Along these same lines, I had a friend of mine with similar problems.
The car would quit for no apparent reason, totally at random. After many
dollars spent on fuel pump replacement, plugs, coil, etc, he brought the
car to his local shop. They scratched their heads at first, but finally
found that the cause was intermittent lack of fuel at the carb. They
removed the fuel tank, and found inside the small foil top to a dry gas
bottle! The piece would move around and randomly cover the inlet to the
fuel line! I never forgot this story after hearing it.
Goes to show you how something that small can cause such a big, (and
hard to diagnose) problem!
Glenn Bowley
Mansfield, CT
'75 Spit (FM30644U)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Atwell Haines [SMTP:carbuff@tempest.nac.net]
> Sent: Thursday, September 03, 1998 2:29 PM
> To: Thorn; spitfires@Autox.Team.Net
> Subject: Re: dies on a hill - again!
>
> At 06:28 AM 9/3/98 -0500, Thorn wrote:
> >
> >Well, after retro-fitting a mechanical points/condenser ignition on
> my
> >otherwise standard '79, the "thing" pulled the same trick: died on
> "the
> >same hill" (to add insult to injury) under the same conditions: under
> a
> >load (accelerating up the hill, in traffic, around 25-30 mph) on a
> hot
> >(90's) Arkansas afternoon around 5'ish.
> >
> >I suppose it will start right up this morning! sigh......
> >
> >ideas??
>
> I have some WAGs (Wild A** Guesses) for you to consider:
>
>
> Lack of fuel? Causes
>
> - Fuel Pump (note recent thread on fulcrum pins falling out)
> - Fuel lines = restricted, cracked rubber etc
> - debris in fuel tank, restricting the intake on uphill acceleration
> runs
>
>
> Lack of spark?
>
> - going up the incline & acceleration caused a wire to shift and
> ground
> out the ignition/coil
> - Bad parts put in? (in the 'old' days of points & condensers I had
> a
> couple of new condensers fail soon after installation, or points close
> up.)
>
>
> I'm sure someone has suggested taking a different route home... :-)
>
>
> Too bad you didn't check for spark or fuel at the scene of the crime.
>
> Let us know,
>
>
>
> Atwell Haines
> '79 Spitfire FM96062 UO
> (53 HP)
>
> Succasunna, NJ USA
>
> The One Immutable Rule of Automotive Satisfaction:
> "It is more fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a fast car
> slow"
> - Cory Farley in Autoweek, 8/17/98
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