Allegro problem

If the bottom joint 'pulled out' I'd say it had been worn for quite some time.

The message from Pete Smith contains these words:

That's the one. Its predecessor the Austin 1100/1300 did the same.

The message from Dave Plowman contains these words:

They usually snapped off at the neck of the pin just above where it grew to the ball.

Dead condensor. And / or poor earth from dissy body to engine block.

IMHO It would be worth converting to an electronic set up purely for less maintance, better engine tune, easier starting , better mpg, etc. I would think it would be pretty easy to use the set up from a late-ish Masetro A series engine.

Tim..

God, must take up 90% of the magazine then!! ;-)

Tim..

Even if the distributor fits, what about the advance and retard weights, springs, and diaphragm. Have they same ratings as the original? If not, the engine may not run as well as it should. Mike.

I'm glad someone finally spotted this!

I would imagine MG Metros, Vanden Plas 1300 Metros, probably Maestros, and maybe standard 1300 Metros have different advances because they all have a mixture of inlets, exhausts, cams, etc.

However

is agood guide as to how to use the leccy ignition off one on with your existingbits. A bit trickier than swapping a complete unit, but not too difficult :)

The message from "Mike G" contains these words:

It's a 1300 A-series, they're all fairly similar. I've done a conversion using the distributor off a Metro and it worked fine.

front

Happened to mine. The lower tie rod rotted out of the subframe. Very difficult to drive in a straight line back to a place of dumping.

-- Malc

In message , Paul writes

I had this exact same problem. It was caused by me using a coil that was fitted to an 1100 engine in a replacement 1500 engine i put in it. I cured it by fitting the other coil. The main symptom was the plastic on the points melting and closing the gap. Temporary fix is to let it cool and then open out the gap, I became a dab hand at doing this in the pitch black before I figured out the problem. Best fix would be a trip to the breakers and a matching dist/coil.

To comment on the previous posts, my Allegro rather aggressively flung itself into a ditch after the balljoint pulled out, at that point the battery was worth more than the car, luckily the scrappy picked it up for a tenner.

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "shazzbat" saying something like:

Probably one of those 'lucky' design flaws that only tended to happen at low speed or turning to park, just like the infamous trunnion collapse of the Moggy Minor.

Lack of maintenance was the cause of that. It wasn't a design fault as such. That's not to say the design was particularly good. Mike.

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Mike G" saying something like:

I can remember numerous Minor vans that had the trunnions collapse, even though they were greased regularly.

Yes it was. Utter crap design.

Bloody awful.

With regular greasing and sound seals they last a long time, but even with the best of care they'll eventually wear out, and should be replaced before getting weak enough to break. Maybe they didn't last as long as they should have done, but that's a a different arguement. I've never seen a broken one that was relatively unworn.

Hundreds are still running, which disproves that assertion. Mike.

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Mike G" saying something like:

How many on the original trunnions? Not very many, I'll bet.

A crap design, pure and simple. Any design which fails in the manner it did is just crap. There are many ex-Minor owners out there who can thank their lucky stars that the mode of failure was at low speed and turning to park, and not in the straight ahead position when they might have been travelling at 60mph.

Hi Guy

Not wishing to sound like I'm bitching here but...

Actually not, the capacitor, once the points are open, forms a series circuit with the coil the effect of which is to increase the resonant frequency so conversely increasing the available voltage.

Its a by product of its effect that this happens, its not its primary reason.