[VintageLambo] Re: 400GT ignition problem found

400 guys seem to need a lobotomy when it comes to Marelli dist. {:->) Oooooohhh, that was bad. Anyway, when I did my ignition work. I just pulled it and disassembled everything, cleaned, lubed and put back together. A bit of filing on the points, and test the condensers with an ohmmeter. All is well with things bone stock. It"s not a complex setup, just a lot of parts to keep track of. I had an open in one of my resistive spark plug caps. Test them by baking at 200F for 20 minutes then use an ohmmeter. Resistance should be about 1k ohm. Same part as air cooled VW from 1968ish. Resistance of the points should be less than 1 ohm, use a point file, then burnish with 2000 grit. Lube the lobe! The quick and dirty condenser(capacitance) test: Using a Fluke or like ohmmeter with a good battery in it: Set to ohms, use a fixed scale of 1 Megohm, attach black lead to the case, and while watching the meter, attach the red lead to the wire. The meter will go down quickly to very low, and then climb in resistance as the condeser charges. The time it takes to charge is dependent on the battery voltage of the meter, and the value of the condenser. If the charge is very quick, in the 2-5 second range, the condenser isn"t very good(leaky). If there is no discharge at all when first connected to the red lead, it"s open completely. The Avanti has a factory Prestolite dual point dist of the long time constant type. That is, one set of points opens prior to the first set closing thus providing a longer charge time for the condenser and a higher voltge applied to the primary of the coil. Good for hot spark, hard on the coil at high RPM. vintage "60s hot rod stuff, no match for the current hot rod setup of MSD and coil packs etc. Still dying the leather. Didn"t like the finish with the foam or fine brisle brush, went to an airbrush and it"s much better. Doc --- In VintageLambo@yahoogroups.com, "lamboguy " wrote: > > I"d suspect the 400Gt has a different scheme with three lobes than > the > > six lobe Espadas and Countachs I am familiar with. > > > > Cheers, Bob > > Ah Ha!!:) > > That"s gotta be it.The missing link... > > (Whew, cuz Aaron"s recipe sounds awful) > > Cheers, > > Fred