Car fixage by Committee: shiters drink tea, suck teeth, and fook about with KILLY ELECTRIC DEATH. NOW with Bonus informed* speculation

[Guest Breadvan72]

MOAR begging letters, sorry.  

 

Can anyone please help a fellow chod-botherer in the South Oxon region? My Dolly has a misfire on one or probably two cylinders, and I think it may be solved by fitting new plugs and leads and maybe a new rotor arm. It has Luminition ignition, so no points. Compression is fine, and the carbs seem OK, as far as I can tell. I was hoping to use the car on Saturday afternoon and go to the Triumph Fest on Sunday, but the new parts will not reach me until Saturday morning. I lack the tools and skills to do the work myself, and local garages are booked up. My usual mobile mechanic is unwell. If anyone has the skills and tools, is not far from junction 6 M40, and would be interested in copious bacon sandwiches, tea, beers, money, free goes in some other classic cars that I have (if not borked), random chat, a free go with my Missus, etc. please PM me.  Many thanks, and sorry for being a useless numptie.

 

 

PS One of the offers above is not genuine.

[hairnet]

no tea???

 

ahm oot

[DodgyBastard]

That's cool, I'm not into random chat anyway...

[beko1987]

If my daughter can run around I could help change the plugs and leads if its not a tricky job.

 

Never done a rotor anything though, so may not be much help there.

 

Can bring tools though if a shiter can come without them.

 

Got a smudge of the engine bay?

[skattrd]

Rotor arm and dizzy cap should just just pop off and you can replace them, piece of cake ... If replacing the rotor I'd replace the distributor cap as well.

 

The above is assuming the dolly is the same as most older motors

[Guest Breadvan72]

Kind offer, Beko.  Bring your daughter, meet my daughter (she is ten).  We have a trampoline, big garden, friendly pooch, and a resident  granny (no, not a clapped out old Ford).

 

Imagine the comedy* as we try to fix the unfamiliar bits whist on the phone to some shiter who is 100s of miles away but has done one before.   Sort of talkdown in the fog stylee, or Airplane 2, without the beaver jokes.

 

NB, plugs lie deep within the contraption, cos of whacky top end design.  BL used to use some specialist tool, but not sure if essential.   Official BL workshop book and also HBOL on hand.

 

 

[beko1987]

Mmm, ok. Ive got spark plug sockets, any shiters know if that will fit?

 

I have a basic kit. If thats good enough then im game. If its not quite good enough then we can try! Eva should be fine then!

[Guest Breadvan72]

The car was supplied new with a special plug spanner but this I do not have.  The local garage had the plugs out today OK, and pout them back, but did not have the right bits to do the fix.  

 

I gather from one parts website that a 14mm flexible plug spanner might do the job, but am a bit surprised to see a metric measurement quoted.   If need be I could go looking in Thame for a suitable spanner, in one of the two car shops there.

 

The parts ordered include a distributor cap.

[Skizzer]

Good luck chaps, that dizzy looks easy* to get at.  I'd offer to come and assist but 1. I'm 160 miles away and 2. I'm very, very unlikely to be much help.  Especially if you don't need/want beaver jokes.

[hairnet]

The car was supplied new with a special plug spanner but this I do not have.  The local garage had the plugs out today OK, and pout them back, but did not have the right bits to do the fix.  

 

I gather from one parts website that a 14mm flexible plug spanner might do the job, but am a bit surprised to see a metric measurement quoted.   If need be I could go looking in Thame for a suitable spanner, in one of the two car shops there.

 

The parts ordered include a distributor cap.

all modern plugs are metric - if access is tight like on a bike halfords do skinny long sockets where the walls are thinner

 

if bl quoted metric maybe it was an eec thing

[Junkman]

I'm more inclined to believe that it needs a healthy dose of valve lash adjustment after the big trip you gave it.

[Junkman]

My usual mobile mechanic is unwell.

 

Mobile mechanics are unwell. Real men puke.

[LC Torana]

if access is tight like on a bike halfords do skinny long sockets where the walls are thinner

This is what I use on my Rover 3500:

 

[purplebargeken]

The distance from my gaff in North London to The Lambert Arms (nearest place to J6 with a name and address) is nearly 58 miles. I have never done stuff to a Sprint but have to almost every other version of small saloon.

 

If you get a suitable socket then I should be able to pop over as well. I have a metric truckload of tools I can lob into the car.

[purplebargeken]

Oh, if it hasn't got an in-line fuel filter then please get a smallish generic one

[alf892]

Plugs are usually 5/8 or 13/16 AF (apart from fugging Renaults)and then you just use the plug lead to extract them from the deep hole.

 

Stop being such a lawyer and get on with it man!

 

If I wasn't busy tomorrow I'd do it just to have a go on the granny..................

[purplebargeken]

Most 3/8 drive plug sockets can be used on a Sprint as they tend to be smaller diameter and therefore fit down the hole.

[LC Torana]

Or if you have REALLY strong hands you can use a tube spanner like which probably was in the tool kit (did Triumphs come with tool kits?)

[alf892]

if you get stuck you are welcome to bring it to my place sat afternoon. I don't like travelling to do stuff because if it isn't what you think it is I'd maybe have to travel home for tools whereas at home I can also fix anything I break! I'm in Northants........

[Taff]

As a Welshman living in Bristol with a 14 year old son, metric tools and an Italian sports car of dubious reliability, I'm of little practical value.

 

10-ish ok?

[purplebargeken]

Not sure if our AS Legal Eagle can hear us, he may have been sacrificed by angry and frustrated motorists after causing OMG traffic chaos in Central London due to an over heated and broken down Lotus that he tried to sneak home in during the very early hours.

[seth]

all modern plugs are metric

 

Even very old plugs have metric sized threads, being the same as modern lambda sensors (M18x1.5).  They were probably invented by the French and everyone just went along with it.

 

You probably need a spark plug socket which still has its rubber bung in that grabs the top and allows you to pull the plug up out of the tube.

[Six-cylinder]

While removing the plugs I would be tempted to do a compression test, just to check. One misfire I had turned out to be a burnt inlet valve, I spent a lot of time and effort doing electrics and carbs but a compression test revealed the problem.

 

Sorry Citroen National rally in Peterborough Saturday so I will not be able to join in the fun fixing "Dolly".

 

P.S. this is Dolly it said so on the boot!

 

[inconsistant]

I just wanted to tell you both good luck, we're all counting on you.

[beko1987]

Not got compression stuff! Do have spark plug sockets with the rubber bung in though!

[carlo]

This could turn into one of those social networking advertised 'parties' where 100 or so turn up and the police get called...

[purplebargeken]

^^ We have our own legal team then

 

Right, I am loaded with scabby rusty imperial tools and was hoping to have gone in the Amazon, however, some cunt has parked in front of the garage and thwarted my plans to lob the Hyundai there instead thus allowing me to actually vacate the garage at the departure time.

 

So........ if I can't get the Ammie out I will attend in the Hyundai (if I am needed).

 

Just need a PM with an actual address and postcode  

[purplebargeken]

Happy with ketchup OR HP 

[beko1987]

I'll let BV pm you his address, but mine is OX9 3XZ, and is <5 minutes away by a long, twisty road.

 

Looking forward to this now!

[purplebargeken]

Must admit I also am looking forward to this.