MG Car Repair: Car runs fine for about 10 minutes then dies, fuel pressure gauge, starter fluid

Question
Hi. I have a 1979 MG Midget. The car starts well, battery is fine, seems idle well. When I drive it for about 15 minutes it will all of a sudden stall. When I try to turn it over, it will not fire - the engine and starter just spin. If it cools down for about 15 minutes, it will usually start. I thought perhaps it was a gas line or gas pump problem but it seems to working fine as well

Answer
Hi Tony,
An engine only needs 3 things to run, compression, fire and fuel with conditions on each so when an engine dies it has lost one or more of those 3 items. compression will not usually come and go so it has to be fire or fuel.
First you must determine which is lost. This is easy to do, When it will not fire just remove a plug wire and put a known good spark plug on it and lay it on a metal part of the engine and spin the engine over and watch the plug for a spark. Or if you have a timing light just put the timing light on a plug wire and spin the engine and look for the light to flash.

Fuel is also easy to test by just spraying starter fluid into the intake when it will not start. If it fires but only runs for a second or so then put a fuel pressure gauge on the outlet of the fuel pump to test for pressure. (1 1/2 to 3 PSI)

Never replace a part unless you test and find it bad.
Howard