Re: "Waking Sleeping Beauty"

Posted by Jim L. in OR On 2011/1/8 14:09:48

Hi Gang,

This morning I finally got inside the distributor on my '55 Patrician. I want to thank Howard for tipping me off to the cloth covered wires inside. Happily, they are in great shape.
The same cannot be said of much else. To say the electrical contact areas are burnt doesn't quite convey their condition: Cremated or B-B-Q'd comes closest. The edge of the rotor that provides the path to the plug points in the cap is completely black and the trailing edge appears charred to the extent that the plastic near the trailing edge is either melted or burned away. The points themselves appear melted as well.
If I understand what Howard and Owen have said, it looks like the Ballast Resistor hasn't been doing it's work for some time. The condenser looks like it's taken some time off as well. The more I get into the electrical system the more amazed I am that this car ran at all. My knowledge of the parts may be lacking but I know they aren't supposed to look like THIS!
I got my statement from Max Merritt yesterday and I see they shipped a Ballast Resistor. I'll check the ohms when it arrives and if it doesn't meet Delco specs I'll send it back and get a Echlin ICR 12 from NAPA that thanks to Owen, I know will do the job. I did find and checked the Delco Website and it looks like they no longer have anything that will meet my needs - at least as far as a Ballast Resistor.
I may be overly optimistic, but I really am beginning to think the only thing that keeps this car from starting, aside from an over active ignition switch, is a good tune-up. And a tune-up kit came with the car! I'm basing this on an experience my father had with his '69 Chrysler. It was way overdue for a tune-up but since he was dealing to trade it in he put the tune-up off. The dealing took longer than he expected and one morning he started it up got half way down the street and the car died. It would not start and had to be towed in for that (in late '69) $50 tune-up.
My thanks again to Owen, Howard, 55Clipper JW and anyone I may have left out for sharing your knowledge and insight.
I also want to thank Don (Portlandon)for his suggestion about the Blog which I will attempt to do, and for telling me about this car in the first place.
Be sure to tune in next time kids, for the next thrilling installment!