Bullet Proof Points

Exorcising Lucas

One of the problems that sometimes occurs with Series Rovers is a grounding of the Lucas points. When that happens, you are dead in the water until you locate the problem.
Part of the problem is the cheap plastic insulator Lucas puts on the points. When it wears, melts or is misaligned, you have a dead Rover. Remember the point spring must be electrically isolated from the rest of the point set and distributor for the points to work. The low tension wire and condensor wire must make contact with the point spring, but not the post.
To make my points bullet proof, I throw away the cheap plastic stuff. I replace it with a teflon bushing and two teflon washers of the appropriate size. Just take a set of points to the hardware store and try a few until you find a set that works. Then buy spares as well.
Slip a teflon washer on the post first, then the bushing. Slip the point spring over the bushing. You may need to spread the eye a bit.
Of course next comes the low tension lead and condensor wire. They must contact the point spring. The eye terminals on them must go over the bushing. I always had problems with that Lucas low tension lead as well. I got rid of mine. I run a wire from the coil straight to the points. I used the old low tension lead plastic plug to fill the hole in the side of the distributor. I just drilled it out and ran my new wire through it. I put on an eye terminal that will fit over the bushing.
Next comes the other teflon washer, then the nut. You now have bullet proof points. It would not be a bad idea to check the circuit with a multimeter prior to turning on the key. Just set the multimeter to ohms, and place the probes on the points contacts, with the points open. The result should be an open circuit. Without the fragile low tension lead, the points can actually melt if they are grounded out. If your multimeter shows electrical flow, check your connections on the points post.
Don't forget to put a drop of motor oil in the shaft under the rotor. For tricks on timing, click here.

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