The joys of 70's open top motoring

[cptsideways]

I went with a friend of mine last night to collect their "new" car, a Triumph Spitfire a model they used to own before they were married. They wanted to relive the dreams of their youth So off we went to collect the gem of a well cared for spitty.

Only 150 miles away, so we'd thought we'd drive it back in the lovely summers evening Quick check over before we left, oil water, coil, spare dizzy caps & electrics in the boot, thought that might be handy, obviously the chap selling it was a proper enthusiast.

I drove the first stint, with the roof down, as I'm 6ft 1" my head was level with the windscreen so could'nt drive with it up It goes quite well, drives quite well, lovely snick snick gearchange, overdrive too! lots of admiring thumbs up from passing motorists & an enjoyable drive with what must be about 65bhp on tap on a good day

As we progressed in the summers night, a feint misfire ensued, it progressively got worse, the odd pop through the exhaust, thought ahh well can't get too bad or could it?


30 miles later were parked up (thats as far as it got) investigating those things called points! remember them Something the man from Mecano invented imho - god there were crap. Anyway armed with a petrol station spec £1.99 tool kit I set about having a looksie. I used to have points on my Vauxhaul Viva (25 years ago) & these things were a black art back then, give me a full mappable ecu any day please. Anyway regapped the points, nothing, no sparks at the points at all, changed the condenser & put new points on - nothing. I remember you used get something spark related from them. Then I noticed the shiny new thing plumbed into it called a coil with the words L U C A S written on the side. Ahhhh that brings back memories, they were crap back then & obviously still are!

Anyway we left the Spittie at a convenient 24hr petrol station at 1am & we're going back in a few hours to collect it with the trusty Landcruiser & trailer.

I'll be reading up on the joys of clockwork ignition systems & hopefully we'll be back in business later today.

Oh what joys can you remember from 70's LUCAS electrics?

Edited by cptsideways on Friday 18th June 10:35

Edited by cptsideways on Friday 18th June 10:38

[marshalla]

LUCAS, Prince of Darkness - there's a reason that nickname stuck

[pantscat]

I've been there... advise your mate to get a 123 electronic distributor... best thing I ever did for my MG!

[Mr Flaky]

All I can say is my MGB was proof that although LUCAS didn't invent the short circuit they certainly patented it!

[petrolsniffer]

pantscat said:

I've been there... advise your mate to get a 123 electronic distributor... best thing I ever did for my MG!

A friend fitted electronic to his spitfire was very reliable!

[AndrewW-G]

pantscat said:

I've been there... advise your mate to get a 123 electronic distributor... best thing I ever did for my MG!

For ease of use, it’s worth spending the money swapping as much of the ignition over to modern electronics as possible

[garethj]

There’s plenty of cars around where points aren’t a problem. My old snotter hasn’t needed an adjustment since I got it, and it gets thrashed every day.

I think the main issue is getting good quality points these days – even 20 years ago I remember the ones from Halfords lasted about a month before the plating went bad and the rider wore out

[williamp]

Agreed. with proper modern ignition and timing, an old car can feel modern and be very reliable. I used the luminetion system in the Aston and it was great. There are others out there- I'm sure a spitfire owner will tell you what's the best for value for that car.

[cptsideways]

Where can we buy these 123 things to replace the "Prince of Darkness" clockwork stuff?


Lucas patented the short circuit comment

[Mazda Baiter]

Are you sure the wiring hasn't run out of LUCAS Genuine Smoke?

[cptsideways]

Appropriately taken pic - in the darkenss

[JonyPI]

i have a 123 dizzy on my gt6 and its fine BUT if you know what wires and crimper are, get megajolt fitted! looks abit complcated but is very easy and you get fully mapable ignition! makes the car run like a dream!

[JonyPI]

oh and if you wanna get the most out of it have a look on here for various mods and advice:
http://www.sideways-technologies.co.uk/forum/Blah....

[Benni]

Must be a Lucas thing, I was driving Opel Kadett C (Vauxhall Chevette) for 20 years
and the 1970s BOSCH points ignition never gave problems, changed points every year prophylactic.
Starters were a different thing though, solenoids stuck if they got really old
and I had to give them a slight tap with a hammer/wrench/rock to get the gear engaged.
A friend of mine even went so far to mount a small hammer with hinge, spring and cable next to the solenoid
so he could start AND ping at the same time from the driver´s seat

[jet_noise]

Dear cptsideways,

I bet it'll start this morning as if nothing was wrong...
...until it's hot then cough-splutter-die.

Look on the bright side - no spark at all when it's faulty is helpful though, a weak spark on the other hand is much harder,

regards,
Jet

[ARH]

Our morris minor has points and a dynamo. it works fine. they get checked and adjusted every 3000 miles. it has done 20k on the points it has.

I would say the spitfire is suffering from a broken wire, the one which goes into the dizzy. as the timing advances the wire moves and loses contact, i have had this happen to a few cars over the years. also reproduction lucas parts are pants, especially the condensers.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Please don't have an accident in it. By the standards of a modern econobox they fold up like a cardboard box.

Makes a TR7 look like a s ensible modern purchase.

[Yertis]

Ozzie Osmond said:

Please don't have an accident in it. By the standards of a modern econobox they fold up like a cardboard box.

Makes a TR7 look like a s ensible modern purchase.

That may be true but I had a Peugeot 106 whack into my TR6 a few years back and whilst I could bend the bumper back and drive away the 106 was totally undriveable, having crumpled as designed. Similarly way back before I restored it, when an A3 went up the back.

I'd still rather be in a modern car in a big smash, but in some respects Triumphs are quite heavily constructed by modern standards.

[Mr Flaky]

Ahhh Lucas jokes:

http://www.mez.co.uk/lucas.html

love the replacement wiring harness smoke!

Edited by Mr Flaky on Friday 18th June 12:10

[jimbro1000]

Just save yourself the grief and get a nice X1/9 instead - similar money, hugely fun to drive and handling that leaves the triumph throwbacks in the shade. You still have 70s electronics to contend with but even 70s italian electronics aren't as bad as LUCAS!