Trio, The trigonal effect

[GOHER007]

1983 turbo Esprit imported to USA

Symptoms: cutting out, stalling, as to rev meter drops(suddenly) and comes back again within half a second). not starting after a good run(sometimes<puzzuling).

Conditions: hot day, mid afternoon, spountanously say after stop go traffic, Traffic lights-), and if the termp goes over 90 a touch.

Concerns: insecurity of using the automobile, far from the proximity of my village, and also an element of embaresement on say a traffic light.

Background: The Esprit drives beutifully, but the puzzling part is that only 10% of the time the above symptoms take place so i cannot catch them. My suspicion goes towards the ignition, there are two wires, a red and a blck one i think from the coil to the distributor, the coil says lucas on it, the distributor cap is blue, and a ballast resistor rests with the coil, and i also found a button like device in the coil compartment. the leads are old and pretty nackered comming from the plugs, but working. The fuel pump also can be suspect, says lucas on it also the filter. the carburation is not perfect, because i think the not starting and getting flooded on a hot day after a good run, can be carbs, heat soak like symptoms. My knowledge of the mechanics and the technique is very limited so please help me.

I have no idea where best to source these parts in or around New york, or some bits from Europe

The fuel pump, the distributor cap and leads, the coil, or even switching to electrical system , Please advise as to take the best course in order to if , take care of all three issues

or i should just drive the car fearlessly, ........ havent done that yet thanks goher 83 turbo esprit

[USAndretti42]

The rev counter needle dropping points to an issue with the ignition as the rev counter uses ignition pulses to read the engine speed. As you only get problems when everything is hot, it could be that something like the coil or ignition pack is getting too hot.

Your mixture may well also be set too rich which makes hot starting worse. That should be easy to check and adjust, much easier than an intermittent fault with the ignition.

[Rich H]

Should be easy enough to find someone with the knowledge to tune the carbs for you. Also check the ignition timing, shouldn't be hard or take long.

Clean the dizzy cap, rotor arm and all the plugs. Normally sorts my 924 out as they fur up over time with corrosion and soot.

Ignition system is usually a case of replace things one at a time until it improves, .

[GOHER007]

Gentlemen, Mr Humble and Mr Knowles, Thank you very much.

Your experience has added to my belief, that it is time to make more changes, and upgrade(miniturize), the old 70's ignition system(which are very good systems) to a 90's petronix system, as has been the talk of this excellent forum. It might eliminate ignition issues for months to come.

Cost: : Petronix ignitor $93 (not to the penny)

Petronix coil 43

coil bracket 3.5

The cap 34

2 x Rotar arm(made in England) 6 each

and some discount as i have good attitude. (installation pending)

Story: Went and got these parts from(luckily) three villages over, in brewster NY. The parts gentleman had three europas, and an inate love(obsession) for extinct parts(he does not have the manifold, mega warehouse). He said that it is better to modify, hence to avoid tarnishing the dignity of such a sports car, say on a traffic light. i agreed. me and my mechanic/friend, will try to install this on thursday, and i will also try to post some photos.

PLease PLease, Please adivise or suggest, and please so predict, what might be the outcome, and any tips for installation, will put me abreast, in the presence of Allen, as i will be working as an apprentice for a day with him.

Thanks goher Thanks for your valuable time.

[GOHER007]

i pondered over the engine bay, from all three sides. went and showed it to my mechanic/friend and he also found it very hard to change bits in the distributor. His idea was to remove the oil filter, starter motor, and than Remove the distributor and change the bits(petronix), reinstall. and set the timing. after trying to put my wrists through the gaps through the right, and back, it will be a grand struggle to screw in the fine thread, with a screwdriver(medium lenght and maganetic) but still, i can see screws droping and vanashing

Is it a good route to go? Please advise

can i get the timing spec, or where might be the timming mark( my spellings and knowlegde of engine elctronics is very limited, but slowly improving)

are there any demons released, if you take the distributor out.

Thanks goher

[910Esprit]

Simply remove the plenum you will then have good access to distributor. Timing marks are visible through the hole in the clutch bellhousing.

[molemot]

Take the distributor out...remove the plenum for a bit of access, take off the distributor cap, mark where the rotor arm is pointing...then undo the nut that holds the clamp plate to the block, and withdraw the distributor, complete with the clamp plate. Do what you will to the insides of it, and, when finished, you can line up the rotor arm with your marks and put it back in. That way, you don't lose the orientation of the distributor as you do if you undo the clamp and pull it out that way. The drive dog is offset so it only fits one way, and the whole distributor is lightly spring loaded out of the block...so you have to remember that when refitting it. The clamp plate securing nut will probably leave a witness mark on the clamp plate, so you can get the distributor back in exactly where it came out...helps the timing! I( find a bit of white paint on the appropriate timing marks on the flywheel makes them far more visible when you do get at it with a timing light...

[GOHER007]

Thanx a million. i will mention , explain, and assert these instructions to my mechanic/friend, i do not like the idea, of ones racecar(Chapman style) to be dependent on various factors. One of them is to NOT be able to work on your own sports car, justefied by the rat race and mon to friday 9 to five non 007 life. so Allen will do his best. i will report on this tuesday, and carbs and fuel pump will be next targets in any rebellion.

Thanks again John, Steve and many(all) others.

[hopo]

This is exactly the problem im having with my S3 at the mo... im watching this with eagle eyes

[GOHER007]

Tommorow(tuesday) the system will go in and i will post the instalation process also but will report on performance or any pifalls on the weekend after a good drive.. Broadcast::::Radioesprit

[GOHER007]

every body will freak out if Margaret Thatcher was replaced by Margaret Thatcher. well thats what happened to me

me and allan looked at the distributor embeded deep in the engine, like a fireman looks at a fire, like a prey looks at the beast, like a revolt looks at a king, for good five minutes. and than we started.

i did the houners and went from the right and undid one of the clips(which one i cannot be sure for true), and gave the distributor cap a polite wiggle. Allan got incoureged and went and put his hand from the back and checked if i really undid the clip, it wiggled and he wiggled it a littel more. at this point he went and got the oil filter tool and undid the oil filter( with an oil tray underneath). he than came from the right and went and wiggled the cap along the wires back out and than left the cluster(cap) under the regulator like(back right) with his right hand. than he marked the distributor from left top(thru the intake manifold holes), than we decided in five minutes of trail and error that to do it from right(from under the plenum(, also some thru the intake mani from the top right and the whole stud was undone with this slender catheter like device(with these four mosquito legs turned inside out(GREAT TOOL TO RETRIEVE ANY SMALL COMPONENT) and in this case allan used it to rotate the stud, by inserting the cath(mosquito legs gripping) thru the back, and also retrieve the stud and washer, from the back. he pryed the distributor from the top right( of engine bay), and when it moved, he than got it from the right, from under the plenum, carefully untangling(wires, lines etc) and undoing two vavum lines. the inside of the distributor was identical to what i had for replacement(petronix), but we continued and (with some polite complexity changed the inside petronix system with a new one, with the new rotar arm. Putting it back together and fitting the distributor back and the @#$%^ cap is another story, i will post tommorow. my every bone has a bittersweet pain thereafter, with no name. Tools make a world of diffrence see yoy tommorow folks. the job is still to be finished goher

[GOHER007]

installing the petronix along the distributor back into the block with markings was not difficult, but the bottom clip was a 20 minute struggle, with allan in okward position from right back, as his right hand went in from the right and left from the back.

all along it was the tachmetor revmeter wire(connected to coil) but the car idles fine and presents with a smoothness, except when you stop or come to a halt the rev dives to 500(0.5) and feels like its gona die but it never dies, like it use to before, and also when you pull away it hasitates much more than it use to, but if you pull away with a little throttle(2000 revs) its a blast to drive untill the next traffic light arrives. Allan thinks its the accelerator pump please advice it may be the timing, as these symptoms are new and the old symptom are cured i think

will keep you posted. thanks goherf