I had an interesting adventure on the way home from the TE/AE Meet in Maine
yesterday - about 100 miles into the roughly 500 mile trip the engine
developed a persistent and very strong "miss", that felt like either a
plugged primary jet in the carb or an ignition fault. I have an MSD Pro
Billet distributor installed, with about 2500 miles on it since
installation.
At the next fuel stop after the miss developed, I put some gasline
antifreeze in the tank, in the chance it was water in the gas. No change. At
the next fillup, I put in some "fuel system" cleaner, also no change. The
engine missed mightily under load, but there was a bit of a smooth spot
around 3200 rpm (65 mph) so I kept it in that range.
When I got home (I did make it!) I removed the distributor cap and behold -
the carbon center electrode ( the little button that makes contact with the
rotor spring) had broken off just inside its retainer in the cap. The rotor
button had been receiving the high tension impulse through the gap that had
developed when the carbon rod contact had broken off. The spring normally
has a shiny spot where the button contacts the spring. Not in this case -
the spring had a dull matt finish where the spark had been jumping the gap.
If you don't have something to fix on your trip its always a dull trip!
The meet was a huge success - a chance to put faces to names, checked out
some absolutely fabulous cars, took a ride up and down the coast in a WACO
bi-plane, ate lobster until it was coming out our ears, got our Tiger TAC'ed
and generally had a fantastic time. Kudos to all our friends in Maine and
the TE/AE organizing committee - you did a fabulous job - Thanks!
Dave Munroe
B382000450LRXFE
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