Just bought an Excel - and it's broken down already!

[robin]

Just in case you didn't know, when you connect up the -ve terminal a sh*t load of current flows through the LT side of the coil; when you break that connection the current still wants to flow (the coil is an inductor; see wikipedia ...). The way it does that is to pile up at the broken junction and thus increase the voltage there; eventually the voltage reaches the point where it can flash over from the terminal to the wire ... it is this flashing over on the LT side that causes the spark on the HT side.

In normal operation with electronic ignition this voltage is managed at about 400V; i.e. the electronics allows the voltage to climb to 400V before using a funky bit of silicon to discharge the coil suddenly and thus causing the spark on the HT side without a spark on the LT side (the LT spark was the weakness in the old mechanical points system as the spark welded the points together/eroded the point faces).

So a massive spark on the LT side is expected, and ought to be the point in time at which the HT fires too ... assuming there is a path to earth, of course!

Cheers,
Robin

[Dominic]

[rbgos]

She lives!!

For those who care - I replaced the coil, HT leads, and distributor cap - no joy. Then realised I'd been mis-leading myself by trying to diagnose using a timing light. That only reacts to current, but if I'm not getting a spark there will be no current to react to even if the coil and "electronic points" are doing their job perfectly. Going back to the tried-and-tested method of holding the bare end of the coil-dizzy HT lead near the block while cranking, and watching for a spark, told me that the coil was generating plenty of juice, but testing an HT lead coming out of the dizzy showed nothing.

Having already replaced the distributor cap, that only left the rotor arm. So I replaced that, and now it all works! Still have tiny doubts about whether it really was the rotor arm - couldn't see anything wrong with it, and it's not exactly a complex component, but who cares? My Lotus runs!

Richard

[j2 lot]

[Rich H]

Nice work!

Now where are the pics?

[rbgos]

These'll have to do for now - taken with my crappy camera 'phone, having bought the car into work today. Of course, when the other Lotus owner here (you know who you are!) gets his arse back into the office we can get a photo of them together.



Oh, and this comedy one from a couple of days ago, before the thaw!



Cheers,

Richard

[Rich H]

How much space is there really on the back seats?

[rbgos]

Enough (just!). My youngest (5) behind me - he doesn't really need leg room! The middle one (8) in the other rear seat, behind the oldest (11) who's in the front passenger, slid forwards to give her brother some space.

Of course, they do insist on continuing to grow, so it'll get increasingly squishy. Luckily they think it's very cool, so they can tolerate a little discomfort!

Richard

[Rich H]

[j2 lot]

When I had mine ( 20 years ago ) I did a couple of trips 4 up - all adults, it was a tight squeeze but there is probably slightly more room in the Excel than there is in the Evora.