[T2] (no subject)

[Robert Mann]

     The good mechanic told off to examine my camper for a Warrant of
Fitness began by road-testing, incl a fairly steep climb during which power
was fading and then was suddenly abolished.  He phoned in for the garage's
station-wagon to tow him in.  Upon arriving at the marooned camper (4-way
flashers working fine) I tried quickly to check whether sparks could have
been withheld by popout of the cable in the middle of the distributor cap.
I have seen this failure in other engines, notably my flathead V8.  The tow
back to the garage went OK.  The mechanic then noticed it was the other end
of that same cable which had disconnected (first time in 15 y).  I was
embarrassed at my tunnel vision.
      That union is an unthreaded cone, relying wholly on friction in the
taper.  I wiped surprising oil off the coil (male) side of the union;
slapped 1 turn of (you guessed it) duct tape on that cone; forced the
female taper on, hoping it was far enough; and was relieved that I'd not
created a 'tandem spark gap'.  Power was better than it had been recently.
       It may sound far out, but I wonder whether a marginal connection
where the HT comes out of the coil can decrease power, while not abolishing
sparks altogether as in this case it later did.

Robt Mann
'73 16700dp Devon