Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[SplodgesDad]

A quick update on Amelia. The guy doing the work found some iffy previous repairs and has now taken her back to bare metal.
Unfortunately for us, this now means that the original time and budget are truly blown!
I'll update with more pics when I get a bit of time.

[SplodgesDad]

Well it's been a while since I posted anything here, so I'm going to add some pics of the respray work.

Paintwork off, revealing some interesting waxy primer

[/URL]

[/URL]

Removing the panels

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

Back to bare metal

[/URL]

[/URL]

Paint starting to go on

[/URL]

Nearly there, note the change in colour.....

[/URL]

[SplodgesDad]

The finished work. Shown here together with her sister car, Sophie - a 1959 Armstrong Siddeley Star Sapphire

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

The two cars complement each other nicely. Next big work package is Sophie's respray.......

[rjt10/4]

Hi Gavin its good to see Amelia back where she belongs on the road and looking fantastic they made a first class job of the respray have you got Sophies niggles sorted yet? i look forward to further updates

[SplodgesDad]

Hi Richard
Tales of woe im afraid. Amelia let us down on a job the other week and expired on the side of the road! Thankfully Sophie came to the rescue and I still managed to get the bride to the service.
It appears that Amelia hss developed an earth somewhere and she is completely unable to produce a spark. I've changed everything from the coil back to the dizzy cap and rotor arm, & reset/cleaned the points but still no joy.
Im at a loss now because she doesn't even seem to spark when I lift the points. Unless the condenser has packed up I suppose!

[SplodgesDad]

Hi Richard
Tales of woe im afraid. Amelia let us down on a job the other week and expired on the side of the road! Thankfully Sophie came to the rescue and I still managed to get the bride to the service.
It appears that Amelia hss developed an earth somewhere and she is completely unable to produce a spark. I've changed everything from the coil back to the dizzy cap and rotor arm, & reset/cleaned the points but still no joy.
Im at a loss now because she doesn't even seem to spark when I lift the points. Unless the condenser has packed up I suppose!

[rjt10/4]

having had the same troubles with my Saphire and guess what condenser every time some of the cheap chinese lucas copies are no good at all i hope you get it sorted soon

[bob2]

Had it happen to me too once, similar symptoms to what you have experienced and it was the condensor too!
Found out after lots of swearing and trying out various things!
Not to mention I had renewed it just some months before and so presumed it was not it at fault!!

[ukdave2002]

I always carry a .2uF capacitor with fly leads and crock clips on the end, if you suspect a condenser failure, the capacitor can be quickly clipped between the CB side of the coil and earth to get you running again.


I agree these cheap Eastern made condensers are poor quality.

Dave

[SplodgesDad]

Ok guys can anyone help?
Amelia has really got me flummoxed now as she still won't spark.
12v across the LT side of the coil until the starter is pressed, when it drops to 6v.
The dizzy cap, HT leads, rotor arm and points have all been replaced and all checked for continuity.
The coil checks out as it sparks to earth when an ht lead is run from the ht side and the engine is turned over.
The problem appears to be from the HT side to the plugs themselves.
I've had a new set of copper core leads made up and these are connected correctly to the dizzy cap.
I've tried bypassing the ignition circuit by taking the coil straight from the battery but still no spark!
She's starting to piddle me off now as my wedding is fast approaching and this is what she was bought for!

[SplodgesDad]

Oops, forgot to mention that I know there's an earth somewhere as the rear lights come on with the ignition switch, could this be the source of the problem?
The condenser has been changed also!

[Churchill Johnson]

Have you checked the dist cap if you are getting a spark from the coil to cap ht lead, all the rotor arm do's is guide the ht from the centre of the cap to the spark plug terminal's maybe the small carbon brush in the cap centre is broken or if it's the sealed type, check by holding a rotor arm onto the cap centre and a lead from the the chosen outer connection to a spare plug laid on the head get someone to flick the point's and you should see a spark if not it's got to be the cap or have you fitted a known good one of these.

[V8 Nutter]

If you have an HT spark straight from the coil when you spin the engine the fault must be in the distributor cap or rotor arm. It sounds silly but more than once I have seen the king lead pushed in to the wrong hole on the Lucas crab type distributor cap.

[peter scott]

You say that you have a new rotor arm. There is a problem that has afflicted many others with new black rotor arms where the "insulating" material is actually conductive.

If your rotor arm is black then try substituting an old rotor arm or buy a modern red rotor arm.

Peter
_________________
http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[SplodgesDad]

Cheers for the help guys, as far as the king lead is concerned I'm happy that it is wired correctly, as I've done continuity checks back to the coil and the other leads back to the plugs.
The area that's interesting me at the moment is the rotor arm, all the new points, cap and rotor are actually refurbished original 'black' items so trying to find a new red one is going to be my next challenge!
I'm also going to fit an uprated coil to try and boost what spark I do have.