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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - ignition woes

hey guys, i havent been on in a while. :D so i am cruising in the black mg today, a 1976 midget, and the ignition dies. i got it home and have started lookin it over. now i just got this car back, i sold it and bought it back after two year. the engine has since been replaced with a 'rebuilt engine'. i am lookin at the distributor and its a standard points style dizzy. its got points and condenser. so if i order the pertronix ignitor kit for it, thats a direct bolt in right? or did somebody put the wrong dizzy in the car? all i can find on it is lucas, england, patented. i cant see a model number. it was runnin fine right up til it lost spark. the points appear to be melted a bit as well, the plastic insulator bit. thoughts? ideas? recommendations? suicide? :D
k n nichols

Can you post a photo of the dizzy? Both the Lucas 25D and 45D distributors will fit into the hole in the engine block. Both were used with the Midget. They require different internals and distributor caps. Hence, knowing what distributor you have is a good first step.

My website, www.custompistols.com has a tech article on ignition system trouble shooting which may be of use to you. It would help you understand what is happening and allow you to do some checks to see what might have changed during the period your car was out of your hands.

This can be a relatively simple problem, but we need to know what we are working with before we can offer focused advice.

Les
Les Bengtson

fix the problem with the current setup before thinking about a Pertronix upgrade. (if you fit a Pertronix now, and it still won't start, you won't know if you've installed it wrong, or it's dead out of the box, or there's an original fault outside the bit you changed).
David Smith

This thread was discussed on 08/03/2011

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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