My '72 P6 V8 is back in use on UK roads and once again wearing its silver on black 'K' plates!

I bought a set of 2" shorter, stiffer, 130% uprated lowering springs from Classeparts, plus an uprated anti-roll bar, and fitted purple poly bushes everywhere.
 
My car has started to konk out at idle. It stutters once or twice, and if I don't deftly dose the gas pedal it goes out. Anybody want to suggest a diagnosis!?
 
Started by checking the timing with a strobe and tweaking the dwell angle on the points, in which the pad seems to have worn a fair amount in the year that has passed since I switched over from a prematurely senile Lumenition unit. Better idle, better acceleration, engine also sounds 'right' again, but still needs a further fettle to stop the annoying sudden cut-out at idle...
 
Cutting out at idle turned out to be due to an electrical gremlin. With the engine running I can measure 13.6 volts across the battery terminals, but only around 12 volts at the ignition switch. I haven't found the cause of the voltage drop yet though! ! I did have the high tension lead to the distributor wound around the engine steady rod, which my tame mechanic scolded me for. I've been advised to fit an MSD Street Fire ignition box, which should deliver more sparks per burn cycle. If it keeps my idle smooth and prevents the car sometimes conking out in traffic jams after the Kenlowe electric fan cuts in at eight-eight degrees, it will be worth the two hundred smackers it cost
I'd also been plagued by a coolant leak of late, that I couldn't for the life of me track back to source. Turns out I simply hadn't tightened the hose clamps enough where I fitted a temperature sender into the top hose. Mindful not to split a hose by over-tightening, I hadn't done the clamps up enough. Doh! With the coolant system pressurised to 10 bar with a handy hand-pump gadget, squeezing all the hoses in turn finally located the source of the fine mist of toxic sweet-smelling spray! At least I hopefully won't have to remove the heater box to get to the heater matrix, which means dismantling lots of other gubbins to get to it all. Well, fingers crossed anyway! Happy Rovering to y'all.
 
No! :)
Could've been pounds per square inch? The pump did have an indicator on it, and I seem to remember we pumped until about 10 on the dial.
All I meant was, the hoses were all stiff when I squeezed 'em, and we pretty swiftly found the leak (fingers crossed) without me having to run the engine and peer around the engine bay with a lamp! I've done too much of that of late, and fruitlessly.
 
I realise adding a capacitative ignition thingydingy doesn't solve the missing voltage problem. Any pointers on how to track that down gratefully received. I can't afford to pay the hourly for a motor electrician to do it, and I've got to learn!
 
The thing with the conking out that really twists my brain is that it always only ever happens when I'm in the first row at a traffic light, and in the outside lane. Light goes green, I squeeze the throttle, the motor stutters and goes out. Then it simply flat refuses to start again on the key, and I have to shove the car across two lanes to the kerb, whilst every other motorist hoots and honks. If I pop the hood and prod and poke around a bit in there as if I know what I'm doing, it will start again after a ten minute wait, but not before. Befuddling.
 
I realise adding a capacitative ignition thingydingy doesn't solve the missing voltage problem. Any pointers on how to track that down gratefully received. I can't afford to pay the hourly for a motor electrician to do it, and I've got to learn!
I'd start with grounding points all over the system. Battery to chassis earth and chassis to engine.
Then, the actual connectors in the system for clean and tight fitting on lugs. Look at the fuse box for good fit around the fuses.
 
The thing with the conking out that really twists my brain is that it always only ever happens when I'm in the first row at a traffic light, and in the outside lane. Light goes green, I squeeze the throttle, the motor stutters and goes out. Then it simply flat refuses to start again on the key, and I have to shove the car across two lanes to the kerb, whilst every other motorist hoots and honks. If I pop the hood and prod and poke around a bit in there as if I know what I'm doing, it will start again after a ten minute wait, but not before. Befuddling.

I guess that you have excluded something fuel related, right?
Before start taking things apart, you can try your luck, and with the engine well hot and idling, try to wiggle things and see if by proding and poking around you could make the engine die. If you succeed, then it is relatively easy to find the problem. If not, take a wiring diagram, and with a multimeter start by verifying lines and connections that feed the ignition. From the fuse box, through the ignition switch until the coil. Also don't exclude the coil as a source of your problems.
 
10 bar is about 145psi.
Ka-boom! :eek::rolleyes:
...you can try your luck, and with the engine well hot and idling, try to wiggle things and see if by prodding and poking around...
Demetris, that's what I do when I eventually make it back home after a journey interrupted by a hiccup. It DID pinpoint a defective plug, but that was after a misfire so obvious I knew straight away something was up. Prodding and poking is definitely a tried and tested method!
I'm going to buy a multimeter. Would anybody like to suggest what would be a good purchase and/or what to avoid?
 
I've just invested in a new set of Lucas branded black ignition wires. The ones on my engine have got to be twenty years old. They might once have been red, but now they're a very pale pink. And I knackered one rubber boot clumsily.
The coil is a Bosch item and isn't more than two years old. What vendor sells the best quality distributor caps and rotor arms? Black, not brown or blue!
 
The coolant temperature sensor I fitted in the top rad hose two years ago has abruptly given up the ghost. Not what I'd call good value for money, for something like ninety squid IIRC. It was branded RevoTec, whom I can't say I'd recommend. I've now ordered an aluminium hose fitting into which I can thread a replaceable temperature sensor, both for about half the price of the aforementioned knackered and non-repairable item.
I've now had a toggle switch for the electric fan fitted, which is dangling inside the drivers side glove box for the moment. I wanted to use a pull switch which lights up, like the one for the heated rear window, and make a little round label for it. Then my electrician pal said that it would be difficult to wire that type of switch up so that it illuminates, but without explaining why. Having already had him kindly replace the fan switch relay on his day off, I didn't want to wear his patience further. Anybody shed some light on this for me? (Sorry, awful, couldn't resist though).
Any suggestions what multimeter would suit a hobbyist? How about a tip for a supplier of good distributor caps and rotors, ideally black rather than brown or blue?
 
my cutting out at lights and on odd occasion after a short drive..was found to be bubbles in fuel! seems this engine is famed for it now we use low octane fuel and the bio additive E whatever creates gas bubbles very easily . after 5 mins wait it restarts ..ass using bubbles got to top and vented off and colder fresh fuel pumped up to carbs. i did replace all ignition system ,new sports coil . dizzy ( full electronic) leads. plugs. rechecked timing. new vacuum hose etc . its still not a happy bunny when cold but cutting out at lights has bene reduced though not yet eliminated ! ( electric pump fitted )
 
Haven't posted anything since March! Many miles of motoring have been enjoyed since then, albeit on my winter tyres for many months. I knew I needed summer tyres, but didn't want to have them fitted to my Magstars in the scruffy and scratched state they were in, so decided to bite bullet and have my wheels refurbished. Ended up taking longer than I had hoped, but eventually I picked up my newly spiffed-up Magstars last week. They've been bead blasted, but there was still some stubborn old paint left on the inner faces, so they then got chemically cleaned, before being powder coated, then sprayed in an anthracite grey metallic, the front face detailing polished, and coated with a clear finish. Finished off with four new Vredestein Sprint Classic tyres in the correct size. It cost an arm and a leg but I reckon it now looks the business. The tyres are great, I highly recommend 'em. Smartphone photo:
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Wish me luck, I have to get a new TÜV (German MOT) next week... Four years already since I got my project back on the road.

Man, that stance is just damn good! Love it!
 
I wanted to use a pull switch which lights up, like the one for the heated rear window, and make a little round label for it. Then my electrician pal said that it would be difficult to wire that type of switch up so that it illuminates, but without explaining why.

Not difficult at all. In my car, normaly the fan comes on with the A/C, but i have wired in this switch with a double relay, in order to be able to override the operation if needed. And yes, it illuminates in operation.
In your case you just need the switch and a simple relay.

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Thanks Demetris. I was thinking of exactly that. Maybe I saw it in a picture on here before, I can't remember. Now I just need to find another one of those same switches...
 
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