I was out today, replaced the module and the coil and tried starting it.........nothing. Luckily my dad is here to have and extra set of hands so we pulled the #1 plug that I just replaced and it looked pretty fouled and black...I haven't even driven this thing since I put those plugs in. Then we decided to check spark. All that I'm getting is a pissy little yellow spark that looked like it barely had enough juice to light a fart. So we replaced the plugs..this time with Autolite plugs and put new wires on. Tried starting..........nothing again, not even with a little shot of ether. This thing aint making spark. So, my next inclination is the electronics inside the distributor are bad. Cant be too much else, its all been replaced.
Try a junkyard distributor. A distributor from any 351M, 400, 351C, or 429/460 will work. Try to find one with little to no play in the rotor. If that was the problem, maybe you will want a new performance distributor, or run the used one.
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Mark in FL
restoretherepublic.com
I was out today, replaced the module and the coil and tried starting it.........nothing. Luckily my dad is here to have and extra set of hands so we pulled the #1 plug that I just replaced and it looked pretty fouled and black...I haven't even driven this thing since I put those plugs in. Then we decided to check spark. All that I'm getting is a pissy little yellow spark that looked like it barely had enough juice to light a fart. So we replaced the plugs..this time with Autolite plugs and put new wires on. Tried starting..........nothing again, not even with a little shot of ether. This thing aint making spark. So, my next inclination is the electronics inside the distributor are bad. Cant be too much else, its all been replaced.
Check or replace the coli wire.
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if the coil wire doesn't do it....i'd look into an hei unti and forgo the duraspark ignition altogether.... TMI or ebay.
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'77F1504x4, '75 f250crew4x4, '79 Bronco 429, '83 bronco, '72 Torino with 351cj, 70 1/2 falcon, 75 stangII. all projects, 2 on the road. One pissed off wife!
You'll have to excuse me for being ignorant towards older ignition systems...what is this coil wire? What sort of things should I be looking for with it? Thanks for all the help guys...I really want to get this thing back on the road. It sounds weird but I love driving this truck so much more than my Aurora.
It sounds weird but I love driving this truck so much more than my Aurora.
not weird at all... i'm the same.
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'77F1504x4, '75 f250crew4x4, '79 Bronco 429, '83 bronco, '72 Torino with 351cj, 70 1/2 falcon, 75 stangII. all projects, 2 on the road. One pissed off wife!
You'll have to excuse me for being ignorant towards older ignition systems...what is this coil wire? What sort of things should I be looking for with it? Thanks for all the help guys...I really want to get this thing back on the road. It sounds weird but I love driving this truck so much more than my Aurora.
The coil wire is a large diameter wire that is similar to a plug wire. It runs from the coil to the center terminal on the distributor cap.
The energy for each spark runs from the coil through the coil wire to the dist. If the terminals are corroded or the wire has too much resistance the spark energy will be degraded, and proper ignition will not occur. If you have an ohmmeter, you can measure the resistance between the two ends of the wire. When you measure the resistance, report the number here and I'll check it against my wire to see if your reading is good or bad. I know that very high resistance is bad.
Some coil wires have a carbon conductor, and that can deteriorate, which leads to high resistance.
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Checkmate - I got the distributor in yesterday and I got it to run. So I think it, for me, was definitely a spark issue or maybe my timing got off some. I haven't put the timing light on it yet but I will today and it should be all dialed in. It was running very good and has a very nice throttle response. Now I am waiting again for more parts before I can drive it.
Well, I finally got it running. The distributor was bad. Once I got that in and close it started up. However, I don't have it set quite right. When I went to move it into the garage to check the timing (its way to bright out to see my timing light outside) it died when I put it in gear. What I eventually had to do was hold the brake and gas to keep it going but when I gave it gas it ran fine and had plenty of power. It seems as though its liking the timing set pretty high like around maybe 20 degrees BTDC. My question is, am I off a tooth or is it that I need to adjust my idle speed. I'm so close but something isnt quite right just yet.
Did you check the timing with a light, or are you guessing that it's 20 degrees BTDC. If you have to rotate the dist. as far as possible to get it to run, then it is likely that you are still retarded and a tooth off. Check it with a light.
When you install the distributor, set the #1 cyl to TDC and point the rotor to #1 plug. Then drop the distributor into place. If it doesn't go all the way down, it's because the Hex oil pump drive shaft isn't lined up with the hex hole in the dist. You have to hold the distributor down and manually rotate the crank, until the dist. drops. Then you get back to TDC, and check the rotor position.
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Did you check the timing with a light, or are you guessing that it's 20 degrees BTDC. If you have to rotate the dist. as far as possible to get it to run, then it is likely that you are still retarded and a tooth off. Check it with a light.
When you install the distributor, set the #1 cyl to TDC and point the rotor to #1 plug. Then drop the distributor into place. If it doesn't go all the way down, it's because the Hex oil pump drive shaft isn't lined up with the hex hole in the dist. You have to hold the distributor down and manually rotate the crank, until the dist. drops. Then you get back to TDC, and check the rotor position.
dude: (its way to bright out to see my timing light outside) it's MY job to do that....
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'77F1504x4, '75 f250crew4x4, '79 Bronco 429, '83 bronco, '72 Torino with 351cj, 70 1/2 falcon, 75 stangII. all projects, 2 on the road. One pissed off wife!
there soooo many freaking things to check.....make a list with space between each item to work on so you keep track...ie timing, carb adjustment, vacuum... ie when's it's best -where is timing etc....then, for me, it begins to come together and remember that things stack up sometimes like having so-so plugs and a minor vacuum leak and oxygenated fuel...like here in missoula....makes a difference.
if it doesn't run right....once running pull each plug individually and make sure each has a 2-300 drop in rpm thats regained when you hook it back up...find a plug that makes no difference and theres one issue found...bad wire, plug etc.
peace
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'77F1504x4, '75 f250crew4x4, '79 Bronco 429, '83 bronco, '72 Torino with 351cj, 70 1/2 falcon, 75 stangII. all projects, 2 on the road. One pissed off wife!
Sorry about my post, I was trying to get everything out that I could. Let me explain my situation a little more clearly.
It is running but hard to start. I have played with going forward and backward with the timing (moving ahead or behind a tooth) but it won't start at all when I do that. I have it set at 12 degrees(with the vacuum advance disconnected) but it feels like I have a miss. All plug wires and coil wire are new as well as the plugs but I will go back and check everything again just to be sure. Thanks for the help.
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it's MY job to do that....
