We (LBC owners) are the champions, of the world!!!....
There is absolutely nothing as sweet right now as the sound of a TR coming
back to life once again. Yep, we got it to start, and it settled into a
throaty purr almost immediately. To be honest, I was thinking I would never
hear that sound again...
I can't even begin to describe the problem with the dizzy. For one thing, I
did have it backwards. So, turning it around was no big deal. But the way
the wires went into the cap continued to be a complete mystery. When the
crank/cam/rotor were all lined up, it pointed to last intake manifold bolt
AND the spark plug lead that went to #4 cylinder. Turning the cap 180 didn't
help, then it pointed to #2, I think....
So I figured, that's ok, I'm just not understanding something. I'll time the
engine with the #1 lead -- maybe the timing is just way off. I took out the
plugs and managed to get the strobe to work by just cranking the engine. I
couldn't use a test light across the points because I have the Lucas
electronic ignition. But the strobe didn't pick up any sign of the timing
mark anywhere near 10 degrees BTDC. Again, right #1 lead, but it went to the
wrong place on the cap.
Then, on a hunch, I hooked up the strobe to the spark plug lead that the
rotor pointed to when crank/cam/rotor/manifold bolt were lined up. Bingo.
The strobe picked up the timing mark on the crank immediately. A little
tweaking and I hit 10 degrees BTDC right on.
So, what the heck, I took off the wires, rearranged them in 1-3-4-2 order on
the cap, and gave it a shot. The engine started IMMEDIATELY.
Again, I swear to the TR7 gods I didn't change the leads around on the cap,
but either I did or the previous owner had some bizarre setup, maybe with the
distributor turned 180, that worked.
I only ran the engine for about thirty seconds, then shut it down. My handy
dandy $14 oil pressure gauge got up to 50 lbs. pressure. There is still has
some air in line for the gauge, so maybe if I purge it the pressure will be
higher, but is that in the ball park for idling?
And anything else I should check before I run it for 25 minutes tomorrow,
then change the oil?
And more on thanking all of you later for helping me this far.
Bruce
1980 Inca Yellow TR7 5-speed convertible
Chapel Hill, NC
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