Smooth Runnings

I spent quite a bit of time in the garage this week.

On Tuesday, the ignition coil arrived for the Midget. I spent the day removing the old one and putting in the new one. Unfortunately, there was no improvement in the car's running. Another shiny bit for the engine bay though!

The next day I stopped by the local garage and picked up a new condenser. The condenser (or capacitor) is located inside the distributor. I was determined not to remove the distributor in fear of messing up the timing and point gaps. It was really tricky, but after moving aside the heater hose and while using my handy dental mirror (that I bought when I thought I lost those carburetor bits in the engine), I was able to get the old one out and the new one in. My next tool purchase should be a magnetic screwdriver as that would've been very helpful. When I was finished, I turned the key, the car started right up, and it ran wonderfully. I took it for a short spin with no problems. I just hope it stays this way.

After the spin, I went about replacing the throttle cable on the Mini. My crappy job of taping the two brass caps on the bike cable (from last  month) was starting to give out. The inner cable was getting caught up on something, and the pedal wasn't always fully returning after depression. So I installed the cable I received from Moss. Consistent with other recent purchases from them, it didn't work well at all. After greasing it up a bit, I was able to safely drive the car. But it wasn't smooth during slow, gradual acceleration. It just wasn't right.

The next day (today), I headed back to the bike shop. It turns out they do have similar caps there. So for six bucks, I returned home with a cable, sheath, and two caps. I installed it, and it worked great. I can't believe how unbelievably smooth it is. However, the cable is much thinner than the other one. I don't know if that will be a problem or not.

So both vehicles are back up and running. Looking at the forecast, it seems like the Midget will be seeing more action these days. 58 degrees today to 86 degrees this weekend. What happened to spring?