I'm still pretty green at working on old cars and this one is becoming a little bit of a head scratcher. I probably have missed something dumb or obvious. Issue - a few weeks ago I took it for a drive, about 10 mins from home it started spluttering, backfired and died. Inspection showed the positive choke lead had come disconnected and the choke never opened. Reconnected it, gave it time to dry out and drove it almost home before it started sputtering at idle, died and wouldn't start again. Got it home, now it will start if left to sit for several hours, but dies ~30 seconds after starting and won't start again unless you give it some time. Plugs are not wet. What I've tried: - make sure it has fuel in the tank - replace fuel filter - clean carb jets - check for fuel pressure at carb (pressure good, pumping the throttle shows fuel going into the bowls) - checked plugs (dry, but old) - replaced plugs and plug wires, confirmed correct firing order. - checked timing by locating TDC and checking points are at plug #1 - checked spark at plugs - checked vacuum caps for cracks, replaced a damaged cap. Only things I can think of doing next: - check points gap - rebuild carb - check vacuum (could be a carb or intake gasket) - replace distributor with HEI and curse the points to hell. Am I missing something stupid?
Look at the condenser. Those little ******s are sneaky. I had an issue with one. Everything looked fine. I just brushed the wire, and it fell off. Just enough to maintain contact, vibrate and lose it.
Could be the sock filter in the tank coming apart and clogging up your fuel intake. After it sits awhile the debris floats away from the fuel line and it fires back up. Just a thought. You could disconnect the line from the fuel pump coming form the tank. Then blow low pressure compressed air through the line and listen for bubbling in the tank. Joe Sent from my DL1168A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Plugged pickup in the tank as Oldsjoe suggested, haak ppens a lot on old cars that sat for a long time than someone got them running again. I dumped more junk out of the tank in my 51 Merc than you can imagine including the broken neck of a coke bottle. I've seen shop rags that had been stuffed in the filler neck get in the tank and block the pickup tube. Try this though. Loosen the gas cap and see if it keeps running with the cap loose. I've had a lot of problems with gas caps that were sold new as vented that didn't vent. Depending on how much gas you have in the tank the fuel pump will create a vacuum in the tank that stalls the engine until the vacuum gives out when the engine is just sitting. The more fuel the quicker it dies. Weak or loose condenser, suspect coil that gives out when it gets warm.
Ditto on the condenser. They are all mostly junk, the new manufacture. Install a known good one from back in the day or a Motorcraft. Coils will go intermittent when hot as well, but the condenser is an easy test.
Hi arete.....Have a neighbor with 56 Ford ..his car had the same symptoms ..I hadent worked on Y blocks for 30 years ..but i remembered a similar problem I came across with them...there is a wire runs across the dissy under neath the breaker plate ....with the age of it the wire's plastic or fabric insulation could have dropped of and the bare part is shorting and stops engine..My neighbor had same problem and did all the same things as you have done.I suggested he pull the dissy and check the wire under the plate...problem solved with new piece of wire...he also has changed to electronic set up...far better than points
I eventually got my distributor update kit delivered (rotor ****on, points, condenser) installed it and set timing. Runs like a champ. Thanks for the advice!
+1 for condensor problems. We used to run Cobra's in the FIA Historic races, and they had to be run with the points ignition. The condensors you buy now are generally cheap Chinese sh*t, and we had no end of problems with cars failing after a lap or two, only to re-start perfectly when you went to recover them. We found (after a lot of tearing out of hair) that if you run two condensors in parallel they perform much better. Even if the individual condensors are weak, two together will work. We ran the additional one at the coil end to keep the disi looking 'stock'.
Had a very similar issue with my Y-Block. Make sure you have a good condenser, AND before you put a condenser in, make sure the plate in the distributor is clean and rust free. The condenser needs a good ground, especially the new ones available today.
I checked out your profile, and I'm just curious It says '63 Comet. With a y-block? cool. Like to see a pic of that.
Happened twice to me with my 56. (Condenser) Installed a Pertronics 1 four years ago and have not had any problems since. I bought their coil and left the stock ballast resister in the circuit. Good luck.
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