Okay, it was a beautiful day in the Central Valley today and I took the Speedster out for a spin. Going north bound on HWY 99 I thought I'd pace her out a bit. Getting a lot of thumbs up, I was cruising along between 75 and 90 mph, (maybe a little more on one occassion) depending on who I was passing, feeling this old 'barn fresh' baby was running great. Just pass the Clovis Ave exit, it was as if I turned the key off. I managed to coast her over to the right side fo the freeway, with no tools (bad mistake) and tried to get her going again. She would turn over fine; pumping it, I could smell the gas. I checked all the fuses, checked for a loose wire, all were good and/or tight. I found a wire in the grass next to the highway and skinned it down a bit on both ends, jumped the hot side of the Alt to the positive on the coil, still cranking it with no fire. I did find the neg side of my battery loose, but still it was cranking. A buddy of mine was close and he had a car trailer, so back to Dinuba we hauled it. Once home, I tightened up the neg side of the battery and it started and ran perfectly. I've rechecked the fuses, the wires, pulled the fuel filter (it was clean), I even took a heat gun to the outside of the distributor to see if the "Chinese" electronic ignition was over heating, still nothing. I just can't believe that loose cable to the neg side of the battery could have been the entire problem (remember, it was tight enough for it to crank over, run the radio and all the gauges). I think I'll get a new fuel pump and a higher priced electronic ignition (higher price does mean it's better right?) tomorrow and install them, if for nothing else, just to get them out of my mind.
Have I missed something?
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