Triumph Repair: 74 TR 6, TR6, timing

Question
after being in storage for 2 years,car is cranking over but not starting.where
should I start looking for problem(car has been damp).thanks much

Answer
Tom,

Keep in mind that you need basically 3 things in order to get the car running:

Fuel
Fire (ignition)
Timing

For fuel, have you made sure fuel is getting to the carbs?  Get a can of starting fluid (starting ether) and spray some into the air filter housing.  Do not remove the air filters, if the car backfires it can cause a fire.

If the car tries to start then it's a fuel issue.

Pull a fuel line off of one and have an assistant crank the car for a few seconds while you try to pump gas into a can.  If you're not seeing a good supply fuel going to the carb.

If you're not getting a good supply of fuel at the carb then you need to start working backwards to the fuel tank.


Fire (Ignition).  Get a spare sparkplug and pull the coil high tension lead from the distributor cap.  Hook it to the spare spark plug and set the plug where the threaded body part is grounded.  Have the assistant from before turn the engine over while you watch for spark.  If there's good spark move on.  

Otherwise it's time to trouble shoot the ignition system.  With the key turned on, +12v at the coil + lead?  Clean and gap the points.  Check the spark plug leads with an ohmeter to make sure that all have approximately the same resistance.  Replace the set if any show "open" or no continuity.  Get new spark plugs (never a bad idea) and gap them correctly.

Timing:  If the car was running when parked then the timing should still be close.  If anyone tinkered with it, not a bad idea to recheck that the basic timing is still correct (ie:  firing #1 with both valves closed).


Cheers,

Jim