I have been trying to figure out the starting problem on my Spitfire for
quite awhile now.
My problem all started with a hole in the intake manifold. I had driven
it to work - about 45 miles. The last 2 miles it was running very
rough, but I made it to work. After work the Spitfire refused to start
so I had it towed home. After working on it a couple of different times
I finally found the hole on the underside of the intake manifold. This
is on a dual SU setup.
I had the throttle return springs hooked up to a bracket bolt to the
underside of the manifold - normally it the intake would have been
bolted to the exhaust manifold, but I have an exhaust header. The
springs apparently had enough pressure to break the manifold. So I got
that repaired.
I thought that the Spitfire would fire right up once I bolted everything
back on. I got new throttle return levers so I could hook the springs
up the way they should be. I rough timed it using one of those whistles
that screw in like a spark plug and let you find tdc.
Anyway, now the car still will not start. It seems to have pretty good
spark at the coil wire, but at the spark plug wires it seems to have a
puny yellow spark instead of a good blue one. I have replaced the
distributor cap and rotor and plugs, tried two sets of wires, two or
three coils. It still seems to have a weak spark at the plugs. Oh, I
should mention it has a Pertronix ignition system. I checked that
according to their web site - it was okay. I put on a new one as I
decided it would not hurt to have a spare anyway.
So what else do I check?
Thanks,
Roger Elliott
80 Spitfire
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