Lucas Distributor Help

[Mrkszoo]

Good evening all,

Well... Time has come to try starting the Lotus. We checked the compression (she's been sitting a good long while) and everything checked out alright. We put the requisite fluids in her, and tried starting the old girl... She turns over nicely, but will not start. It would appear there is no spark. We took two of the plugs out of the head, and tried grounding them to the metal, but no spark what so ever. So I got the wild idea to take the top off the Lucas distributor... Everything is all nice and shiny. However...

And here's my question... How is the electrical current supposed to travel from the cap end of coil wire to the rotor?!? Is there supposed to be a terminal or something within the center post of the cap?!? There doesn't seem to be anything there. Only the hollow post as can be seen in the photo. Further, there is only slight wear on the rotor as can be seen in the background of the photo.

Below is a photo of the underside of the distributor cap precisely as I removed it from the distributor.




Any and all assistance is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,

Mark Patterson
Hesperia, Ca

[rickb99]

....here's my question... How is the electrical current supposed to travel from the cap end of coil wire to the rotor?!?

The top of the rotor should be in contact with that dark(er) center terminal in the cap (which is usually lightly spring loaded). That is were the coil output voltage gets to the rotor and then the plug. The rotor is 'isolated' from ground and thus able to carry the 'spark voltage'.

Did you check the coil?
Did you check the 12 volt wiring to the coil?
Are the points opening and proper gap (no gap, no spark, too much gap, no arc)?

[marty7]

Check you have volts to coil, check the sprung loaded carbon/graphite piece is still in the centre of the cap. Check the points are not only opening but there is not build up/oxide on the points face. Some times these look clean but an oxide insulates them so the will not work. If in doubt just swap out points and condensor. They are cheap.

Marty

[Brian]

You often get a bad rotor for those distributors these days. They are quite prone to carbon tracking. As noted there should be a spring loaded terminal that will touch the center of the rotor. Check that you have spark at the coil wire before you do anything else.

Brian

[Roland V. Johnson]

It looks like you're missing the carbon/spring from the cap. Get a new cap/rotor. Pull the coil wire from the cap, hold the end close to the block. Have someone turn on the ign and hit the starter. You should see a good spark from the wire to the block. If that doesn't happen,someone has probably got the points connection wrong.

[Mrkszoo]

Thanks to everybody that has offered assistance thus far.

Got replacement cap, rotor. points, condenser on the way. Going to check for spark at the coil wire here shortly.

With a littl luck the old girl will be making motor noises sooner than later.

Sincerely,

Mark Patterson
Hesperia, Ca