Howdy folks. I just inherited my grandfathers first car a 1940 ford coupe deluxe. He’s running the Spaulding dual ignition flamethrower on a 52 coupe deville engine. Unfortunately in the last week it has began to backfire through the exhaust. What could be the cause of this? Coils got replaced and it made no difference. Anything helps Owen
Could be a lot of things. Could have a sticky valve or two. How long did it sit before you fired it back up? Could be a bad cap on the distributor, plug wires, timing could be off. Knowing more about how long running before it starts backfiring, when did it last run without the problem? What have you done with it. Etc….
last Friday it ran beautifully. Then Saturday morning it began to backfire. I changed the coils and no difference. Now immediately after ignition the engine backfires under load but not idle. I washed it Saturday and it began to backfire but I’m not sure how to get water out of the distributor as the spalding is different than what I’m used to. Any suggestions?
There was a thread way back in 2005 about the flamethrower distributor. In April of 21 user @hotdamn made a post that he had instruction for the flamethrower and was willing to email them to someone. He is still active and may still have the instructions. It's worth a shot. Water in the unit will make it very erratic and could easily be the cause. If you got water in the engine it could have bent a valve. But, I'd start with the distributor. You'll want see if you can seal the distributor to make it waterproof. So the instructions would be a huge help in taking it apart and putting it back together. Edit: If you decide to take it apart, use your cell phone or gopro to take lots of pictures before and as you disassemble it. It will help when you go to put it back together. And you can't take too many pictures.
What’s the real story? Did this all start after you washed it or prior to washing it? There’s a huge difference in there somewhere. What’s the last thing you did prior to it starting to backfire? If you did did water in there,,,, Unplug your leads off the side plates and unscrew the screws that hold your plug lead plates in place, gently remove them and you will see your rotor. Clean the terminals on the plates and try and wipe out your rotor. You will need jog your motor over to get all around the rotor. Take off your top cap and you will expose your points and rotor , wipe them out best as possible, maybe spray with electro cleaner or the like and put back together, they are the only areas water will effect the flamethrower, take great care with the side plates as they are made of unobtainium. Going in any deeper and your need a few special tools so not to damage things.
Haha the real story is the backfiring started after I washed it. In my mind I didn’t believe I could’ve gotten water inside. But I will definitely try that. Cheers
Yeah, sounds like it was your fault. As said above, be very careful with the side caps as you will never find replacements.
Here is the link. After going back and looking at it closer, it was @40Standard that had the instructions and @hotdamn was asking him a question about his post. Both members are still active and the thread does have a lot of good info in it. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/spaulding-flamethrower-info.85674/ There are a lot of Flamethrower threads here on the Jalopy Journal so you should be able to find almost anything you need to know.
If the distributor is vented, it will eventually evaporate. Looking at pictures, the top plate can be unscrewed and left open while the car is sitting. That should allow the water to evaporate as long as it isn't too humid where you are and there are no internal waterproof seals to prevent the moisture from rising. Desiccant package could be placed under the cap (while the car is not running and removed before use) to pull moisture from the area. The water could leave trace deposits where it was once it evaporates. As mentioned above, you could try electronic contact cleaner to clean up any residue, but parts are very scarce and you need to be cautious when taking things apart. WD40 (water displacement formula 40) was designed to be a treatment for Aircraft magnetos during WWII to prevent the problem you are currently having. Not sure if that would be the best solution with all the modern products available.
The longer the moisture stays in the place it shouldn’t be, the more it will corrode stuff it shouldn’t.
Does it have the vac advance? Mine did. In Port Arthur Texas it is very humid and everything sweats. WD 40 is your friend. Hose it down. I got tired fooling with it and went back stock.
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