Kids and I worked on the truck most of the day and finally went to start it up about 9:30 pm. Fill it with coolant (geeze, these things take a lot of coolant) and discover a leak at the water pump at my adapter plate. Still pissed off about the rube rebuilder screwing up my nice rebuildable GM water pump core. The cheezy asian after-market rebuilt unit I got from the FLAPS as a replacement has an impeller in it that doesn't look like it's gonna move any water at all. Gonna give my screwed up GM pump BACK to the rube and tell him to make it right...period. Regardless, we decided to give it a go anyway, even with the small leak, just to see it run. Cranked it over and ...nothing. It won't fire up. Got fuel, but got no spark. After several attempts, I pulled the number one plug and attached the ignition wire to it and held it to the block when cranking...no spark at all. So here is the question. No wiring harness in the truck as of yet. I have the positive pole of battery jumped to the positive pole of the coil, negative of the coil to ballast resistor (12V system in this truck now), ballast resistor to distributor. Engine was running well when pulled from last truck, so I did NOT change out points (or reset them as they looked pretty good) or condensor, or cap or rotor. Cap and rotor look brandy new, so I figured why change them out, motor should at least FIRE up with the old stuff in it (or at least show a spark of some kind). It WAS running when pulled from it's last home. Do I have this thing wired up right to run it, or have I just been away from this stuff for so long that I have made a stupid mistake? Can't tell you how badly the kids were disappointed when it didn't fire up. Put them to bed cranky. Now I'm going to bed cranky, too. Couple of adult beverages eased my disappointment a bit, but not all that much. Can't work on it again 'till Tuesday and maybe not even then as we are all going away Wednesday and I have to pack tomorrow and Tuesday. Got court all day Monday and have to review my notes tomorrow night as well. Any ideas from my friends? Andy
Okay, my bad. Had the positive of the battery hooked up to the negative of the coil. However, I hooked it up correct this morning (as outlined above) and STILL no spark. Could I have fried the coil by hooking it up reversed last night? I don't see how, but maybe someone can enlighten me. Andy
Andy, you need to have the positive from the battery to one side of the ballast resistor and from the other side of the resistor to the + (Pos.) on the coil. The wire from the distributer straight to the - (Dist) side of the coil. If still no spark pull your coil wire out of the DISTRIBUTER and hold near a ground. With the cap off place a screwdriver where you can work the arm on the points, let the screwdriver rattle around and contact other parts and if you get a spark this way then file or sand the heck out of the points. Gap at about .016 or 017 and check for spark again. These old points form an oxide film in a short time, especially of exposed, and this usually does the trick. Good luck
Thanks Evan, Will try that. Did look at the points and they seemed to be very gray and oxidized but not pitted or too worn, so I left them alone. Oxidize if left for a short time? How about five years give or take? Think that could do it? Had battery charging all night. Will rework the wiring and try the fix you recommend later today (office hours this morning). Will update you. Thanks for the reply. BTW, your photo bucket is AWESOME. How long have you been doing this? I think I remember you saying you are in your 70's. I know why you still go to work. It's all about passion and purpose. You must really love what you do because you have talented people working for you and you turn out a great product. Maybe one of my boys could do an apprenticeship in your shop in the future if they are interested. Not too many guys left who have the attention to detail that you have. Thanks again, Andy
Solid Advise! And while you have the cap off, check for oxidation on the rotor and contact points in the cap. Inspect the cap for cracks too, as that will give you troubles down the road also.
Normally, the ballast resistor is "bypassed" when the key is in the "start" position, giving higher voltage to the primary side of the coil and therefore higher output (spark) on the secondary side during cranking. For your purpose of just running the engine for a short period of time, I'd get rid of the ballast resistor,
Success Yes!!!!!!! Took out points and they were indeed much worse off than I thought. filed them down and wired it according to Evan (Thank you, Thank you, Thank you) and away it went. Turned over and started with no problem and ran REALLY well (sort of). Fuel pump is weak and will be replaced, timing is off and carby is just too old and has sat too long (I have an NOS Carter YF waiting to be put on). I'm certain the dwell is off also as the points needed mucho filing and were very thin when put back in. Biggest thing is that "It's ALIVE". Not only that, but after it ran a little while, oil began to come out of the weep holes in the rockers. Plenty of oil pressure as well. Number two son in the cab operating starter and checking gauges reports oil pressure gauge being "over half way up" to 60 lbs. A little fine tuning and replacing of some key parts and I'm certain that it will run absolutely fabulous. Engine sounds GREAT. No knocks, throttle response is good considering the bad carby, running on all six and even the valves sound like their within normal limits for now. Just a little noisy like their supposed to be. But... most of all...the KIDS. They were in seventh heaven to actually see the engine run after all their hard work. An extremely gratifying experience for them (as well as dad) and many high-fives going around for quite some time. Big smile as well. Also, MY dad and mom were over when it happened so they got to see it and join in the celebration. Thanks everyone for all your help. Now that I've met my immediate goal, I'm going to disappear and never post to this forum again. HA, like that's EVER going to happen with me. You got me forever and I promise to get some more grilling going real soon Andy
I L-O-V-E happy endings! Just one of many I'm sure you'll have,Andy! Ahhhhh~ I can almost smell that grill going....
A scene from Young Frankenstein is in my head! When Gene Wilder says-It's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!! Way to go Andy!
Young Frankenstein is EXACTLY what I was thinking when I wrote that. Can't believe you picked up on it. cool. Andy
One word to remember! FLITZ! You guys need to check out this product. It is a metal polish that is non abrasive, leaves no residue, works on all metals. Clean all of your moving metal parts with it, as well as your conductive points. This stuff is the best thing since sliced bread. No distributor should be without it!
Ficken is THE guy who does the vacuum wiper motor rebuilds. His web site is wiperman. He bought all of Trico's stock years ago and has made a nice biz out of it. Best yet, his shop is 20 minutes from my house. Andy
Good Deal Andy ! It's always nice to hear one roar back into life again , I've been doing it since the early 60's and I'm still not tired of it... I guess my pops shouldn't have taken me to that old farm machinery meet oh so long ago , I waited about 40 minutes for the steam operated tractor to fire up , WOW it made a big impression on me at age 4 or so . I cannot express how cool it is you involve your kids Andy . few parents take the time anymore .
Took the kids with me today to do a house call for my friend/patient that owns the steel shop at his shop. He's the guy with the boom lift who did the cab shift with me. He's been very involved since the beginning. The kids couldn't wait to tell him about starting up the engine. They told him all about it. Then, we ran into the guy that gave me the truck last year (another patient). They were all about it all over again. They are soooo proud. Now they can't WAIT to do the brake system, wiring and put the bed and nose back on so we can drive it. They are chomping at the bit. My oldest asks me yesterday, "Dad, when we're with you can we work on the truck EVERYDAY"? Andy
My friend You may be going through hell in court, but you've got heaven right here on Earth. I had a kay~RAP-pee relationship with my dad in my youth. I couldn't wait to get to be @ 16 when I'd be big enough to kick the .... oops- public forum... ALL the verbal and physical crap he laid on me (and my brothers) was erased when I bought that 1950 CHEVY, 3 window, eight track truck with the engine that sounded like it had it's own set of marbles to play with. No matter how bad I screwed up in school or at home, when we worked on that truck~ all bets were off. He actually l-i-s-t-e-n-e-d to me. He'd ask a question out loud, and I'd silently attack it because I wanted to prove to him that I could figure this stuff out. I'd quietly reply my thoughts and he'd actually try it without using the word "dumbass". And it would work. Andy~ those days/months of working on my truck were the cement that has us where my dad and I are today. Just think of what your kids will think/talk about years from now with a GREAT relationship like you have with your kids. There are Sooo many reasons I'm glad to be a member of this site. None are better than seeing a family coming together over an old AD. Next to that is knowing how long Nate has been on this site, and what /who he's been able to save.
Zig ~ you're a lucky man . Andy ; Of course we all caught ' Alive ! it's ALIVE ! ' ~ we're an erudite , well edumakated bunch here
