Resurecting after a decade of peaceful slumber.

[Dragon]

But it would not have worn down the points cam just sitting. Adjust the points and you will be fine. You are less than 3 minutes from a running truck.

And your truck will fire with less than 5000 Volts. It just will not rev past 2000 or 300 rpm. A spark you can hear but not see is 3000 volts, one you can see is 5000. The coil probably did not die from setting. The condenser maybe but the engine will run if it is missing you just burn up the points. Think of the points this way. The points if sitting at the high point of a cam for 13 years the spring tension might have failed (low chance) or the screw was not tight enough and the spring pressure moved the points adjustment outward while it sat. (High probability) Your spark depends on coil charge time. If the engine does not spark when the rotor is turning that is way more a problem then the coil spark.

[dbarker]

Ok, I'll give the points another shot.......

I'll have to get someone else out here to help so I can see what its doing a little better.

i need to set them with roughly a matchbook covers space between them when they're at high cam or low cam?

[Dragon]

At high cam.

http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/670.cfm

Oh and I did not send you the link earlier as this s not a tune up it is a troubleshooting session. To one with my experience what took us a couple of days would have taken me about 45 minutes to find. You will learn even if you only have this happen once. The rest will be easy after the VooDoo part is over.

[dbarker]

ok, i give.


the points are clean. the points are adjusted and gaped properly.

the points do open and close as the engine turns. i just didnt see it before.

when cranking the engine i can produce the tiniest of tiny sparks from the HT coil wire. I'm talkin little. the wire has to be completely touching ground to get even the littlest attempt out of it. If i hold the Ht wire the same distance from ground as there is between the points .017 then i get nada outta that wire. there is still spark across the points, but not much. Let me describe this as clearly as I can.... you know that spark you got off your finger the last time you got shocked turning on a light, or closing a car door or whatever? thats probably 40 times the amount of spark im seeing. I should get a couple of kids with balloons to stand there and shock the truck back to life at this point....

I wish i knew what was up. im pretty sure this is as close to no spark as you can get with spark.

putting it all together, and pulling the number one plug wire, i can not get a spark at the plugs... i replaced the cap and rotor with new just to be sure. I even went so far as to take a plug wire i know to be good off a running car, put a brand new plug in it and with the points set properly, a new cap, new rotor, new plug wire, new coil, and new plug i got nada at the plug.

SO, I've gone back to the old parts, as they produced the same results and look just as new. Everything is as I found it and as it should be.

Anyone have ANY more theories as to whats going on?

EDIT:

I want to be able to do this and get this kind of result. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXSQLmlC ... re=related

[Dragon]

You can take time and clean the wiring connectors at the coil. Clean all the wire connectors. You won't get that spark because you don't have electronic ignition.

Meter voltage from coil to ground and battery + to ground.

[fordman]

no the points or cam wouldn't wear by sitting. but i was taking guesses as to why you said they weren't opening in the one post you made. maybe they were worn and it died not because it was out of gas. but just looked to be out of gas.

now that they are working for sure then the problem has to be elcetrical as to why the coil isnt firing when hooked up. did you check the ground on the condensor at all? take it off and make sure it was clean at least?

[dbarker]

Took it off and made sure it was all good.

For good measure, the wire felt a little brittle on the condensor so I shelled out the $5 for a new one.

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it tried to start with some ether in the carb. ive got constant fireing now, just gotta get the gas pumped up to the engine.... we all know how long that can take.

Thanks for sticking with me everyone. She'll be going by the end of the week for sure. Just gotta get tires on the rear end, and air in the fronts.

[fomocoguy]

Well, you say you changed a plug wire, but did you change the main wire that goes from the coil to the cap? If it is bad it would explain things. I've had plenty of old motorcycles and such that had plug wires go bad from setting; all it takes is for one small spot to dry up and crack or corrode on the inside.

EDIT Too late!! I was writing this as you were leaving your last post! Glad you got your fire!

[fordman]

it does sound liek you just need gas to the cabr now. good deal. i was thinkign abotu driving down there just to get out of the house for awhile to help you get it started. but i have no gas money. hitchhiking probably would be too cold.

[convincor]

What I use is a kechup/mustard bottle with a tip and fill the carb bowl with fuel thru the vent.
Gear oil bottle works to. you get the point. Crank'n & crank'n aint good for the starter.

[Dragon]

What I use is a kechup/mustard bottle with a tip and fill the carb bowl with fuel thru the vent.
Gear oil bottle works to. you get the point. Crank'n & crank'n aint good for the starter.

Ah ha cheating I see. You didn't want to type that again. Nitro burners always carried gas in a squeeze bottle before they switched to electronic injection. Nitro is hard to light when cold so we squirted gas in the butterfly scoop to give the engine something to catch on.

[dbarker]

, I have a small plastic cup I use. I used to use an old tuna can. I'll have to give the squirt bottle a try.

[convincor]

didn't see much sence in typing it twice.
Just another good time to do this is a new motor. crank'n it over a lot just wipes the lube of the cam and could be disasterous. You want that motor to fire quick and get the oil slinging up to the cam...
13 years of sitting there's not much lube on the cam/lifters either...

[Dragon]

Yep even on a racer if the cam lube is oil based and not grease based like most Molykote products cranking the engine for a long time can do a lot of damage. Pre oiling the engine helps but at 13 to 1 your engine had better start in less than a minute because the engine is turning so slow the pump does not move enough oil.

[dbarker]

I DID IT!!!! I got it started up!!!!!


That has to be the worlds greatest sound. a 360 feeding a vintage cherry bomb setup.

There was some smoke, but not alot. Took a bit but she settled into a nice smooth idle.

Drove it up to the house, front tires are holding air perfectly, rears are dead now.... i put as much air in em as i could before i moved it. But now it's on pavement and i can get a floor jack under it to change em out.


Heres the new dilema. She diesled for a bit after killing it, An hour later I can;t get her to fire even with a little ether. I'm thinking flooded? I'm going to let the old girl set for awhile and clean out all the crap.

I'll be posting some other stuff in other forums.... ie (clutch is stiff... like push it and it stays down, til you pull it back up & no brakes.....)