Good morning. I offered to help a neighbor of mine to get his 36 ford running. It has been in his family for 60 years and has 47k miles on it and everything appears to be original. It was last run in 1984. I have been a tech for 30 years but never touched a flathead. I am at the pont that it cranks, I have good fuel, 6 volts at the coil but no spark. Interesting distributor design to say the least and even better placement. I ***ume I need to remove it to inspect/replace the points? In the pictures I have found it appears that there is a slooted groove on the front of the cam that the distributor fits in to. Any tricks to removing the distributor and anything i have to be careful of when reinstalling? If anyone has a link to a tech article it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for any help. Carl.
The slot in the front of the cam is slightly offset. Care in replacing the dizzy is important. In the old days, if a good distributor machne and a man who knew how to run it was not available, we would replace the dizzy with a rebuilt. Those points can be changed on the bench, but getting them right is very difficult.
Just put it back on the way you took it off. :] Clean the points, don't replace them unless they are well worn. Replace the condenser (this is possibly your no-spark problem), then look at the coil.
More info on the distributor. It has a plastic top cover held on with 3 screws and the condenser is attatched to one of these screws. The coil is externally mounted on the intake with the coil wire entering the center of the plastice dist. cover previously refered to. Do not know if this is stock. Also the side covers on the distributor each have a bundle of 4 wires vs. the crab style I have seen pictures of. Does this sound stock for "36? Thanks again.
The plastic top is an aftermarket adapter since the original coils ar "junk" otherwise it sound like an original 36 diver's helmet Dizzy
Yes, that is an aftermarket adaptor for a conventional coil and that is an original type dist. The "crab" type came out later, in the 40s, IIRC. "Back in the day", when you pulled the dist. and replaced the points, the simplest way to get it right was to carry it to local shop or dealer (the dist) and have them set it up and adjust on their machine. The machine was usually from Stewart Warner and had flashing lights, gauges, and a 360* graduated dial around the centrally located dist mounting point. Here the point gap and dwell were set and the dual point sets were synchronized with each other. The timing advance was checked and set also. There is another way that involves protractors, angles, test lights, and feeler gauges, but I never used it. Enough searching and you should find it! Then came the trickey part, reinstallation. That slot in the face of the cam is offset to one side and you must turn the dist shaft so that the tongue that protrudes is offset in the same direction. Then the dist will seat "home" and the bolts will line up OK. Due to the difficultiy of reaching the dist and of seeing the slot well, many a dist has had the ears broken off trying to tighten it up with the tongue and groove reversed. The best one of these dist had "11A" stamped on the end of the dist shaft, and one well set up would outperform the '49-'53. There's no engine ever built that looks as good in full dress as a flathead Ford, and they have a sound all their own. I can tell as soon as I hear a pre '54 Ford crank and run whether it still has a flathead. No need to raise the hood and look. But oddball stuff like this dist mounting, current parts availability, power output compared to more modern engines, etc. IMO makes them impractical for all but the most ******** traditionalist or a stock restoration. Dave
Oddball distributor mounting? You mean bolting it back on & it only goes on one way? Current parts availability? Like the fact you can buy any part you need for one of these beasts at dozens of different shops. 150-200HP in a light roadster is adequate power output... Glad you feel that way - more flatheads for me.
Flat Ernie, The oddball part is that it (dist) will go on the wrong way ALMOST all the way, and if you're standing on your head, humped over a fat fender like a monkey ****ing a football, reaching down in front of the engine behind the radiator, iit's easy to think you've got it right, stick the bolts in and upon tightening, snap one or more ears off the dist hsg. I can go out this afternoon and pick up enough sbc engines to overload my 3/4 ton p'up before dark if I have the cash. Can't even remotely approach that in flatmotors in a month with a lot more cash! Yeah, you can have my share of what's left, I had all I needed 50 years ago! Dave
I run a divers helmut on my 38... runs great. Just because you can't make it work, don't call it junk. --------------------------------------- You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do. Henry Ford
Original coils are notorious for breaking down & losing spark when hot. When rebuilt with modern materials, they do just fine. However, it's a lot easier to use the conversion kit as replacement coils are as close as your nearest parts store. It won't go on the wrong way. Almost only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, & nuclear weapons - It will not seat properly. It will stick up above the timing cover nearly 1/4" - so snapping ears off isn't a problem inherent in the design, it's a problem inherent in the execution. It's a foolproof design - obviously, however, the fool has been improved...
Post pic if you can...two types of '36 distributor, plus '37-40 and 1941 will bolt on. Build my patent crab degree wheel, I can supply dwell figures for whicher type, and I think I have found a timing setting method for the earlies.
Flat Ernie, I think it's "the quality of a fool has improved"! Remember, I go back to about '51 as a gearhead, with enough business, sport, and personal contact with those who referred to themselves as "mechanic", to know there was an enormous difference in the median skill level between then and now, when it came to repairing or tuning a Ford flathead. There were Bozo's out there who could **** up a wet dream calling themselves mechanics who would buy a rebuilt distributor rather try to set up the points in those old flatheads, and then get it half a round out and try to "pull it in place" with the mounting bolts, thereby breaking off ears. How do I know that? Because I worked at the parts store where they tried to return for exchange/refund! Next up the skill scale came my level. Here you know there's a real science closely akin to Rocket Science involved in setting up point gap, dwell, initial timing, and advance. And you take your dist and your new "double springed, platinum points" down to the local shop where the local "guru" and his dist machine may be found. The local hero shuffles back into a dark back room, and back in the corner sits a console machine, usually lettered "Stewart Warner". The Icon keeps his body between you and the setup he does on your dist. Then, WoW! Motors hum, lights flash, and the Mad Doctor works his Magic! You carry it back to the shop knowing if you are careful and get the offset right, it'll almost fall into place. And another of Henry"s babies will fire before the engine completes a full revolution! Next up the ladder and I'd say pretty much on the top of this "Black Art" pyramid are those who actually have digested, retained, and applied the math and geometry to set them up as Bruce mentions and apparently has a working knowledge of it's application. Dave
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