With summer officially here, I decided to take my '79 Drophead TR7 out.
Seemed to be running well (its been 4 years since last driving it), and
then it started to sputter, backfired a bit (through both the carb and
the exhaust), and died. It would not restart until the engine cooled off
somewhat (about 10 min). When this happened, the temp gauge was only
reading about 1/4 so it didn't appear to be overheating.
I checked the resistance of the plug wires - 2 were bad! I replaced the
wires with another set of about the same resistance (off of a Honda
engine I had for parts). The problem was still there, but at least the
idle was better before the engine started acting up again. I inspected
the distributor (an unknown Lucas mechanical distributor- off a spit?),
and noticed that the shaft is somewhat loose.
If the distributor is at fault, why would I see the problem only
occassionally?
Can distributors be rebuilt (to eliminate the free-play)?
The original plug wires were a beautiful shade of green (matches other
cables under the hood), does anybody know where I can buy a new set
(preferably with less corodable terminals)?
If my coil is faulty, would this give me the symptoms listed above?
(ie. running while cool, missing while hot) - the coil does seem to get
quite warm, it even appears that the PO may not be using a ballast
resistor. 12 volts across the coil all the time can't be good for it!?
Sorry for such a long post, but I'm really puzzled here!
Greg.
--
Internet: gall@ultrix.uleth.ca
"You miss too much these days if you stop to think"
By a famous Irish poet and philosopher, Bono of the band U2, circa '91.
'76 Triumph TR7 V8 (Buick 350) Fixedhead Coupe.
'77 Triumph TR7 4spd, A/C Fixedhead Coupe. _ /| A
'79 Triumph TR7 Auto Drophead Coupe. \`o_O' C
'78 Mazda RX7. ( ) K
'73 FIAT 128 Coupe SL 1300cc. U !
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