Listers...
Had a similar preoblem last week. Started Midget, backed out of garage for
a wash, tried to restart - wouldn't...for days...crank, crank, flood,
flood....same deal - no spark. Suspected coil. Nope. Began tracing, and
discovered the culprit was the lead from the wiring harness to the
distributor - there was a break in the wire about an inch in. Clip, new
connector, little heat-shrink tube - Varoom!
My car is a '77 with a Delco dizzy? Seems to be a DPO retro-fit, as I
thought cars of this vintage had electronic distributors. Anyhow, for this
retro-fit, only the black/white wire from the three on the line is used.
The other two have been rendered inoperative (crudely at first, now with
some elegance on my behalf :-) )
My car has also be retro-fitted with some model of SU - and when it idled,
it was at 1000 cold,m but warmed was 1500+...finally, discovered the fast
idle screw, now the car's simply purring..and headed for it's safety on
Wednesday!
'Member my top saga? Just FYI, ordered a vinyl, tan, zip-out windowed
version from Prestige Auto Trim in the UK. 17 days and counting. Price -
very reasonable. With their VAT (Value Added Tax) backed out, it's 124
pounds Sterling (@ 2.37 Cdn). They air-mailed samples of their materials.
Very impressed. And - No ATTITUDE! They were genuinely pleased to deal with
a customer. What a concept!
Uh-oh..I'm ragging....
Terry 'Topless For Now - And Lovin' It' Williams
-----Original Message-----
From: Ajhsys@aol.com [SMTP:Ajhsys@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2000 10:56 AM
To: spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: AARRGGHH!!!
Saturday...BEAUTIFUL DAY!!!!! Sunny, 75 deg and no humidity. I took the
Midget out for 150 miles of hood-down, country driving. I am laying out
the
route for my August RoadRally so I had to find some nice back roads with
scenic overlooks. I certainly did find them. Plus some great unpaved
roads.
Midget performed flawlessly all day. Ran great uphill and down. Started
every time. I ended the day at King of Prussia Plaza (HUGE mall) for some
dinner and parked next to a Miata. The Miata is about 18" longer than my
'77
Midget.
Sunday...autocross at Boeing helicopter plant, south of the Philly airport.
Got in the Midget and IT WOULDN'T START!!! It just cranked and would not
fire a plug. I took of a plug wire and stuck a screwdriver in it. Put the
screwdriver near the alt. bracket and turned the engine over. No spark.
I think the aftermarket electronic ignition is toast. It is a Pirhana E.I.
(Never heard of that company, but it was in the car when I got it.) I had
offered to work at the registration table at the autocross, so I couldn't
work on the Midget. Maybe this coming weekend I can get some time, but I
have to finish the rally route.
These cars sure have a lot of personality!
Allen Hefner
SCCA Philly Region Rally Steward
'77 Midget
'92 Mitsubishi Expo LRV Sport
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