Many thanks to Lachlan for the clue.
On thinking about the symptoms - intermittent cutting out after which it would not start, and the wierd symptom where it would start, then run poorly unless the timing was advanced, I decided it might be the pickup coil. All the so called experts has said that was most unlikley, but it was starting to make sense.
So eventually I hauled the HEI off the shelf, and fitted a new pickup coil, and you guessed it - fired up first kick & it runs just fine! And yes - it now performs better without Joe Lucas.
Remind me to post here before I talk to mechanics...
Cheers all
Hamish
--Previous Message--
: Here's the story of an HEI dizzy conversion
: that did not work - or has not yet, just so
: anyone thinking about this will know of the
: down side. Some of you may even remember me
: posting on this a while ago...
:
: Encouraged by a pos on another forum, and
: other Rangie owners I've met, I bought a
: second hand Chev HEI & had the base
: mount modified to fit into the engine. The
: Chev base is taller that the Buick, so it
: sits clear of most obstacles & hardly
: needed any grinding. So far so good.
:
: Wired it up, started it and wow - it ran.
: Set the timing & all seemed well, so I
: set off on a test drive. Bad plan. It's 10pm
: on a wet night. Got 3km away from home and
: it died. Would not re-start. Dead as a dodo.
: Walked home, got the Lucas dizzy off the
: garage floor, walked back & fitted
: Prince of Darkness dizzy in the dark &
: rain. Set timing by guess, hit starter &
: phew... we are away.
:
: Took HEI to the guy who tunes my Rangie for
: LPG & he said he knew nothing about
: them, but the auto electricians nearby did.
: Took HEI there where it was tested &
: pronounced to be just fine. They suggested
: the low voltage feed might not be delivering
: enough volts, so I rewired out to the dizzy
: just in case.
:
: Put it back into Rangie, hit starter &
: it went. Warmed it up, stopped it to connect
: timing light & it won't start. At least
: it was not out on the road this time.
: Abandoned it until another night. Tried
: again - still dead. Re-fitted Lucas..
:
: Left HEI on the shelf for months, until I
: found someone else who said he knew about
: HEI dizzys. Described the symptoms to him
: & he suggested a dodgy module was the
: culprit. So the module got replaced, and he
: found the last module had been fitted
: without heat-sink paste. Maybe that was
: it...
:
: Re-fitted HEI & hit starter. It fired up
: sort of - like on two or three cylinders...
: Stopped it. Tried again... same. Back to
: expert 2, who decided to come around &
: look. Fire it up & it runs on 3. Expert
: 2 hauls out a plug & finds it sooty
: & wet with unburned fuel. Says we need
: clean plugs. They were a fresh set for this
: round of HEI fitting. Removed plugs for
: cleaning, and the HEI as I needed a working
: 4WD for the weekend. Re-fitted Lucas &
: old plugs... fired up first kick. Damn
: Rangie ran just fine all weekend.
:
: So, for the next attempt, it's drive the
: beast down to the garage using the Lucas
: & fit the HEI, and leave it to them.
: After a lot of experimenting, they found it
: can be started, provided the spark is well
: advanced. At that setting it won't pull the
: skin off anything, but once started , the
: timing can be reset to TDC and it runs quite
: well. Turn it off and it won't restart
: properly - runs on about 3 cylinders if very
: lucky.
:
: Now the garage suggests the HEI is sent to
: another town to somebody who can check the
: profile of the module to see why it behaves
: so strangely....
:
: Which was a bit of a waste of time, as it
: has only confirmed that this HEI dizzy for
: no apparent reason shifts the timing forward
: when running. Which means the timing can be
: set to allow it to start or run OK, but not
: both. We still don't know why... But the
: module is the main suspect.
:
: The latest expert says he has run into
: similar problems with a brand new HEI from a
: local Chev parts supplier. So - even if I
: had bought a new one I still could have
: ended up with this mess. And, once again
: it's back to Joe Lucas who is proving
: surprisingly reliable right now...
:
:
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