[Healeys] odd noise and rough running

[Frank Magnusson]

A strange thing happened on the way home yesterday.  I was going 50-55 or so
and decided not to switch into OD as I only had a couple miles to go; normally
I run around 3000 rpm; but wirthout the OD it was around 3500.  All of a
sudden I heard this whizzing noise like two gears not quite meshing; something
rotating coming into contact with something else anyway and the car started
running very rough.  Stalled it approaching a stop sign which I decided to run
and dropped it into second and popped the clutch and got it running again.
The noise went away after 10-15 seconds.  Still running crappy as I got into
the driveway.  But a little better and well enough to let it run unattended
while I put the garage door up.  Now running better; decided to run it around
the block and low and behold; ran fine and everyhting sounded normal.  The
only thing that was different weas that the tach read around 1500 and clearly
it sounded like my normal idle at around 1000 or less.

This morning I looked it over, water pump, generator, and distributor all
looked good with no play in anything; cap and rotor looked fine as well.
Drove around the block for 5 miles or so up to 4,000 rpm in and out of OD;
running normally.

The only thing that makes sense to me is the distributor and I wonder if the
odd rpm reading when it gets hot is a clue; condensor, coil?.  But I can't
figure out what the noise was.

Anybody have any ideas?

thanks,
Frank
'65 BJ8
Wichita, KS.