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It Ain't Running Right!


Reverend

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Plugs are almost brand new, i cleaned them all and tried again with no change. I have gut feeling that it has something to do with spark but i just dont know what it is. Can i measure my coil somehow, that it is operating correctly? We have major car event coming in 4 days, the first of may....

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I posted this pic in another thread, but it might be applicable here as well. With the tach not installed, the coil is stone cold dead. So when you were cranking the car without the tach connected, it's no surprise that it wouldn't even attempt to start. But then once you reconnected the tach, it should have taken care of that.

 

Here's the pic of the ignition system:

 

pointsignition2_zpsufjy3jrx.jpg

 

When you are cranking (Key in START) position, the ignition switch sends power directly to the tach bypassing the ballast resistor. Then once you release the key to the ON position, that connection is replaced by one where power does flow through the ballast.

 

Do you have voltage on the coil + with the key in the ON position?

Are you triple sure you've got the firing order correct?
Are you triple sure that you've got the ignition timing correct?

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Well shooting from the hip, the behavior in the videos you posted immediately make me think you're starving for fuel.

 

There was just enough gas in the bottom of the bowls to get it to run for a few seconds, and then once that little amount was sucked dry, you might get the occasional pop when trying to start it, but there's not enough in there to sustain running.

 

All the thought so far has been focused on ignition since that's what you had been messing with, but what are the chances your carbs are empty?

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I understand the seeming contradiction. I'm not saying that's definitely the problem, I'm just tossing out ideas since the other more mainstream ideas don't seem to be panning out.

 

As a way to explain the seeming contradiction... Liquld gas isn't very flammable. The plugs could be wet, but if there's no vapor coming into the cylinders when you crank it, it probably won't fire. In other words, It may be possible that the fuel on the plugs could be the last gasp of a bowl running dry.

 

Rule it out? Have you got a simple easy to check if there's an adequate amount of fuel in the bowls?
 

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Guy from the shop said "its not getting enough spark" He could not get it started either, even he's professional mechanic and runs his own shop. He was busy as he** and thats the only reply i got from him. He did not charge me so i could not go after and yell. I checked the fuel bowls and there is enough fuel, and its dripping from the ram pipes as i try to start it. Only rational explanation he has was that distributor was somehow damaged, so I took the distributor back to the guy who modified it from points to no-points dizzy. He said either it works or it does not work at all, so it should not work with "half" power... But i insisted on checking the dizzy anyway. I wonder is there any possibility that somehow all 6 plug wires were damaged at the same time..? I bought yet another set of plugs. Lets see how this works out.

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OK, you got fuel. We can rule that out.

 

Of course it's "possible" that all six plug wires got damaged at the same time, but it's so unlikely that I'm comfortable saying it's statistically impossible. The single wire between the coil and the distributor however could simulate the same effect as all six plug wires going bad.

 

So the dizzy is at the shop that built it? He's going to check it out and let you know?

 

 

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so I took the distributor back to the guy who modified it from points to no-points dizzy. He said either it works or it does not work at all, so it should not work with "half" power...

I had thought this same thing but I had a "half-power" ignition module  I've posted about it before, recently.  I damaged it by running the engine with two plug wires off.  Not sure exactly what caused the damage.  It showed a weak orange spark and would start and run with starting fluid, but not without the fluid.  And this was on a warm engine (note - starting fluid in a warm engine will cause detonation.  I only started it a couple of times and it knocked loudly as it started).

 

What is this "no-points" system you have now?  My problem was with a GM HEI module.

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Do you have spare parts ? If so put an original distributor with points on it for now, so you can go to the car show that's coming.

 

A yellow spark is always no-go, a blue spark is good, but even then it could not be firing under load in the cylinders, i've seen that many times.

When you check for spark, it should be fat blue sparks, and the spark should stay in/around the middle of the electrode and not on the side.

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