Murphy's law strikes again

[914GT]

Last Fri. I took my 914 V8 down the street to check the clutch adjustment. I turn around about a block away to come back and it dies about 100 yds away. I thought I ran out of gas since I had only put maybe 2 gallons in the tank. So I put about 5 gals. in and it still won't start. Seemed like the ignition system failed, but I checked the coil and measured out good. Finally my neighbor came home and he helped me push it uphill back to my house. After that I said the hell with it and didn't feel like working on it anymore. Yesterday I pulled the fuel line off the carb and ran the pump - plenty of gas flowing. I hook my scope on the neg. terminal of the coil and crank it. Nothing, no switching. Crap, my brand new Accel distributor bad. I pull the cap off and look what I see -


The +12V lead had been rubbing against the reluctor and wore through the insulation. There was only a tie wrap for a strain relief, and the wire was routed in a way that a small pull brought it in contact with the reluctor. Fortunately this was an easy fix and I made some improvements so it wouldn't happen again. But why did this have to fail in the few short minutes I took it out on the street?

[sean_V8_914]

better than failling on teh way to San Diego...in Gila bend
congrats, it's alive!!!

[914GT]

Sean, I should try to record an MP3 for you to hear it. But it doesn't want to idle too well and I need to sort that out yet. I want to recheck the valve adjustment, and if I have to I'll swap out the carb with a known good Edelbrock. If it is still rough I may have to pull the motor and change the cam timing. I hope I can avoid doing that.

Someday it's coming to San Diego!

[AZ914]

Hey Murphy,

Glad you found the problem. Yeah, thats bad considering you probably only drove it a mile or so. Hope you get the idle corrected without too much pain. Its been great weather for topless driving!