Well I consider myself capable of fixing problems as I have been a maintenance man for the past 35 years working on everything from 5 dollar toilet seats to million dollar robotics but this ignition problem has me stumped and I need a fresh set of minds to point me in the right direction.
A little background: All original 1954 F100 239 V8, 6 volt positive ground system. Running when bought. When I bought this truck the first thing I done was a complete rebuild on the brakes. I then replaced the plugs and wires, new coil, new battery, points, condenser,dist. cap and rotary button. New brushes in the starter. For the past 8 months I have cranked the truck about 2 to 3 times a month and drove it down the street to the dead end and back (approx. 2 miles round trip) Bad tires and no tag or insurance. Well last week we were having a city celebration at the city park with a car show. So I finally decided to get a tag and new tires some insurance and drive it to the car show. I cranked the truck pulled it into my shop, changed the oil and filter, put new tires on it and attached the vintage tag with pride! I was ready for the car show. Was going to take the truck for a spin over to the gas station and lo and behold it would not start at all! I have fuel going to the carb and plenty of air but NO spark anywhere. Not at the plug nor the coil or the points. It turns over just fine, I have 6.3 volts at the coil and at the points. I adjusted and re-adjusted the points to .014 - .016 at 10 degrees BTDC. I accidently touched the points with the screwdrive and got a spark between the contacts but by turning the engine over with the starter button I get zero spark. What am I overlooking or missing? Thanks for any and all help.

 

Make sure the point contacts themselves are clean. If the contacts are corroded or dirty you will get exactly the conditions you describe. Another check for this is to have the points open and short across them with a screwdriver. When the screw driver breaks contact you should get a healthy spark from the coil.

 

Yep, I took the points off and cleaned them with a points file. They are not pitted or even looked dirty but I cleaned them anyway. I did get a spark when I shorted across them, but can not get a spark by turning the engine over. and I have double, triple checked the points gap.

 

You have 6.3 volts at the movable arm of the points when open? What do you have at the movable arm of the points when the points are closed? If points are making electrical contact you should have 0V when closed. Rotor making good contact with cap?

 

I'll go down to the shop and check the points closed and report back. The rotor button was making contact, but I will double check to make sure.

 

Raytasch Yes I have 0 volts at the movable arm. I think something is going on with the points even though they are new. As I moved the crank by hand to close the points I saw a weak spark. So I had the wife turn it over while I watched and I had some spark and then didn't. I will tinker with it more tomorrow.

 

The wire that goes from the coil to the underside of the points plate, then up to the points, frequently shorts out or breaks underneath where you can't see it. Sometimes the movement of the points plate when vacuum is applied (during cranking) is enough to change the short/break.

 

Sounds like a normal day at my shop. I would do this, take the coil wire
out of the cap, remove rotor, turn engine by fan and close the points,
jump the hot side of the coil to the battery, flick the points with something
like a wood stick the coil wire should spark without fail with every flick.
If so look for a bad ign. switch. If not, it is now from the coil to the dist.
Bad condensers do funky things. On the distrubutor make sure the feed
wire is good where it goes through the dist. housing. Make sure you got a
good point gap, make sure the dist. cam is firm and not wobbly. If all
is good my fast ign. check would be take the ign feed wire off the coil and
put a load on it such as a seal beam headlight or fan motor, if it will take
the load of a headlight then the switch is ok. I rather have points any
day than this junk they make today, todays ignitions fail, you get towed to
the dealer for big bucks. Make sure you examine the cap real good, the
biggest gag back in the day was to write inside the cap with a pencil, try
that if you have an enemy, that will drive them crazy.

 

If you set the points at 016 with the timing at 10 degrees btc, when it reached tdc, the points will be way too wide, set the points at 016 at tdc, then adjust your timing.

 

Ross you are the man! The wire under the points plate had a bare spot on it. I replaced it and now have a spark! Big Job, thank you for the info. I am going to file this in my useful info folder for future use. F5fordgirl, I just set the points gap as per the specs in the service manual and it seems ok. I have a good healthy spark. Thank you for the info. FTE rules!