion problem--like it's running off
the
gas from the accelerator pump, but who knows.
Finally, check your cam timing. You can ballpark this by looking for
symmetry around TDC on the #1 cylinder with both valves partly open. If
your
lash is about the same and you didn't advance or retard the cam a whole
bunch, then at TDC the valves should be about the same opening. Dirty, but
quick.
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