Will It Ever Run Again

Brilliant as always Rob. Yes new loom but original earth lead and +ve to starter. I'll swap out one at a time and see what happens. I'd like to work out the cause as well as solve the issue. Many thanks

Hi all, I have a '72 Spitfire MkIV. New loom, strong spark. Turns over. On turning over though, the supply wire to the starter get extremely hot. So much so the tape around it starts to smoke. The earth wire from the starter to ground also gets warm. The starter turns then suddenly stops. Then trying again, it turns again fine then abruptly stops again. Battery is good. Looks to me that something is awry inside the starter and my next job was to try an alternative starter I have on another MkIV but wondered if anyone had any ideas on possible causes? Many thanks, Steve

Just to finish this off, I rec'd another module in the post and with it fitted got a spark first time. Whatta you know!! Within a few minutes it was running, albeit extremely fast so I need to do some adjustments. But at least I now know not to trust brand new parts! I also now have two tests for an electronic distributor which may save me time on future cars. Thanks all!!

Awesome thanks Rob and everyone else. I did a bench test between coil, dizzy, battery and a spark plug and with a different distributor, when turning the shaft, I got a spark. With this one I've had trouble with I didn't (I even did a video about it!). I contacted the supplier and they asked me to do another simpler test on the car with a test bulb between the black lead from the dizzy and the +ve on the coil. When turning over the bulb should light which it didn't so it seems the brand new distributor is duff and they're sending me another.

I should also say the car turns over fine

I get it that on cranking, the ballast is bypassed but I'm not sure I fully understand what you said there. Are you saying the red/white is or isn't the one that goes live on cranking? I thought it was. As per comments above I now have white wire direct to +ve on coil, no ballast and no yellow/white from solenoid as I have electronic dizzy and 12v coil. I have red/white to solenoid and other than battery, starter and several brown wires there are no others to the solenoid. I have tested my spark tester, the HT lead from coil to dizzy, the HT leads and the coil. All good. Still no spark. I also tried getting one between the end of the lead from the coil and earth but couldn't even though that lead works fine on another car. The coil has a 12v reading at both positive and negative terminals with ignition on. I assume this is ok as this is also the case with my other spit which works well. The wires to the coil +ve are red from elec dizzy and the white power wire. To the -ve terminal is just the black from the dizzy. If I had hair I'd have pulled it out so if anyone can help resolve this I'd be rather chuffed. Thanks Steve

Fabulous thanks. All makes sense. I'll give the suggestions a go tomorrow. Way too busy today with kids back at school in the morning! I will report back. Steve

Yes I have a 12v coil which is suitable for the elec dizzy. The dizzy has two wires, one red one black. These I believe go to +ve and -ve coil terminals respectively. So if that's right the dizzy gets its power via the coil and not direct from the white wire. Does that sound right? I'm not but I'm interested in how it should be set up on a standard car just for future projects. When you say 'top end' what do you mean? It had white wire (live 12v with ignition on) coming in to ballast and then yellow/white coming out the other end (I assume it makes no difference which way through the ballast the voltage runs?). And sorry what do you mean by a 'Pick up Amplifier'? I assume you're talking about some part of the elec ignition set up. And I agree they don't work well with the ballast resistor. I had tried to get a spark without the ballast (ie white 12v direct to coil) but not quite in the way described above so I will have another go and report back. Many thanks indeed for your help.

Thanks so much for your comment. A bit confused about the spades you mention. So you mention 'cranking only feed' - is that then the red/white wire? I understand that this wire is only live when cranking and feeds the solenoid. But I also assumed then that that 'triggers' the solenoid? But then you say the cranking feed is opposite the one that triggers it. Sorry not really looked at solenoids much until this issue arose. Thanks

Hi all, I have fitted a brand new loom on a '72 MkIV Spitfire together with a new switch and electronic ignition (Powerspark - the entire dizzy and a compatible coil). I cannot get a spark. This is my understanding of the relationship between starter solenoid, ignition coil and ballast resistor on a standard points car with 6V coil (not electronic ignition): Battery sends power to solenoid which, via brown wires, sends power to the switch. When cranking, power comes back to the solenoid via red/white wire which sends it on to coil +ve via white/yellow wire. When not cranking, but running, the power comes via a white wire to a ballast resistor (to reduce voltage) then onto coil +ve via another white/yellow wire. Is that correct? With electronic ignition I understand there's no need for the ballast resistor. A 12v coil is used. Do I still need the white/yellow from the solenoid to the coil +ve for cranking or is it unnecessary? The engine does turn over so I assume the solenoid is earthed ok and the switch is working. Is that a correct assumption? My solenoid has a main battery connection with spades off to left and right of that. On those spades are brown wires into the loom. There's a main connection to the starter. There are two further spade connections, one on either side. I have a red/white wire on the left one and white/yellow on the right. I have read I can check if there's a 'click' from the solenoid when, with all connections to it removed, except for battery cable, I connect a wire from battery +ve to these spades junctions one at a time. The one that creates a click is the correct spade for the red/white wire. I am yet to check this. Could I have a duff solenoid? I have tried numerous wiring configurations but cannot get a spark. I am using a spark tester (which goes between HT lead and spark plug and lights up when a spark would be present and have tested it on another Spit that runs). I have swapped the coil with another Spit (a 1500) with electronic ignition and it ran on that car fine. Is it right that the red/white wire only have power during cranking? That makes sense but how do I test that it does? What am I missing? It's completely frying my brain at the moment and any help would be greatly appreciated! I can take pics if it helps. Thanks, Steve

Thanks. This is definitely meant to be tight though as there's no clamp or anything else holding it on other than friction. The gear is plastic around a thin metal ring and some people (on another forum) have suggested if i use a metal tube of similar dimensions to the metal ring and bash it on using that. Sounds plausible if I could find such a tube.

Hi all, I need to fit a new speedo drivegear onto the mainshaft of a '77 1500 Spit. The drivegear is of course plastic and I've already destroyed 2 trying to fit one on. I've lubricated the main shaft and i've heated the drivegear in boiling water hoping to expand it but still it's so tight it has to be banged on and the plastic simply snaps. Has anyone replaced one successfully please and how on earth did you do it???? Thanks! Steve

Hi Frank, I have a '79 1500 Spit and considered this too but eventually was put off by the weight of the GT6 engine and decided instead to get my engine uprated significantly by a specialist. At the same time I will also uprate the brakes and suspension and reduce the weight of my car overall (including a fibreglass bonnet - my steel one was shot anyway and I was offered a fibreglass one for a song). From outside the car will look reasonably standard other than being slightly lowered on minilites but underneath it'll have the performance to put a real grin on my face. I haven't had it done yet but so far I've been extremely impressed by chats with Moordale Motors. I'm just waiting for Mr Covid to move on and I'll be able to spend some money! Just an alternative to consider. Steve

Thanks guys. I have a couple to chat to now. Mordale (advertising in Club Torque) seemed perfect. Will let you know how I get on when it happens.

Really? Wow, that's a surprise. I wonder what will happen to all the stock/cars etc. Glad I didn't send any money there! I did have a quote. So, I'm still stuck for an engine expert!