I have a 50 F1 with a 53 Merc Flathead V8. I can start the car fine and it idles great. I can get in and drive it for about 5 minutes and then the motor dies. If I wait about 15 minutes then I can start it up again. The car is a 6 V with a generator. I put in a new battery, generator and voltage regulator. Does anyone have any idea why it keeps dying when I drive it. Thanks

 

Don't know a whole lot about the flathead V8, but on my old Model A it seems like the current gasoline (with ethanol) tends to vapor lock alot. I never had that problem before they started mixing ethanol with the gas. Other issue that comes to mind might be something in the distributor but I would say it is the gas vapor locking.

Paul

 

Thanks for the comments. Were you able to get the vapor lock solved?

 

you may have a bad coil sometimes the quit when they get warm then work agian when they cool down

 

A huge likely hood your coil is bad. They will fire fine and as they get hot they begin to short to ground and that will kill your fire, After they cool they will restart and run a period of time until they get hot again. You can test to be sure when it dies remove a plug wire and crank the engine. If it fires with a tiny spark or a yellow spark replace the coil.
If you have a good bright blue spark with a snap you can look down the throat of the carb and give the throttle a couple of pumps and see if fuel squirts. If so you need to look elsewhere.
Hope this helps.
Opinions will vary
Larry

 

My guess with as little info as we has thus far if for an overheating (bad) coil as well. Would be the first thing I would check.

 

I have had problems with other vehicles (motorcycles, particularly) that will pull a vacuum if the tank vent is plugged. Easy way to tell is remove the gas cap after it dies. If you hear air rushing into the tank, it isn't venting, which starves the fuel pump.

 

I had the exact same problem til these fine gentlemen told me to check and clean the tank and fuel lines..
I found a soda bottle cap in my tank and a bb gun pellet(plastic) obstructing my fuel outlet.
Also my lines were full of junk.

 

i did have a huge mouse nest in my gas tank that did cause my truck to die on occasion kinda drove me nuts till i found it. well you have a couple of things to look at now