HBT7L/18762 - Preservation Up-date

[grover]

HBT7L/18762 - Preservation Update

I just wanted to pos ta quick update. Here is the history if you are interested.
New Member 3000 MKII Project
Pics Before Preservation

I've been working on the car - very slowly. My kids schedule has allowed me a good 10-20 minutes/month to work on the car.

I started with an oil change. As recommended - I removed the valve cover and oil pan. There was a fair amount of sludge. With lots of cleaning - it looks much nicer now. I put it all back together and added oil and a new filter. I went ahead with the modern spin-on filter for now. I prefer safety to originality until I can run some better oil through the engine for a while (probably forever). I spun the engine over with no plugs in and no fuel. I was able to see plenty of oil around the cam and some oil pressure on the gauge. Good to go!

Next was spark. I replaced the points and condenser and got new plugs. Of interesting note - the car had no less than 4 different plug types in the car! I got a new cap and rotor - but one of the spike screws seemed stripped. I'm sticking with the old cap/rotor for now. I got sparks in all 6 cyls.

Time for fuel. I'm sure it's a shock - but the SU fuel pump did not work at all. I took it off the car, rebuilt/cleaned everything, set the gap, and put it back together. Tic, tic, tic. Woohoo!.

I put 5 gals of super unleaded in the car and managed to get fuel up to the carbs (new fuel filter right by the carbs). Once I connected the fuel line - I started dumping fuel under the car. It looked like it was coming from the overflow. I pulled the floats and cleaned them up. One needle definitely looked stuck. I put everything back together and no more fuel leaks.

This time it's for real. Check the fire extinguisher. Turn over the motor - no start. Choke - no start. Starting fluid - no start. Hmmm....

I double checked spark. No spark now. I double checked the points gap, wires, power to the coil, etc. Nothing.

So - it's time to debug the ignition system. I've been reading a lot - and finally broke down and ordered a shop manual.

I'll see how it goes and post an update in a few weeks (or months). I think once I get spark - we'll know whether it will run or not w/o carb rebuilds (truthfully - I'm trying to avoid this).

Grover
Plano TX

 

[bighealeysource]

Re: HBT7L/18762 - Preservation Update

Hey Grover,
Nothing more frustrating than going through the steps you are doing in a very logical order, checking them off, and then the bloody thing gets no spark at all after you had one earlier!!! Healey electrical is my weakest area of any so called expertise, but maybe something as simple as the grounding strap is broken, you've lost ground somewhere, etc all after you had earlier trouble shooted that step. Seems if it was good and then now not at all, something probably simple came loose. Check the battery on/off switch in the trunk for the wires going into it. I had a BJ8 where one of the wires came loose from the battery switch and I spent hours looking for what was wrong and then just happened to find the loose wire !!! Good luck and keep us informed.
Regards,
Mike

1958 BN6
1956 100M

 

[bob hughes]

Re: HBT7L/18762 - Preservation Update

Nil desperandum mon amie

Go back to that dizzy cap and check the centre plunger onto the rota, that may have got stuck can be a real bugger.

Clean up the rota and contacts in the cap.

The condenser may have packed in, there is a check for that in the good book.

Give the coil a look at, they some times fail, there was a recent article here on how to check the coil.

Check the HT connection from the coil

Check the low tension side dizzy to coil - had bad connections there due to broken wire at the connectors.

It should be something simple if you had sparks before.

Best of luck and good hunting!

Bob

 

[grover]

Re: HBT7L/18762 - Preservation Update

I think I found it!

On my coil - there is one wire (white/back?) going to each side post on the coil.

There is one wire of the same color nearby that is doing nowhere. It comes out of the same wiring bundle that is going to the post on the passenger side. It is "cut" and not frayed in any way.

The post on the driver's side seems to have "room" in the crimp connector for another wire - no there is not one there. But - there are no copper frays or anything to make me thing a wire got yanked out.

I'm wondering of the stray wire goes there. According to the wiring diagram - it appears that two wires should be on the post (16).

Wiring Diagram

I'll try to post some pics in the next couple of days with what I find.

 

[Randy Forbes]

Re: HBT7L/18762 - Preservation Update

A white with black wire goes from the coil to distributor; the other white/black wire goes to the battery shut-off switch in the trunk__it grounds the coil so it can't be started.

It's rare to find an old Healey where the wire hasn't been cut__usually by the roadside.

For the sake of your testing, leave the wh/bk wire that goes to the trunk disconeccted from the coil.

 

[grover]

Re: HBT7L/18762 - Preservation Update

Oh - that's why it looked "cut" vs pulled out.

Ok - I just put it back on and it didn't work. I'll take it back off.

Time to start testing everything - from the beginning.

I'll update w/ what I find.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Re: HBT7L/18762 - Preservation Update

Bifurcate the problem: see if you're getting spark out of the secondary (big/center) lead on the coil (put it up to the block and crank with the ignition key on). If no spark, the problem is coil or upstream. If spark, pull the plug secondary leads--one at a time--and check for spark. If none, then the problem is in the cap and/or rotor.

As someone suggested, there is a small, flexible, fragile wire that is the ground to the points. Check it out.

 

[grover]

Re: HBT7L/18762 - Preservation Update

I figured it out.

User error.

The wire from the Capacitor and the black wire that (I think) goes to the coil were both "above" the nylon grommet.

I realized that the points were dutifully opening and closing. But, there was nothing connecting the outer spring to anything.

I moved the two wires to the inside of the grommet - thus touching the spring. Viola - Spark!

Thanks for all the help and ideas. I followed your comments, the wiring diagram, and the MOSS/YouTube videos to walk through each piece. Eventually - it was really obvious what I had done.

Now - let's see if it'll fire.

Grover