Just an update
Spoke to Matt at Nodiz, can't fault the customer service as he called me from home where he was on his death bed! He agrees with my diagnosis of a faulty coil pack and is going to try and get the blown coil driver replaced and the unit back to me ASAP. I have ordered a new crank sensor so that I can rule that out and also a new coil. I'm sure it will fire easily as soon as I overcome this issue, it was almost running on 2 cylinders with the timing out 180 degrees so with all four firing and the timing sorted it should burst into life with not to many dramas .....

On a positive note my gauges have now shipped and I have been tracking their progress, they arrived at the Birmingham depot of DHL at 05:27 this morning so may even get them today? Hmmmmm shiny stuff, just what I need to lift the spirits!
TTFN

Mac

Mac - Thanks for the detailed reply. :cool:

The guy in the Triumph garage also mentioned switching to a hi torque starter motor when I asked him about using the manual solenoid switch that Mister Towed fitted.

Unfortunately, I think the battery you are ordering would look small/odd in my "new" battery box. Which means I clearly should have asked this question before I made it. :rolleyes:

Cheers, Paul. :)

PS
Good luck with sorting out your own electrics, it does sound like you are nearly there now.

When it comes to starting first time every time, once you've got a solenoid or switch that connects the (new) battery to the (new) starter motor reliably, the issue isn't really how fast the motor turns or how long the battery can keep turning it, but how efficient the ignition system is.

Assuming your carburettors/fuel injection are delivering a suitable mixture into the cylinders and the valve clearances and timing are set correctly, what you need is a powerful spark to light the fire.

To achieve this with the Triumph supplied distributor I'd recommend: new plugs gapped properly; a simple electronic ignition module to replace the points (I used one of these) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Vi...item4843010a96
; a new coil; new leads, dizzy cap and rotor arm; and, for best results, an MSD street-fire multi-spark module http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MSD-5520-S...item4d18142523

With all that lot fitted, my motor fires within two seconds, first time every time, unless the engine's really hot when it can take up to four seconds. Not bad for an engine that's older than my wife.

In the clip below you can hear that the battery's a bit weak and the starter turns fairly slowly, but just time how long it takes to fire (from cold) - I'd say it's less than one turn of the crank:

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1fbcae27.jpg

I agree with everything you say T, I have gone for the high torque because my engine is not very standard, high compression, bigger valves, hot cam etc etc etc. I know from my racing that high compression engines can be a pig to start when hot, for instance when you've spun off and stalled, not that I would know anything about that of course.....
The high torque starters have come down a lot in price in the last few years and personally I wont run anything but now as I don't see the savings over a standard one as worth it.
TTFN
Mac

That makes sense Mac, my engine is bog standard and I think it's only running about 8.5:1 compression. Once (if?) I have the head skimmed and/or the block decked I guess I might need a more powerful battery.

Good News!
Spoke to Matt at NoDiz and he has managed to replace the blown coil driver so no charge!

Bad New!
Spoke to Matt at NoDiz who told me my fixed ECU left on Thursday, it hasn't arrived ....:-(

Good News!
Actually bloody great news my gauges have finally arrived!
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--.../IMG_01304.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O.../IMG_01305.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-T.../IMG_01306.jpg

Bad News!
Have to work the weekend so wont get up to the workshop now until Tuesday.grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Those gauges do look great. :cool:

great work this car going to be great ...just can not wait to see it running top job ....

Mac - As you might see on my build thread, I finally understand how the headlight rim works.

I found the two lugs/edges on the outer edge of the headlight bowl that Michiel & Mr T mentioned.

But I still couldn't see anywhere for a retaining screw to fit.

This is because my headlight bowls are missing the silver self tapping fixing in this photo from Rimmer Bros.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-R...S5400OUTER.jpg

So with a bit more work I should be able to sort my headlights out properly.

Cheers, Paul. :)

Those gauges are things of great beauty :rockon:
Keep up the good work
Slarti

They are even prettier up close slarti :-)

Quick update, very busy with work at the moment and have been stuck in Newham for the last few days and will be there up until Thursday night when I am off to Sri Lanka again to do house purchase legal stuff. This combined with the 15 hours it took me to get to my hotel in Essex on Tuesday thanks to the gridlock on the M6 Jct 4 to 3 has meant little time for the Ribble.
Went up for a couple of hours yesterday as my repaired Nodiz turned up from MTech and I really wanted to get the engine running so I could go away with a landmark passed. Twas not to be.
On MTechs advice I have wired the 12v live to the coil with a 2amp fuse so that if I encounter any trigger wheel pulse issues it will blow the fuse rather than fry the coil drivers on the Nodiz again. Only one small problem the fuse blows within seconds of cranking the motor every time!
Eventually I decided to isolate the Nodiz so ended up powering the Nodiz from one battery isolated from the car loom with the starter running direct from a second battery again isolated from the loom. Result was exactly the same and after blowing through 5 3 amp fuses (you try getting 2amp blade fuses from a motor factors) that I ended up paying over £5 for as I had to buy 5 blister packs of mixed fuses just to get the single 3 amp in every pack I slammed the unit doors and made an early exit to go home and watch my lot narrowly win their FA cup semi final.

Haven't decided exactly how to proceed but will speak to MTech again in the morning as far as I can see my only real options are:
1. Stick it on a trailer and take it to them for a morning and let them sort it whilst I wait.
2. Bin the Nodiz and go back to Megajolt of which I have built and installed about 10 now and never had this much trouble.

Either option wont be cheap but with me sticking to my guns about not fitting the body until the wiring is sorted its holding me up massively.

TTFN

Mac

Bad luck Mac. I'm always loathe to admit defeat myself, but I think I'd be trailering it up to the NoDiz people to test all the circuits and components at this stage. There must be a relatively simple problem- a short to earth or faulty component - causing this problem. Good luck with it and don't lose heart, Diz or NoDiz you'll get there in the end. :)

Towed, thanks for the support, The frustrating thing is I made and installed looms for several of my race cars that use injection, sequential injection, data logging etc etc. The latest DTA install on the Tiger GTA had over 60 connections just to the ECU and Digital Dash / Data Logger so its not like I haven't done this sort of thing before. grrrrrrrrrrrr
TTFN
Mac

Kernel of an idea is slowly forming in my head that I might like to build a lightweight road racer with a modern motor myself.

It'd 100% be another small chassis Triumph based Spyder, and I'm on the lookout for a pre '63 donor at the right price (v. cheap!) at the moment. That's to give me a non-dating reg for free.

I liked the idea of using a Puma 1.7 engine as it's very light for its output and is a really revvy, characterful engine. I'm now veering more towards the idea of buying an MOT failed MGF VVC though. That would donate its engine; wheels (I like the square six spoke 15's - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3311714447...84.m1423.l2649 ) ECU; and front and rear brakes (I'll have to fabricate adaptors).

The big worry for me would be getting the ECU to work. There's very little information on the web about how you wire one of those beasties up, save for the Westfield site saying you can use the original ecu http://westfield-world.com/enginespecs_car.html , and I hate the thought of paying someone else to work on my car.

The other thing I can't find much info on is whether you can use hydraulic clutch actuation with the type 9 gearbox adaptor. I suppose I'd have to start calling round the experts closer to the time.

Now, small matter of raising some funds to start buying in the bits I'll need. So if you'll excuse me I'll be scrabbling around down the back of the sofa looking for change for the next half hour...

T, the Puma engine is well catered for to convert from FWD to inline but the bits aren't cheap, check out Shawspeed.
Converting a type9 to hydraulic clutch is a well trodden path, all parts off the shelf from the likes of Burton Power.
Personally I just cant be arsed with trying to get oem ECU's working, I know some people see it as a challenge but I just see it as a faff. Plus if you want to mod the engine most OEM ecu' probably aren't up to the job anyway. Our current GTA uses a DTA S60 and in its last guise it used an S40. the S40 was really easy to install and even making the loom was very straight forward with full wiring diagrams included. I fancied having a go at the now defunct Haynes single seater myself.

Thanks for the tips Mac, some useful links there. I'll have to google a few of the terms you've used though as in the words of Midge Ure...