>Although I must say that I admire Ben's "I'd rather do it myself"
>philosophy, but there comes a time when it is more admirable to seek
>professional mechanic's help and stick around to see where you are
>going wrong. I have given you names and numbers of New Jersey mechanics
>that would be able to diagnose your problem and fix it in, most likely,
>under a hour. I also offered to direct you to some mechanics here on
>Long Island when you initially bought the car. If you had gone that way
>you would have driven the car home back in Oct.
I know. I barely had enough money to get it home from NY. I only had about
$150 in excess cash, which was all blown on a lawnscaping trailer and
borrowing my friend and his truck. As for getting it to a professional
shop, well, those of us on the list who benefit from steady $30k+ jobs may
find that a workable solution, but I have to trudge along with the
do-it-yourself-and-learn save-up-and-buy-parts method. I sold my spare
computer so that I would have funds for this car now.
My mehanic (who used to own several LBCs, and is familiar with the cars)
and I have been working with the car. The Lumenition module turned out to
be inoperable, so we went back to the Lucas ignition. I replaced the GM
component in the external amplifier, and reconnected everything. Still no
spark. On hindsight, I remember that there is a capacitor in the module
that only has one wire going to it. I'm assuming that the chassis of the
module acts as ground for the cap, right? If so, then I have probably found
what the problem is, as I did not screw the ignition module back to the
car's body.
>Have you joined a local MG club yet? Here on Long Island we get
>together several times a year and help out fellow members with chronic
>MG problems. We also have several qualified professional mechanics that
>offer great discounts to fellow members.
The term "local" and MG club unfortunately don't mix in my neck of the
woods. The NJ MG club is about an hour away. Too far to push the MG, or
drag someone down to look at the car.
>I remember Ben's first post to the list after having gotten his car
>home. He was so proud to annouce that he had removed the cap from the
>distributor and that this was the first time he had ever done that on
>any car.
Suffice it to say that I know a helluva lot about the ignition system in
1978 MGBs.
>I'm very curious to know what is ailing your car so please let me know
>once you have gotten it fixed.
You're not the only one. I just see the car rusting away as I try to
consider what my options are. The wiring in the car is a total mess, almost
nothing works... It'll probably need a new harness, just because everything
is so messed up.
BEN RUSET - mailto:bruset@monmouth.com
MG Cars Webring Admin.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
MG Cars Webring - http://www.infi-pos.com/~oasis/mgcars
Safety Fast! - http://www.infi-pos.com/~oasis
Crossroads - http://www.monmouth.com/~bruset
|