hi everyone! My name is Todd and i have recently acquired a 1964 f100 with an i6 262 t98a 4sp dana 60.2 shortbed styleside rust free California black plate that is basically original. The changes to it are; painted primer grey, seat reupholstered, carburetor replaced with one from an industrial motor of the same kind, new sparkplug wires and tires. It has no cancer rust, only some surface rust. No major dents or dings or any bondo. It has basically lived in the California and Arizona desert its whole life. That’s how I bought it. Now for the bad. It won’t start. It turns over, backfires a bit but won’t light. The PO, a neighbor, drove it into his driveway a few years ago and parked it. This past winter he rebuilt the replacement carb, I have no idea what happened to the original, and replaced the points. Seems he effed it up. Now I get to fix it. So my plan is to get a new weber 32/36 carb with adaptor kit and a HUI HEI type distributor. The goal is to make it reliable and drivable as this is to be a frequent driver for work and promotional purposes. It will tow and haul various trailers and equipment as needed as well as run empty. I am looking for any advice regarding carburation and distributors for this thing as well as any other advice you might have. I do not intend to restore it as a show truck but neither am I looking to make it a hotrod or modified truck so no engine tranny or rear end swaps, though I might do front disk brakes air conditioning (I live in Arizona) and manifold upgrades. I am going to be posting in the i6 and 60s forums and look forward to discussing there. Thanks everyone! If you are interested I posted pics in my gallery.

 

Check the point gap and run some fine emery paper across them, may be corroded. New manufacture points and condensers don't have a very good track record, try replacing condenser with a known good one. NOS, Echlin or Blue Streak are supposed to be good. Avoid el-cheapos.

 

thanks for the good advice! before i spend time chasing ghosts though, i want to try and just replace the old with the new and much more reliable electronic distributor because i am also going to replace the carb as the old one leaks like a wicker basket and is not the correct one anyway. my research so far says the 2 units work together and if not properly matched neither work right. so last resort will be to find the correct carb then fix the old dizzy.
cheers!

 

Well if you really want reliability, starting with a 50 year old truck ain't it! Lots of work to get there.

Figured you just wanted to get it running for now. A Pertronix might be a good choice. Points (good ones) are reliable, but they aren't "maintenance free" or set and forget.

Welcome to FTE, btw

 

thanks for the welcome. true enough about the reliability. just hoping to make the problem solving easier and reduce future potential problems. i am not in a big hurry to get this on the road so i can afford to wait and see what solutions may shake out. the pertronix is on the list of possible solutions so we will see what happens. i posted to the i6 and 61-66 groups and i am interested to see if anyone in those groups have any specific knowledge about this rare engine. i see you have a 64 as well with an 8 banger. nice.
salute