healey36 wrote:
Cap, rotor, points, wires, all check out. LV ground looks good...no cracks in the insulation. Plugs appear to be okay but they're old so maybe I'll go ahead and replace them. Sounds like it's time to run it over to the shop and let them take a look at it.
Healey
Healey, what are we talkin' about here? Hard miss, soft miss, missing all the time, misses only on a hard pull or under heavy load, misses at speed, continuous miss or intermittent?
Some suggestions before ya drop some money. Wait 'til dark, and fire that baby up, open the "bonnet", (always wanted to use that expression)
, and with a spray bottle of water at hand, first watch for a taletell spark to ground along the path of the ignition wires. If you don't see any, spritz some water on the cap and wires. (Make sure the engine is warm enough to get rid of the mist quickly). If the engine cuts out or stumbles, chances are pretty good you may have found the problem. This is especially true of ignition cables that have carbon fiber conduction. If the engine is missing continuously, you can use a 12 volt test light to find the missing cylinder. (I call this a "scope on a rope"). Connect the clip end of the test light to battery (or another good) ground, and slide the probe of the test light down past each wire into the top of the distributor cap. You'll be sending spark from each cylinder directly to ground, and the good ones will pull the engine down noticeably, but the one that's missing won't make much difference at all. If you locate the misfire this way, then you can go straight to that spark plug. Then you can switch the plugs with another cylinder, and if the miss follows the plug, you know where you're goin'. Hard pulls and heavy loads, (low engine vacuum) are most often related to plugs and wires. High speed misses, ya look at points, cap and rotor. Inspect the cap carefully. Make sure there's no carbon tracking goin' on in there. A high speed miss can also be due to a weak spring on the breaker points. If you find nothing there, it may be time for a compression test. Possible burnt valve due to unleaded fuel in an engine that wasn't designed for it, maybe even a broken valve spring. If ya find it on your own, you not only save shop money, but ya got the satisfaction of figurin' it out on your own.
If you agree with the Progressives, it's freedom of speech. If you disagree, it's hate speech. There are no alternatives.
However, I must admit, I did enjoy pushing the peddle right down to the floor when driving the '58 Cadillac convertible, alone or with classmates. The roar and thrust were addicting. But the chance to glide by - or even just touch or look upon - in a '62 Lincoln Continental or any Caddy were permanent dreams, to this day.