mgs
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Picklestein-help bring him back to health!

To: Teacher122@aol.com
Subject: Re: Picklestein-help bring him back to health!
From: gofastmg@juno.com (Rick Morrison)
Date: Wed, 01 Oct 1997 14:54:11 EDT
On Tue, 30 Sep 1997 23:45:16 -0400 (EDT) Teacher122@aol.com writes:
>My recently resurrected 1979 MGB is suffering  two maladies that I 
>believe
>that I have a handle on, but I would like other opinions in case my 
>thoughts
>don't pan out.
>      The car is extremely hard to start.  I have visually reset the 
>timing
>after the rebuild, but my timing light will not fire when hooked to 
>the #1
>plug wire(It fires on all other wires) indicating that the #1 cylinder 
>is not
>receiving spark.  The car is missing and pulling the wire has little 
>effect
>on the idle (Yes, I did try switching wires- this is a #1 spark 
>phenomina).
> While the engine was in the shop, I cleaned the distributor(original 
>Lucas I
>believe), and I did move the gap between the timing rotor and the 
>impulse
>pickup.  I suspect that I will have to readjust this.  Does anybody 
>have a
>procedure and/or the gap specs?
>Tom Green
>1979 MGB

 If any body can figure this one out, please post the solution to the
list.
 I've got a 1980 LE sitting in my drive with the same symptoms. 
 Very weak spark to #1, (not enough to fire the timing light - Had to
check the timing using #4). 
 So far:
  1. Installed new spark plug
  2. installed new plug wire
  3. Moved all wires on the distributor cap one position, and retimed
  All the above to no avail
 Now to make it more confusing, #3 is begining to intermittently mis-fire
and the spark to other plugs is getting weak.
 Checked the compression - 170-182 psi 
 I suspect the ignition amplifier or coil or both.
 The ignition seems to have been changed sometime in it's life time, as
the amplifier (remote) is not Lucas (!), but seems to be some type of
aftermarket unit, and the pickup etc in the dizzy does not resemble the
manual in anyway. No brand markings on either.
 ANY suggestions, before I recommend that the owner replace the whole
thing with a point set-up?
Rick Morrison
72 MGBGT
74 Midget

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>