Mister Towed on the road...

[Mister Towed]

Header tank now plumbed in



...but fifty year old rubber seal failed, even after trying to bond it in



...didn't need the return really anyway, cut it off and sealed it so no more leaks



...quick test drive and sudden loss of power signals roadside humiliation



...check of the obvious weak parts reveals broken rotor arm, so simple fix



...only I haven't got a spare one

...Quick phone call and Phil J to the rescue - couldn't find a spare himself, he uses the AC Delco distributors himself and mines by The Prince of Darkness (Lucas), but he came out and towed me home. Thanks Phil, you really are a diamond

Anywho, thought I'd cheer myself up with a couple of shots of the repainted wheels to finish -





Will be carrying spare rotor arms from now on, it's the third one that's failed in 1,800 miles

[Paul L]

Mr T - Well if you have room for a set of traffic cones, then I'm sure you can fit a spare rotor arm in the boot somewhere.



Enjoy the show, your car is going to be a real star there.

Cheers, Paul.

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Mr T - Well if you have room for a set of traffic cones, then I'm sure you can fit a spare rotor arm in the boot somewhere.



Enjoy the show, your car is going to be a real star there.

Cheers, Paul.

Hmm, I do wish I'd put a few more rotor arms and a few less cones in the glove box. My car is currently without one, so no spark, rendering it an outsized paperweight at the moment, so I'm afraid I won't be making the journey to Stoneleigh this year.

Ironically, if I did get the car to Stoneleigh I'd probably be able to get a replacement.

[phil9]

back on the road soon towed .....wheels look great.

[Paul L]

Mr T - Sorry to hear you are missing the show.

I wrongly assumed the broken part was something you could pick up locally.

Take care, Paul.

PS
Phil is right, the wheels do look good.

[swifty]

Originally Posted by Mister Towed

Header tank now plumbed in



...but fifty year old rubber seal failed, even after trying to bond it in



...didn't need the return really anyway, cut it off and sealed it so no more leaks



...quick test drive and sudden loss of power signals roadside humiliation



...check of the obvious weak parts reveals broken rotor arm, so simple fix



...only I haven't got a spare one

...Quick phone call and Phil J to the rescue - couldn't find a spare himself, he uses the AC Delco distributors himself and mines by The Prince of Darkness (Lucas), but he came out and towed me home. Thanks Phil, you really are a diamond

Anywho, thought I'd cheer myself up with a couple of shots of the repainted wheels to finish -





Will be carrying spare rotor arms from now on, it's the third one that's failed in 1,800 miles

Hi MT not good news but more than likely easy to fix. There's a lot of talk on the net about poor quality rotor arms and caps especially cheap red rotor arms, see http://www.distributordoctor.com/rotor_arms.html https://www.mgocspares.co.uk/acatalo...ition_764.html alternatively you may be able to diagnose the issue from looking at the direction of tear on the drive dog i.e. was it a rotation fault (fouling the pins in the distributor cap) or weakening when pushing the rotor arm onto the rotor shaft. Check for side float on the distributor shaft.

[Mister Towed]

Thanks Swifty, interesting article.

Of the three that've failed, the two black ones (an ancient OE and a cheap Chinese black one) both cracked into two peices in the vertical plane, while the expensive red one - £8.50 from Rimmers (fnup) - had its drive peg shear under rotational forces, suggesting that it's been subjected to mechanical drag.



Just in case it turns out I need a new distributor, has anyone tried one of these?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1206025119...84.m1423.l2649

Could be a long term solution, but for the time being I've ordered two more rotor arms that come with 3 year guarantees.

[oxford1360]

Originally Posted by Mister Towed

Just in case it turns out I need a new distributor, has anyone tried one of these?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1206025119...84.m1423.l2649

Could be a long term solution, but for the time being I've ordered two more rotor arms that come with 3 year guarantees.

Morning T, although I can't vouch for them in use, I have the four-pot version ready to go on mine.

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by oxford1360

Morning T, although I can't vouch for them in use, I have the four-pot version ready to go on mine.

Ooh, let me know how you get on with it Ox. I'm gathering parts to rebuild a spare engine I have waiting in the wings to a high(er) performance spec, and that dizzy could be an option.

[swifty]

Just in case it turns out I need a new distributor, has anyone tried one of these?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1206025119...84.m1423.l2649

Could be a long term solution, but for the time being I've ordered two more rotor arms that come with 3 year guarantees.[/QUOTE]

I was at the show yesterday and picked up a new complete distributor and coil for a GT6 engine from these guys http://www.h-h-ignitionsolutions.co.uk/ for not much more than the one you are looking at on ebay, he did say however it was a special show price. Don't know what it's like but did do some research before head off to the show and the feed back for this company is good, they have plenty of years experience with dizzys etc and when you talk to the guy he knows what he's talking about.

Your rota arm looks like it's made from injected plastic where as i remember years ago they were a Bakelite type material which never seemed to fail, some times the old ways are the best.

[Viatron]

Or go distributorless? despite my recent Nodiz woes I am still convinced of the benefits.
In a fit of pique I did order a Megajolt from the States that should arrive this week. Now the Nodiz is all sorted it will be surplus to requirements.

[slartibartfast]

A mate of mine who restores classics for a living swares by the old distributor, points and condenser system and always carries a spare set with him. He drives a Mk II Jag: and his Mrs drives an MGA. I'm going to follow his advice. Just ordered points & condenser for my Rover P5B. Will report back idc.
Slarti
p.s. Couldn't make the show as we had a school reunion ..... brilliant fun ..our 51st year!

[Scottie22]

Hey Mr T, I'm not so sure roadside humiliation is the correct way to describe it, as people often expect "old cars" to be broken down at the roadside.

We all know its not an old car, but the masses don't!

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by Scottie22

Hey Mr T, I'm not so sure roadside humiliation is the correct way to describe it, as people often expect "old cars" to be broken down at the roadside.

We all know its not an old car, but the masses don't!

Spot on Scottie. I've never had so many offers of help - at least a dozen people stopped in the hour I was stranded, ranging from an old chap in a classic (Commer) camper, to a 30 something trendy dude in an L200 pickup (the cones were dropped off by a colleague who happened by) - in fact the only person who appeared disinterested and unsympathetic was a chap in a flat cap driving an 'as new' 60's MGB. Guess he paid someone else to restore it as if he'd put any effort into rebuilding it himself he'd have stopped to offer help. Think the reg was PEN15.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Mister Towed

... in fact the only person who appeared disinterested and unsympathetic was a chap in a flat cap driving an 'as new' 60's MGB. Guess he paid someone else to restore it as if he'd put any effort into rebuilding it himself he'd have stopped to offer help...

Good to hear that you had plenty of offers of help.
( And that you don't carry a stack of cones in your car. )

But the guy in the MGB sounds like a real !

Hope you are back on the road soon, Paul.

[Mister Towed]

Finally got to the bottom of why this happened today -



Bit of fault finding narrowed it down to the expensive, modern MSD multi-spark ignition module I fitted for extra reliability!

It was only firing a couple of sparks and then its power light would go out and that would be that until the ignition was switched off and back on again, then two more sparks followed by failure again.

So, out with this -



Now a £160 paperweight, reconnect the original wiring and the engine starts and runs without issues

The idle isn't quite as smooth now but I can live with that, so the MSD module won't be replaced.

Although roadside investigation had suggested it was a broken rotor arm that caused the breakdown, and the rotor arm was in the process of failing and would have caused its own breakdown sooner or later, it was actually modern electronics that let me down. Typical.

Anyway, while I was at Duxford classic show last weekend I picked up this to replace the tax disc with on 1st October this year -



Just need to find a 'Craven A' or 'Strand' tax disc holder to put it in...

[oxford1360]

Love the tax disc. Is it original or a repro?

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by oxford1360

Love the tax disc. Is it original or a repro?

It's a copy and it was an impulse buy at £2. Chap with a nice Vitesse convertible was selling them out of the boot of his car. I could probably have sourced a real one but once it's in the screen it'll look real enough.

[swifty]

Hi Mr T excuse my ignorance but what is a Craven or Strand tax disc holder?

[Viatron]

Lol, Swifty you obviously didn't smoke as a youngster?