[Healeys] Petrol Pump

[John Sims]

I use Sparklers made by Les Leston in London. They are approximately 1/4
inch wide by two inches long and coated with a very fine grit on both sides
making it easy to do the contacts. They come packaged in a match book sort
of thingy. Unfortunately Les apparently died a couple of years ago according
to Wikipedia but some of his stuff is still on eBay (not sparklers) I forget
where I got them but it was one of the British suppliers.

John Sims, BN6
Aberdeen, NJ

www.healey6.com

-----Original Message-----
From: healeys-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:healeys-bounces at autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of J Armour
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2014 9:56 AM
To: BJ8Healeys; healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Petrol Pump

I also regularly cleaned my S.U. & Lucas points with emery or sand paper but
then a very knowledgeable electrical person advised that this method left
foreign particles embedded in the face of the points and was detrimental to
the life of the points. He suggested a coarse cloth or a points file and
then clean wipe the face of the points.Another admission, I used to sit in
the gutter late at night before heading off home from my girlfriends place (
her mother did not like the noisy Healey parked out the front of her house
and neighbours ) and removed the no.4 spark plug that had oiled up from city
driving and cleaned the gunk out with a perfect tool that I had found in the
gutter, a thin spring steel wire from a street sweeper brush. That was 40
years ago and I still carry one with me.
I find it very interesting the difference between what will do based on what
grandad had at his disposal and what the much maligned Mr Joseph Lucas
advised based on his years of research and experience. Now if all those
owner- operators of Healeys ( or anything British ) will consult their
manuals for such a basic procedure we would all be better/quicker off.
Question, why do we all want replicas of those fabulous 'Works Healeys'
when they are packed full of Lucas stuff fitted with points!!!

A late thought, often the points in a little used unit suffer more from
vertigree on the faces and therefore do not require a heavy abrasive tool

Right now I will be off to bed.
Joe

On 13/05/14 11:15 PM, "BJ8Healeys" <sbyers at ec.rr.com> wrote:

>Tim, I once cleaned the points of the fuel pump in a Sunbeam Tiger with 
>the sandpaper I was lucky enough to find on an empty matchbook by the 
>side of the road.  I keep a strip of very fine sandpaper in my toolkit 
>to do the job now (it would also work with the distributor points), 
>although I have a backup fuel pump.  No lubricant is necessary.
>
>Steve Byers
>HBJ8L/36666
>BJ8 Registry
>AHCA Delegate at Large
>Havelock, NC USA
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