Triumph Repair: tr7 starting problem, bright sun light, vacuum leak

Question
Howard
Thank you for your help yesterday regarding my problem starting my tr7.  Can you think of any other solutions that might help other than the choke causing the car not to start?

Answer
Stephen, There are some simple basics here. It starts with starting fluid but not on it's own, even with the chokes on.

Do this, instead of starting fluid use a oil squirt gun or anything you have to put gasoline into the intake (air filter off) Use the gas that is in the tank not other gas. Now if it starts you know 100% that it is not receiving gas from your chokes.

If it does not start on raw gas do a compression test and pull a plug wire and put a plug on it and lay it on the engine and spin the engine over and watch the spark. You are looking for the thickness of the spark and the color of the spark. It should be about as thick as the lead of a pencil and the color should be blue not yellow or orange. (Not in bright sun light) This is a preliminary test of the power of a spark.
Since it runs ok after warm up you do not need to test for a vacuum leak. The compression test must be done with the throttles open. Anything below 125 should be suspect. let me know the results of the compression test.

Howard