1952-59 Ford Ok, here we go again...

Maybe I can stretch a goat's blatter and glue it on with cartilage muck..
Just kidding.

 

I think they would tie a cable to the throttle linkage drill hole in housing and attach to advance plate

 

Rui I see you are closing in on your problem.hopefully that is it. your damp weather comment through me in a different direction but the people on here and ford barn will figure it out.people like myself give you advice on our own experiences glad to see you try and are taking the time to follow them all even though they may not cure your problem.

 

I am and allways will be a learner 54 vicky, as long as the german fellow (alzheimer) doesnt get to me.
I appreciate all the comments and am very happy to see half a dozen guys from distant corners of the world trying to help me. We're oceans apart, not only distance wise, but also as to what concerns the availability of knowledge and parts, so every lead is a possible light at the end of the tunnel.
Thank you very much for the input.

 

I just read through this whole thread for the first time today. And, it sounds pretty much exactly the same as the issue that kept my car parked for about 4 months... After multiple times through the carburetors, changing out every single ignition part and the little ground wire in the distributor that seemed suspect, it ended up being my new condenser. The way I finally narrowed it down to ignition was to pull a plug, put it in the end of the wire, ground it to the exhaust manifold and have someone crank it over while I watched the spark. It had a real weak spark that only sparked every few revolutions of the engine. Not sure yours is the same, but I know mine boggled me for a while. I expected new parts to be good (not always a good ***umption). After I finally figured it out, I took off on my 1500 mile road trip http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...s-hot-rod-hundred.949123/page-2#post-10707949

 

This is another good reason, IMHO, to convert to electronic ignition. The condensers we get now are cheap offshore junk and so are the points. The major stateside suppliers are just not interested in making parts for 50 or 60 year old vehicles; the market is too small. If you get points/condensers in a major brand box you can bet they were produced offshore.

 

Well guys, I can say that, probably dumbly, I replaced my old points, condenser and rotor a couple of months ago for "new" ones. Shouldnt have done it because they were working good. But since the "new" ones worked ok, I didnt give it much thought.
Recently with the present problem, I tryed the old condenser with no benefit.
Maybe I should just try the whole old ***embly at proper gap. I'll do it, no harm will arise and maybe I get surprised.
One thing is for sure, we'll never get points and condenser that will last so long again.
Have I mentioned that these parts are still stamped FoMoCo?

@ Dobie (sorry man, shame on me- only now did I noticed you are the same person with a blue car avatar on the Barn): I'll change to ei most likely.

@ Guthriesmith: I already did that but with another sparkplug. It looks weak to me but regular. I've got a "new" coil on the way.

 

No news here.
Disconnected the manifold to gas pump (wipers) ***y to eliminate a possible vac leak, and I'm waiting for the machine shop to deliver the cap I had made today. Looped the two pipes on the pump.
I'm waiting on the new coil and vac advance unit.
Today, later, I'll install the old points and condenser again and try.
Regards

 

Still no news, still waiting on the vac unit and coil.
I'm a bit confused tough. As I said I disconected the vac line to the fuel pump that feeded the wipers, plugged the port at the manifold and looped the in & out ports at the pump.
Rui 1 - Leaks 0
Yesterday I disconnected the vac line going to the dizzy to check for obstructions. No results. Then with the vac line connected just to the vac unit on the dizzy, I ****ed on it and felt no leaks on the diaphragm. I could swear there was a leak....as I said previously.
Now I'm hoping it is the coil.
I think I'll need psychiatric guidance after this one.

 

I'm gettin furious here.
Ordered new wires from e-bay. Got them. Theyr short for cil 5 and 6 eventough theyr stated as proper fit. Got refunded on parts value but not on shipping which is more expensive than the part itself.
Ordered a new condenser, ignition coil and vac advance unit from a EU German dealer, but they havent arrived yet altough they were mailed on nov the 25th.
Damn...

 

OK guys, the problem seems to be solved, at least partialy.
Thanks to all for the valid inputs and leads so far.
Here's a sequence of happenings:
1) The dizzy was taken to my friends auto electricity shop (since my car's at home) to check for loosenesses. Turned out to be in quite a good shape. It returned home with a NEW condenser.
2) At re***embly I almost lost my mind looking for a unexisting dizzy hold down clamp, but later to notice that the dizzy is held down only by the lockwashers and bolts to the block (dif from the V8s I think)
3) Fired her: almost instant fireup, but died down soon.
At this point a whole lot dif things might be faulty, starting with bad timing, but on the plus side, the engine sounded to be willing to start at any time.
4) installed the NEW coil (which finnaly had arrived ~20 days after order) and she fired right up.
5) She runs poorly, but likely needs tunning, after so much fidling, trial and error approaches. Points gap, dwell, dizzy advance and so forth.
At least I'm now able to drive her to my friend's shop, which is a 5km drive.
Probable causes: bad condenser + bad coil. My friend also proposed that setting the new sparkplugs (which I already had bought a while ago) to proper spec (.34) might not have been very good since the rest of the stuff might not have been in top condition.
What do you think?
Now that she runs I can properly look for a probable whistle, vac leak, I've been earing.

Did I get it through clear? This is kind of confusing even to me. If any good comes from this long lasting ordeal, I hope it is help to someone in the future.

Thanks again. I'll report soon on the outcome of things.

 

I'm gonna be spartan on this:
Weak coil plus 2 ("NEW") burnt sparkplugs. The condenser was also replaced.

I spent a month chasing my own tail. Ignition was all tested at the shop. Coil and condenser were replaced. But the news is that two of the unsuspected sparkplugs, which have little less than a month of use, were busted. Spark was traveling and jumping all over the inside of the plugs and not foccused on the electrode. **** (sorry), but who would tell?
This was one thing that I tested: pulling the plugs, ground them, cranked the engine, look for a spark. It was there alright, but also all over its inside also.

 

Hello. Trying to weigh all the pros and cons for converting my 55 Ford Country Sedan (6v., 272 Y) to electronic ignition. The problem with the inter-web is that there's too much information out there. The car runs okay now, but I'm not opposed to up-grades. Also, I'm not a mechanic, but I know my way around tools. Is this something easy enough to do? Thanks, Mato

 

Mato, search online or at a good parts house for a pertronix conversion, pretty simple conversion. And well worth doing.

 

Out of curiosity, what type of plugs were they Rui?

 

NGKs Edsel. Those were what was readily available at the moment. I'll make sure I test each one next time.
Regards