Re: Another Spark Question

Posted by PennyPackard On 2024/1/31 12:39:06

I appreciate the support.

I have the right size battery cables. My theory right now is that I jostled something, either a delicate wire, points, something, in the distributor while trying to work through my no-start problem.

Essentially it has been cranking more upon start up(I partially attributed to the northern winter), but otherwise working (this is my daily driver). The car was rear-ended and is going to get a $$ repair at an auto body thanks to the insurance company of the car that hit it while parked. I drove it 70 miles (only the trunk and valence were really damaged), parked it Saturday before last, and had to deliver it to the repair shop on a Monday... of course it was bitter cold that Monday morning and it didn't like that at all. It was firing some, but not enough to start up. I gave up so I could get my son to school and go to work, then tried again later when it was somewhat warmer but even after some troubleshooting around flooding/fouled plugs/choke/battery, no luck. It was almost starting a few times but never stayed alive... up until I pulled the distributor cap to inspect and knock off some corrosion from the points. From then on I've had zero firing and that's when I started really looking if I had spark, and removed just about anything electrical, replaced whatever I could buy quickly or had NOS, except still with no spark. Car is on the street so it limits easy work, also my timing light is stuck in the trunk which is jammed shut from the impact. I do have two batteries now, one is kept charged while I troubleshoot with the other until I'm not confident in it's reserve... then it goes up the three flights to the charger on my porch and the other one goes in.

Starter for sure is not 100%, as are many other things...but I'm still skeptical that it's causing the no-start. I think the cold was just too much that Monday, and I think part of my problem was fuel delivery. In hindsight, I wish my first troubleshoot (other than the battery swap) was to pull the fuel filter from the glass bowl, then spray out the screen from the carb and any other cleaning I could have managed there. It just seems like too much of a coincidence that it was stumbling right up until I had to fiddle with the distributor. I have tried verifying timing using the static timing process from Ross' video (or parts of it I can do without my multimeter which arrives today). Tomorrow I hope to do some continuity checks, throw in new plugs from the stockpile even though mine are only 6mo old, and actually make sure the ignition parts are all functioning, and another round of battery swapping.

One question I had was around the point gap. My feelers are only .016 and .018, manual calls for .017 I believe. Would it be better to go with .018? Also, the points have the spring and ribbon which connect to the condenser screw contact...does the order I put the condenser contact and those ribbons under that screw (which is impossible to get a screwdriver on btw) make a difference?

Thanks