Rebuilt 239 Y-block and installed in my 29 Model A Rat Rod. Can't get it to start. Got spark, got fuel, got compression (80 lbs). Number one cylinder on compression stroke is pointing at number one wire in distributor with timing mark indicated on crank damper. Points set correct at .015, timing chain correctly adjusted with 12 pins between marks, valve lash set at .019 cold on all cylinders per book. New 40,000 volt coil. New sparkplugs set at .034. New fully-charged Optima battery. Seems to want to start, fires on some cylinders but just won't roll into running. What am I missing?
What you are missing is that rat rods **** and that we really don't want them here. I agree with the poor y block sentiments. I looked at the picture and I thought Good lord, someone actually thinks that **** looks good Tractor supply exhaust and all that We need a memory wipe here
Just to point out the obvious, you may know this already. Yellow or red spark is no good, it will not be able to jump the plug gap under compression inside the piston cylinder. Blue or bluish white with a snapping noise is what we want. Make sure the condenser is good NOS, the modern issue replacements are no good. Another common error, again not trying to insult your intelligence, is to mistake TDC on the exhaust stroke for TDC on the compression stroke. If everything is generally good otherwise the dizzy may have been stabbed "a tooth off", try advancing the distributor about 1" or so if space allows.
is the coil wired correctly on the starter solenoid?? make sure it gets the full twelve volts under cranking. like others say, firing order, 180 off installation of dist. or a tooth off are the likely culprits.
Do you have the right distributor? The 1954 239 has a different cam than all the later Y-Blocks. If you try to run a later dizzy in a '54 it will get out of time in a couple of revolutions. 13 teeth vs 14 teeth on the distributor gear.
Check voltage to the coil with the switch on you might only be getting voltage in the resister byp*** mode and nothing when the switch is in the on mode.
Dude, if you check back in, before you get defensive you gotta read some other threads on this board. (Search "rat rod"). Even though you've been a member since '06 I don't think that you've spent a lot of time on HAMB, or you would know that they really hate rat rods here. There are other sites where you can go nuts and have a ball. These guys strictly want traditional hot rods and customs here, nothing else really. Rat rods are offensive to them. Think "period correct hot rods". I'll bet your firing order is wrong or your distributer is wrong.
I appreciate your honesty and had no idea that anyone that was into hot rods would react like such ***holes. I've been around people who love cars all my life and as long as it had an engine, always willing to talk about it and help out. I joined the HAMB in 2006 when I started working on my Model A, and just never needed any information that required me to say "rat rod". Thanks again for being a decent guy.
If you lined up the timing marks on the cam gear & timing gear on the crank like a small block Chevy that is wrong. I dont recall the exact amount of dots between the marks, check it but I think its like 12 between the marks
Sounds good man. I'm sure after trying a few things you will figure out how to get your motor dialed in, it's always a great feeling when you conquer a mechanical problem. I appreciate when people are p***ionate about their ride and work hard on it. I dig rat rods too, old beaters and stockers, old Japanese and German motorcycles, but I don't really talk about those things here, kinda taboo. I'm sure everyone else is into other things too, but we keep it to traditional stuff, which is what I really dig the most. The threads here are a wealth of knowledge that is unmatched anywhere. These guys are like a set of grumpy encyclopedias, I get beat down too, but I like a lot of the people here and it's been a great way to learn about rodding, and old cars in general. Rock on.
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