Hey folks. Here's the latest on my engine problems. Before pulling the
crankshaft nut and inspecting the timing chain, I decided to static time the
engine again at TDC rather than 10BTDC that I had done originally (Thanks
Bob Howard for pointing out that mistake). But doing the timing, I noticed
a possible bad.
THe box thing mounted on the side of the distributor was loose. And by
moving it up and down (by loose I mean it moved maybe 1 sixteenth of an
inch) I could hear what could be discribed as electical sizzling. I believe
it's a stock electonic distibutor for a 78 Midget 1500, but the control box
mounted on the fender says "Lumination." New Lucas coil, nonsport, PO
install.
Could this be what's causing my car to not start? If anyone's taken these
things apart, what should I do? Are they too delicate to dissassemble? Or
can I go to town b/c it's probably toasted anyway? I know I'm getting spark
to the cap, but didn't tink to check for spark at the plug till this
morning when mulling.
As a brief history, the car started backfiring though the intake, and
slowly began to run rougher till I had to start enriching the carb to smooth
it out. Eventually, I had to drive with the choke out for it to run at all
without serious backfiring through the intake. Finally, the engine just
quit. Now she turns, but won't catch. Can't find an intake leak. Getting
spark at the cap. Vacuum advance seems to be working (Mity vac and eyeball
method). NGK plugs. Accel 8mm wires. New cap and rotor. Carb in good
shape. I rechecked and the valves seem to be adusted correctly.
Next was going to be valve timing (i.e. maybe the chain skipped). Bob
Howard explained how to check that without pulling the chain cover by using
my intake and exhaust opening and closing values in my Bentley.
Any ideas?
Michael
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| Michael Graziano |
| Long Term Capital Management L.P. |
| Phone: 203-552-5706 |
| Fax: 203-553-5869 |
| Email: mgrazian@ltcm.com |
\_____________________________________/
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