[T3] Car QUIT and would not start - what I learned (remembered)

[Chris Slaymaker <nurofiz@knology.net>]

That's what happened.  I've been spending all my spare time on my SB (and my
wife is getting concerned).  So yesterday I had finished waxing it and
decided to take it out for a spin and it happened.  It seems it was getting
no spark.  Well I got the car back to the house and started to work on until
the light ran out (and I ran out of patience because I broke a wire in the
FI harness - is there a source for these new?).

Today I worked on it some more and I found that the distributor was SLOPPY.
Actually, if I wiggled it enough, I could get the rotor to turn all the way
around.  I took it out - clamp and all - and found the problem.  Through
years of tightening down the distributor clamp nut (after setting the
timing) the clamp itself  warped.  That is to say, it was holding the
distributor up higher so the the distributor dog was not engaging with the
distributor drive gear (reliably).   With some creative work with a hammer
and some vise grips, I got the clamp straightened out to its stock
configuration.  Now all is right with the world.

I even rewired the FI harness and replaced the crimp splices that some
dumbass mechanic used to "repair" prior broken FI wires.  I simply pulled
the brass connectors out of the plastic plugs and soldered them onto the
ends of the wires and put them back in where they belonged in the plugs.

-- 
Chris Slaymaker
'71 Westfalia - "Lurch"
'71 Squareback - "Foster"
Knoxville, TN

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