Well, as I understand it, tuning procedure on this car is generally
valves, ignition, then carbs. Tonight I'm going to try to set the valves
and then the ignition. Thing is, the car idles about 1500-2000 rpm with
the choke out, and dies when I put the choke in. Last night, after 20
minutes of running and the around-the-yard spin, I was still idling
above 1200 (choke out), and I'm sure the mechanical advance on the dizzy
was kicking in, which makes it difficult to set the timing dynamically,
I would think. That's why I asked. When we got it running on Saturday,
we set the dizzy somewhere so it would run, knowing I'd go back and tune
it properly.
BTW, this is a 45DM4 dizzy with the CEI module, and vacuum retard unit
disconnected.
Most of the cars I've worked on (other than this one) have been modern
FI computer-controlled cars that automatically do a lot of this stuff by
themselves. This is new territory for me, and I'm learning! ;) Any
advice is well appreciated.
-=Chris
<-----Original Message----->
From: David Lieb
Sent: 10/2/2003 9:45:59 AM
To: cbking@alum.rpi.edu;spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: 1500 expansion tank relocation
> I was able to ... then take the little beast for a short run around
the
back yard.
>
> Dumb question time, but am I correct in assuming that you can't
> statically time a Lucas Electronic ignition?
If you have already run it around the yard, why in tarnation would you
want
to statically time it? Should be able to use the light.
I would think that you could do so by disconnecting the high-tension
lead
from the dizzy to the coil (to avoid accidentally starting the car while
hands are in the wrong place) and monitoring the coil leads with a
clip-on
light or voltmeter. The dizzy shouldn't really care about the fact that
the
rpms are negligible. I would avoid taking too long at this because some
of
the electronic igintion systems are averse to being on and not really
running. Yes, the ignition would need to be on. Remember that the spark
occurs as the "points" open, not when they close, so it would be a
matter of
observing when the light goes out rather than when it comes on.
David Lieb
1972 RWA Midget
2002 GTI for Trish to beat me at autocross with
.
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