10-07-2024, 12:38 PM
Hi All
You may have noted in a post recently that my Special has been plagued with a misfire. So yesterday I gave the car a full service, changed; points, condenser, coil, ignition leads. Greased and oiled everything then did a short drive to warm the oil for a change. It ran abysmally. Stuttering to a halt a few yards from home. I managed to revive it and get back.
Then I checked the battery voltage which, to my surprise registered under 4 volts! I put it on for a quick charge over lunch and when the charger was registering over 6 volts tried another run. Went well for about a mile then misfiring, and I only just got back. The battery was down to 3 volts again. I eventually found the culprit this morning. The positive battery cable goes direct to the starter switch through a hole in the seat support. It had a protective grommet which had worked loose and a shard of steel had penetrated the cable insulation. Putting a voltmeter across the battery terminal saw the reading drop as you watched. Simple fix, insulation tape and replacing the grommet.
Just done a 30 mile run round and the car is working perfectly!
A warning….two other items cropped up on the service.
I always check the king pin cotter for tightness every week or so. However removing the brass cap to grease the bottom of the stub I found the king pin had somehow dropped down. On early stub axles the brake cam stops it dropping out but on semi Girling stubs I believe the king pin could just fall out!
The brakes on the special work very well and I tend to leave well alone but in the interests of safety I dutifully removed the drums to find one liner cracked almost right across at a rivet point. Luckily I had a set of spare liners in stock so replacement was quick. I shall check more regularly from now on.
Cheers
Howard
You may have noted in a post recently that my Special has been plagued with a misfire. So yesterday I gave the car a full service, changed; points, condenser, coil, ignition leads. Greased and oiled everything then did a short drive to warm the oil for a change. It ran abysmally. Stuttering to a halt a few yards from home. I managed to revive it and get back.
Then I checked the battery voltage which, to my surprise registered under 4 volts! I put it on for a quick charge over lunch and when the charger was registering over 6 volts tried another run. Went well for about a mile then misfiring, and I only just got back. The battery was down to 3 volts again. I eventually found the culprit this morning. The positive battery cable goes direct to the starter switch through a hole in the seat support. It had a protective grommet which had worked loose and a shard of steel had penetrated the cable insulation. Putting a voltmeter across the battery terminal saw the reading drop as you watched. Simple fix, insulation tape and replacing the grommet.
Just done a 30 mile run round and the car is working perfectly!
A warning….two other items cropped up on the service.
I always check the king pin cotter for tightness every week or so. However removing the brass cap to grease the bottom of the stub I found the king pin had somehow dropped down. On early stub axles the brake cam stops it dropping out but on semi Girling stubs I believe the king pin could just fall out!
The brakes on the special work very well and I tend to leave well alone but in the interests of safety I dutifully removed the drums to find one liner cracked almost right across at a rivet point. Luckily I had a set of spare liners in stock so replacement was quick. I shall check more regularly from now on.
Cheers
Howard