[TR] Triumphs Digest, Vol 3, Issue 441

[Anthony Rhodes]

Joe,

I have to differ with you.  I have seen 3 of Pertronics fail.  They failed 
oddly.  They did not die totally, they could not sustain higher RPM, so 
there would be a misfire at 3K rpm , for example, but it seemed to idle OK.

That being said, I have one in my car, but I installed it when I was trying 
to eliminate a very small miss.  I found that the MGB push-in style cap and 
corresponding wires made the most difference.  I had already switched to the 
pertronics, which had not made much of a difference compared to a well tuned 
points system.  Since I had already  switched to the pertronics, I was not 
going to spend the time to switch back to points.  I left it there, but I am 
prepared to install points at a moment's notice.

This thread got me interested in tracking down a "new" subtle stumble on 
acceleration from idle on my TR4A.  I thought it might be a problem with 
excessively lean idle settings on the carbs, so I richened them.  That 
helped a little, but the stumble was still there.  I then moved to thicker 
dashpot oil.  I had been using 10-40 (as I recall).  I put in "SU Dashpot 
Oil" (tm) and that was THINNER than what I had in there already.  I then put 
in straight 30wt oil, and that was ever so slightly thinner, so I put in 
20-50 oil.  That was slightly thicker (as expected).  Unfortunately, the 
stumble was still there!

I then checked the jet heights and they were very different!  One was 3mm, 
and the other was just over 2mm below the bridge.  I equalized them and then 
had to enrich both by 6 flats, and it was running smoooooth!  I could 
probably go back to a lighter dashpot oil now, but it seems fine with 20-50.

-Tony
----- Original Message ----- 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:07:33 -0700
> From: "Joe Curry" <spitlist at cox.net>
> Subject: Re: [TR] TR4A Sputtering - Partially Solved
> To: "'Ed Woods'" <fogbro1 at comcast.net>, <triumphs at autox.team.net>
> Message-ID: <4E356DA19BD54E9C92686A16925ADEB8 at joepentiumnew>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> I have never had one fail.  They are solid state devices and much less 
> prone
> to failure than points and condenser.
>
> JOe