To the list:
Frank was kind enough to assist me with some tune up tasks his weekend, and
while corresponding with him, something so wierd occured that I figure the
list could benefit from my insight...
Well, I went out to attend to the Midget (stalled since Monday), and oddly
enough, it started right up. It idled roughly, so I adjusted the
distributor until it was running smoothly. Then, I tried to tighten up the
dizzy clamp to hold it in place. It took about 45 minutes for me to
discover that I did not have a singe wrench or socket that could fit between
the tightning bolt and the engine.
Wierd part...
While attending to this problem, a bolt of lightning struck (no joke, it
really happened). Three seconds later, the car stalled out, accompanied by
the loud bang of a backfire, simultaneous with the sound of the thunder.
(Again, I'm not making this part up.) I suspect that either of two things
are occuring: either a wire fell out of the coil, or all of the fiddling
with the distributor has damaged or interfered with the rotor.
Could the lightning be a manifestation of some horrible Lucas inspired
demon? Perhaps it was irritated that I was glancing at the specs of the
Mallory replacement dizzy advertised in Moss and VB?
As before, the starter would still crank, but not turn over.
With the storm commencing, I have given up for the evening. Any ideas?
Regards,
Charles
'74 Midget
cdsorkin@ix.netcom.com
Bloomfield, NJ
PS... could not draw any air through the vacuum fitting. Lori (my wife) now
thinks I'm nuts. So: How do I tighten the dizzy clamp,anyway?
One more odd thing. At first I wondered if there was any consequence to the
fact that the hose at the bottom of my carbon cannister had ruptured. I
followed the end othe hose and noticed that the other end simply hangs out
over the road, attached to nothing. Is t supposed to be like that?
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