[DeTomaso] I love MSD...I hate MSD....
MikeLDrew at aol.com
MikeLDrew at aol.com
Mon Apr 16 00:16:25 EDT 2007
Hi guys,
So, today was the big Capitol Panteras tech session, at Rick Carlile's shop
in Sacramento. My Pantera is really coming together, but there are a few jobs
that are nice to have a second set of hands for, so this morning I fired up
and drove up there.
Rick, Jim and Emilia Seiferling and I were the only Panteras in attendance; a
couple of other people drifted in and out during the day. Jim and I tackled
a number of small jobs on my car (i.e. replacing the nuts securing the upper
rear balljoints, lubricating my rear swaybar bushings, and cleaning up a rat's
nest of wiring in the engine bay by the ignition components). Most of the day
was actually spent working on Rick's 1969 TVR race car; he is tearing it all
apart to rebuild it one nut and bolt at a time.
So Jim and I wound up taking all four corners off the car, which wasn't as
easy as it sounds, since most of the fasteners had never been off since it was
built.
After a day well-spent, I jumped back into my Pantera, heading for Chris
Difani's house, where we were going to do a bit of fabrication work on my car
(making a lid for my sunken battery box). The car started right up, I drove it
two blocks to the freeway, and as I made a left turn, it suddenly died, then
came right back to life. Hmm, odd. I went another hundred feet or so, and just
as I was getting onto the onramp, it just quit, and quit for good.
Damn.
So, on the side of the road, I called PanteraStar, which in this case was
Rick and Jim. Soon they were with me on the side of the road, testing equipment
and wires going this way and that. Electricity is my VERY weak point, and
ignition systems are magic as far as I'm concerned, so my duties were limited to
turning the key on and off when told, and also standing around and looking
philosophical.
Alas, it appears the MSD box has turned into an NSD, i.e. No Spark Discharge.
I had never really looked closely at its installation (another club member
installed the whole ignition system for me at a tech day, while I busied myself
in my element, rebuilding my umpteenth steering rack). Turns out he had
failed to rubber-mount it, so it's possible that it simply shook itself to death.
In any case, there appears to be a new MSD box in my immediate future.
Fortunately Jim is working a half-day tomorrow, and he has the Big Head on all this
stuff, so I'm going to sic him on it while I go out and polish his wheels or
something. :>)
Here's a photo, with Rick Carlile's Pantera just ahead....
http://members.aol.com/mikeldrew/NSD.jpg
Mike<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> See what's free at
http://www.aol.com.</HTML>
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