when i was having big problems with a motorcycle i was fixing i strapped an extra spark plug to the engine so I could attach a plug wire to it real quick to see if I was still getting a hot spark. 
also. will it start with either or butane?

The running was short lived. Garaged the car, cooled down, started idled with choke open. Dropped the choke, car idled too low then died. Adjusted throttle, seemed too low. Tried to start back up, nothing. Cranks but would not start.

Pulled plugs and not seemed to be running rich.

Will try again.

Thanks.

Finally got to test drive it again. Disconnected WB wire from coil.. Six miles, .5 hr later, still running. Genius!

I'll slowly increase the distance, will keep driving the thing.

Thank you so much.

row

None at all and it came with the haynes manual. The question is kind of idiotic, now going back to it. Just trying to get ideas. Thanks

Please do not take offense at the following.

The nature of your questions and what you have and have not tried yet suggest you do not have a service manual for your car.  You absolutely must get one.  Once you study the fuel and ignition system sections and refer to the wiring diagrams you will better understand how things are supposed to work and therefore... be able to make logical decisions on what to try next in troubleshooting.

Previously you asked if your tach (RVC 2414) was "right for this car".  If you mean was it original, the answer is "no".  Your car would not have a factory tach fitted.  Will it work?  Sure... if it worked in the Triumph it was likely in before.  

However, DO NOT add anything to the car at this time.  Do not add another variable to the troubleshooting.  If the tach is "dead" with an internal short... and you connect it to your car... the tach will act as a kill switch and prevent your ignition system from making sparks.  Again, while the tach may work, don't add it to the system at this time.  Save it for after you get the engine running again.

I'll be wiring the tach today. It didn't came with the wires, i'll be making my own. having reversed polarity, where should i be connecting the tach to the coil now?

Thanks.

The ignition wiring looks fine.  As I mentioned earlier, you have red to coil (+) and black to coil (-)  That's all the electronic ignition needs other than a good ground connection where it is clamped in the block. 

If you look at that black wire on coil (+) you will notice it is just a short bit of wire crimped to what is coming out of the harness.  The original cloth covered wire would have been white.  For clarity you should eventually change that short bit of wire to white but don't mess with it now.  Get the engine running first. 

Since you don't have a tach, I suggest that you disconnect the white/black wire from coil (-).  That wire is not currently doing anything and the far end could be shorted to ground somewhere which would prevent the coil from making high voltage for the spark.

I'll look into that ignition wiring. Thank you. Wonder if there is a diagram about these conversions.

I see some great things. Se7en Enterprises may have built the engine.

It looks like an original wiring harness adapted to work with an alternator.
The cooling fan is on the wrong way.
Wires, like those going to the right hand headlamp, are not run where they are supposed to be run, under the slam panel, and this makes me think that the last person to assemble the car is unaware of some small details. I see several replacement wire terminals and this is not common on an aged wiring harness. These could be replacements after failures I described in an earlier post, and can also fail again faster than factory double barrel crimps that also crimp to the insulation.

The ignition circuit is not fused. It operates the coil and the charging. A failure in this circuit, which has been modified from the original generator and regulator, could cause your issue. 

Please let me know any specific area i should post. I appreciate all the help! Thank you!

I only have one additional comment to supplement those made by Dr.Mini, Norm, and Mur.  

In general your coil wiring looks OK except for the fact that a previous owner has used a black wire to power coil (+).  Once this starting and running problem is sorted out (and not before it is sorted out) you should replace the black wire by running a new white wire to the ignition switch.  Retaining the correct color codes for the wires will make troubleshooting future problems a lot easier.

As Mur suggested, some other pictures of the car and its engine bay will help us help you troubleshoot the problem.

The distributor in the images is a 1-2-3 distributor. There is ample information on the net about these. I had one of the earliest production examples of these, and they work as long as they have power.

While you have looked at the easy battery terminal and ground items, the ground strap between the body and the drivetrain is the one likely to cause symptoms like you have described. Also, please visually inspect the throttle cable to ensure that it has not been damaged by conducting high amperage.

Further, this is an A+ block. Clearly the car has had many modifications over the years. Some more images of the engine compartment, dash and so on will help to identify the car better.

In addition to the ground issue, some common problems can be simply broken wire terminals. Sometimes a wire might be hung in a poor manner and the wire will be stressed and fail right where the connector is crimped to the end. 

Another problem could be that the car originally had dual voltage to the coil, 12V for starting and lower voltage for regular running. Most electronic ignition systems require 12V all of the time and so changes need to be made to remove the lower voltage/ballast resistor system.

an RVC tach is good, that is what you want, when using electronic points (the earlier, RVI tach has troubles when used with an electronic points engine)


Regarding your coil polarity, the point they were trying to make about it, but had not said specifically is this:  now that your car is a negative ground car, you want the "-" post of the coil attached to the points (which connect to ground when they are closed) and the "+" post of the coil connected to the white wire (which is the +12V supply from the ignition key switch).

In addition, since your "points" are now an electronic module, its red wire also goes to your "+" post and its black wire to your "-" post.


If the polarity of the coil is backwards the engine will run just fine, but the power will be slightly reduced.  It makes a big difference in the amount of spark energy (15~30%), but an A series engine has excellent burn characteristics and tends to run well even with low power ignition.



N

i still have limited knowledge about electrical but It's definitely been switched to negative ground. the car drove fine prior to few days ago. It's something totally new. I have not made any changes nor added anything.

The car came with a Smiths RVC 2414 tach but no wires. I'm hoping to track wires by tomorrow so I could check the needle as suggested above. Is this the correct tach for this particular car? I read different types of Smiths. RVI and RVC.

Thanks

You're indicating the WB and B wires to the coil may be wrong according to the wiring diagram, but please look closer at what you have. If the car was originally Positive Ground with a generator, it would have been converted to Negative Ground when they changed to an Alternator. When you change polarity of the electrical system the wires to the coil get reversed. So, double check the wiring diagram vs the polarity of your Mini.

Black and red Wires from dizzy.

Wires on ignition coil

Unfortunately, no tach as of yet. Thanks

Total of four wires on the coil. GCL 110 Unipart

On negative side: black wire from distributor and what seems to be white/black wire from harness.

Positive side: red wire from dizzy and black wire from harness

Checked wiring diagram and WB should be on + side and white (currently non existent) to neg side. I'll try upload photos.

Thanks.

If there are red and black wires going from the dizzy to the coil, that indicates a previous owner has installed an aftermarket electronic ignition.  Generally if they fail, they completely stop working.  You said "coil leads".  How many wires are on the coil and what colors are those wires?

While that isn't supposed to happen, it can happen.  It may be an indication of what the problem is, but it is not the problem itself.

Also check the ends of the cables where they connect to the boot floor and the solenoid.

Does the car have a tachometer?  If it does, watch how the tach behaves when the engine dies.  Does the needle stay pegged at zero while you crank the engine on the starter or does it vibrate and bounce a bit?  Remember to post back with the number and colors of the wires on the coil.

Hey there. Okay, i checked that lead, it's not insulated to begin with, red and black wire twisted together to the coil leads. No sign of burnt or shorting wires. I pulled the vacuum line to yhe carb and it's full of fuel. (Im not familiar with this as of yet) I suppose that vacuum shouldn't be filled with fuel, am i right on this?

Checked battery posts and connection, clean and snug.

Thanks.