To all those who made a valiant effort to catch me before I left the
office, I thank you very much. Especially Bob Lang,Tom O'malley and
Trevor Boicey.
Here's what happened with my Ignitor installation (newbies, pay
attention). I did this without the benefit of the list.
I read, re-read and re-read the directions. Regarding the resistance
of the coil, I did place a multimeter across the coil (+ & -
terminals) and it read 6 ohms. I figured I was safe. I did not measure
the voltage as Tom O'malley suggested (no offense Tom, I didn't get to
read your e-mail till this AM).
I removed the cap. Pull off the rotor, unscrewed and removed the
condensor and points. I then removed the wire that was screwed down to
a plate on the distributor near the points and subsequently passed
through the white plastic grommet and was attached to the positive
side of the coil (I think). I screwed the Ignitor down using the
condensor screw and screw hole. I slid the Ignitor magnetic donut over
the cam. I then place the cap back on carefully ensuring the new
grommet was help in place properly by the cap. I put the red wire to
the + side of the coil, the black to the - side. Turned the key,
crank, no start. Pulled off the cap - NOW, I installed the rotor
(oops). Turned the key again, crank no start. Hmmmm... Oops again. The
wire I removed from the + side of the coil in order to put the Ignitor
red wire on was just dangling. I put this wire (I assume it went to
the key?) on the + side of the coil also. Turned the key alot of
cranking and then started. Yahoo! Hold, there's more.
The car died. Pulled the cap. I broke the rotor,must not have been
seated properly. S**t! Sunday AM. What's the chance of finding a
rotor??? Well, the answer is ZERO! Epoxied the rotor back together. It
works! Check the timing. Doesn't even read on the scale...way off.
Adjust it to 4 degrees BTDC. Purring like a kitten (somewhat). However
still cranks kind of hard. Let it idle for about 5 minutes before
taking her for a test drive. As I was pulling out of the driveway, it
started to sputter. I didn't;t get 200 feet from the house and it
died. Pulled the cap....the rotor broke again. I'm getting frustrated.
To make a long story longer - I found a rotor at a British car
restorer in Oxford (don't get excited, not England) Mass. late Sunday.
This AM I went out to the car, installed the rotor and watched it turn
as I cranked the engine. It wasn't hitting anything. I re-installed
the cap and turned the key. Click-click. Hmmm...the flashers were
working. Couldn't be the battery. Tried again...now nothing, not even
click-click. ARGHHHHHHH! The end.
Well, it's going to break another record high in Mass today and I'm
driving a hardtop. I've got the charger on the battery and will go
home at lunch to see if it helped. What is going on?
A couple of notes" I noticed with the Ignitor, the coil was hot. I
could hold it, but another couple of degrees more and it would have
been too hot to hold. Also, the car had a hard time cranking after the
install. I checked the voltage of the battery and it looks like only
11 volts.
I'm looking (read pleading) for suggestions. Why is the coil hot? Why
does there seem to be a battery drain?
Bob L. would you mind a phone call this AM at your listed #?
Thanks all,
Jeff
'73 TR6 - currently resting
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