Im trying to start up my Chevy -51. Unfortunately I dont have any spark. I have 12 v on the coil, new breakerpoints (adjusted to 0,40-0,45 mm) and they are closing, new condensor, new rotor and cap. Ive got ground from coil to distributor, new ignition leads. What am i doin wrong???? Thankful for anwers! Kind regards // Patrick
Check your spark right at the points,by opening them when they are closed and the power on. If you don't have spark there the new points may be dirty and not making contact. Gary
Also the plastic bushing through the side of the dist. That bolt can ground out on the dist body if the bushing is bad.
Post a pic of the distributor and the inside of the cap, sometimes you just overlook something someone else might notice.
Did you set the gap on the distributor with the rubbing block on the points (contact set) on the high point of one of the distributor cam lobes? If you look close at this 51 truck distributor you can see that the rubbing block is on a high point of of the distributor cam and the points are open. That is where you want it when you set the points with your feeler gauge between the contacts. I've seen all too many guys set the points on the flat part of the cam and the points never close. The above distributor had been laying in a box in on the floor of a farm truck I bought a couple o years ago and was fully covered with dirt and grease before I dug it out and took the photo for someone last year. Also was your feeler gauge spotlessly clean? any oil film may cause the points to not make contact well.
An easy way is to connect a test light to power then touch the lead to the breaker plate, do it with the key on and the points closed so there is a load on all the connections. if the light doesn't light the breaker plate is not grounded. Next go back to the coil with the test light connected to POWER and touch the lead to the negative(distributor) side of the coil, while cranking you should see the light flash on and off. if it stays off the points are not grounding, if it stays on the points or condenser are shorted to ground. Another thing to check it that you have power to the pos side of the coil BOTH with the key in the run position AND the crank position.
O.K. time to jerk your chain, You could be dealing with one of those goofy point eliminators right now says they guy who pulls his distributor every year. Then you would be driving your car right now instead of fooling with the best thing they had a 100 years ago
This is how the dist looks with all the internal parts. Today ive connected a sparkplug to the sparkwire from the coil, had the power on. I've got a tiny spark from both the breakers and occasionally from the sparkplug when I separated the points. Right? I measured the battery - only 11.99 v. Maybe its a badly charged battery that wont get the enough power to produce the spark. The breaker points has ground. Battery on charge during night. Next test tomorrow. Thank you for all the helpful answers. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I've got light when I touch the braker plate with closed points. Couldnt try the coilside due to inadequate lenght of my arms to reach the ignition lock will get some help friday. Thanks for answers, it is helping me to understand Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
dont know if anyone has suggested or, if you already tested the coil. especially if ran on its side it can/will "saturate" and die. ohm it out...... also, are you running a resistor, or is in fact a true 12v coil? sometimes no resistor will cause it to run erratically or not at all.
points will run a car under 12v. This might be a dumb question, but did you pull a plug and verify that it in fact has no spark? or assumption? just a thought if its new cap and all, what if maybe your wires are off a post or so and its just not giving spark at appropriate timing?
Was the truck originally 12 volts? If not and it has been switched has the coil been switched to 12 volt? Did you have the distributor out?
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