Posted in Fordbarn too, but maybe there's more folks looking in HAMB... ***** 1955 272cuin. 3K miles since a full engine overhaul. Has been running great except for a stopped up carb. Changed that and it was fine. Ran it 50 miles away Saturday..on the return trip, it started burping... and run ok..then burping some more..then run ok...then more steady burping...by the time we got home, it almost would not run. Will not crank now. By 'crank', I mean fire. Battery is great and it turns over just fine. It just won't hit. Have checked: Gas- by pouring some fresh down the carb- still no fire. Points: found them closed (thought that was my prob) opened them to .015 and still no fire. Dist wire to coil - got continuity Ignition on- got 7+ volts on hot side of coil. Changed the condensor. Rotor- changed it Dist cap, looks good All plug wires are in place. Does anyone have an outside the box solution...other than blowing it up?
I posted this on your Ford barn post also but pull the coil wire out of the cap slightly, Have someone crank it over and see if you have spark.Your coil could have quit.
I hate engines... their just an air pump with spark, so the air part is working as in when you hit the starter it turns over. then there are only two things left fuel spark. seems you have covered fuel by pooring some down the carb. so I would start with spark. work from the spark plug back, pull a lead and turn the motor over does it have spark there? also pull the plugs and check them. the plug gap hasn't closed up has it? or the motor is all oiled up from the rings not seating? Once you have determined that the the plugs aren't getting spark ( just working backwards and not saying this is the case but what I do) I then take the dizzy cap off, rock the motor until the points are closed, then turn the ignition on and open the points with a screwdriver, if you have spark to the points it will arc. some other things it could be are the points dirty? take them out and clean with some emory paper, check the underside of the cap, does the rotor ****on contact with the centre terminal in the cap? is the rotor ****on lose? what are the 8 terminals under the cap like? as they can get white deposits on them which can cause the car to run like a pig. also out of the box, the dizzy hasn't moved has it? I would get No.1 on top dead centre and time it again and see how you go. I know it sounds stupid, but it doesn't take the dizzy to spin much to put you out, and a decent boot of the right foot could do that. lastly that I can think of, I put a motor together once and left if for a week or so, came back ****oned everything up did the timing and it would try to fire but just wouldn't drove me nuts. in the end it turned out that I had only tightened the rockers with a spanner not torqued them down. forgot that as it was so long between working on it. so could it be the rockers? I don't think Y blocks have adjustable rockers do they? just some ideas. mostly from playing with flatheads and the odd OHV.
I had a problem like that. The wire to the coil from the key was my problem. I made up the wires when I built the car and didn't squeeze the connector tight enough. When the fan increased speed it forced the air past the coil in such a way it moved the wire so that it lost connection. when I relaxed on the throttle it ran fine. Under load it would "burp" as you say. Check the connectors around the coil wires.
Borrow another coil, and try it [ checking continuity is usually only checked on the primary side ] Hey, if I'm wrong you can give the coil back to the owner!!!!
dist gear? is the rotor spinning when you crank it? BTW flatoz: all y blocks have adjustable rockers, all solid lifters.
Good advice, but I'm going add a little to it. Air pump, yes,but cranking doesn't insure air pumping, compression does. Yes, you need fuel and spark, but without timing it is not going to run. Also remember that timing involves both ignition and valve timing. You have to have the cam and crank in sync before you can properly set ignition timing. So, you need fuel, spark, timing, and compression. As far as the origional problem goes, I'd try another known good coil.
Thanks fellers... I yanked the dist tonight and am going thru it wire by wire and I have a new coil on the way tomorrow. Dist gear is solid. Shaft doesn't wobble. Points look so-so, but will be getting new ones. Wire from sw is good because it was delivering 7+volts to the hot side of the coil. I'll be dropping the dist back in and wiring it with the new coil this weekend and report back. Thanks again!
Latest update.. New coil, new points new condensor new wire from dist to coil better ground wire inside the dist... Haven't tried it all yet, because I'm stuck at 1/4" from getting the dist back in the motor. It look like the hex rod going to the oil pump has tilted over slightly and is preventing the end of the dist shaft from slipping down over it. Dang... :-( I'll keep ya posted...
As promised - update. Put it all back together, and.... IT RUNS!!!! and then my 6 year old Optima battery quit. :-( Seriously... but thanks to all the suggestions!!!! I think it was the coil because everything else had been changed before I yanked the dist... but it is alive again and we'll be cruising after some fine tuning.
Just wanted to post a 'thanks' to everyone who contributed to this thread and to Thunder for asking the question. I figure if I haven't had the problem yet, it's probably only a matter of time! LOL Happy labor day everyone!
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