My 49 Chevy truck is about to be doused in gas and lit up nice. I got it a couple weeks ago from HotRodPrimer via StevieG. After a shot bit of tweaking we had it running on carb cleaner, as the tank is pulled being cleaned out. Well, after that night I had the great idea to replace everything in the ignition system-coil,points/condensor,plugs,plug wires. you get the picture. now, squat. it does nothing. we aren't getting spark at all now. My brother and I worked on it for about an hour last night and got no where so we gave up. So, does anyone have any ideas for me? someone hop in their ride and head down to my house to help me get this thing going- beer and dinner on me
\ whatever you want Surf. cheesesteaks, whatever. We had the meter out last night and couldn't pin down where were were losing power exactly. We had pulled a plug out and was using it to check spark and nothing. I'm going to pop the old condensor back in and see if that does it. that's just about the only thing we didn't do last night.
you know, i was thinking the same thing after i screwed it up. this is(was) my rationale- ignition parts are cheap and the trucks been sitting for a while, I thought it would be a safegaurd to keep me from sitting in the brokedown lane on the highway one day.
You have power to coil? With power to coil, and points closed, pull the arm away form the distributor cam and see if you get a spark. If no, then you have bad wire to points/faulty points and condensor. If you have spark there, and no spark from your coil then then replace coil. Also, it sounds dumb, but check the new cap. Ive seen the electrode in caps be bad or even missing.
check for power at the + term of the coil with key on. check for signal at the - term of the coil while cranking with a test light (it will blink rapidly). if no signal check points to make sure they are closing also check the wire that grounds the breaker plate and check the wire from the points to the coil. check the cap and rotor for broken parts. if everything looks ok then replace the condensor.
I've rotated in and out all the old and new parts in every combo possible. I'm going to work on it again later today and see if I can get anything going again.
Danny, not yet, been busy with work. I know it's close I just need to not let frustration get the best of me. I was pricing up pertronix conversions so I don't have to deal with the points as I think that's the problem.
yeah. we had it going on carb cleaner with no ballast resistor so i know that's not it. i've switched the condensor twice now, new one in- no dice, old one back in-no dice.
So this morning I was thinking. if the truck was converted to 12V, why do I need a ballast resistor? I thought those were used to drop the voltage back to 6V?
The voltage goes down to 7-8 volts. The lower voltage saves your points . . . makes em last longer. Have you tried hot wiring the engine to see if it will start? Wire from battery source to positive side of coil will tell you if you have an ignition components problem or a bad source from the ignition switch. Inspect the primary wiring inside the distributor. Sometimes these will be abraded and ground out.
thanks C9, i'll run a hot wire tonight. We've byp***ed the ignition for the most part using one of the trigger style starters that hooks to the starter itself. this way I can be under the hood, start the truck, and see what's going on all at once.
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