Stock truck has has some spells lately . Seemed to run ok then stall & shut off . Let it sit for a minute or 2 then it would start back up & run fine for a mile or 2 then repeat . Nursed it back home from the show 30 mi. away on the 19th of Mar. Drove into the garage when returning as it started to rain . Spent 2 hrs. cleaning it .That was sat. Sunday started it to turn it around & it ran like crap . Found that odd for it had never done that before . Drove thru some rain on the way back so removed the dist cap for inspection . The pic of the hot wire from the + coil terminal to the pts. is what I found . It was not broken but grounding out to the side of the dist .Smelled the same odor when it would shut off .

Fri . the 18th removed the gas tank ,drained , changed inline filter , installed new fuel pump , blew lines out figuring it was fuel delivery related . Spoke to Ross about this. I value his knowledge on these basic of engines but some times they mess w/ your head .

Monday removed dist.& went to see my buddy at his auto elec shop . We rebuilt the whole dist . Checked resistor , new pts. & etc. Installed rebuilt dist . hoping that fixed the problem . Fired it up & it does not run smooth , sometimes idles fine , sometimes starts hard , other times easy , coughs under higher rpm & some tmes runs fine at a higher rpm .

So I said screw this & ordered a new carb . It arrived wed. . In the transplant process the little vacuum fitting that goes into the carb port popped off & disappeared . See pic. If any one has this antique fitting please let me know . All the local parts houses & buddies do not .

New carb works fine w/ no more rich condition & exhaust black deposit exiting the tail pipe but it still runs like crap . This is driving me nuts .

Need to mention have 2 shows this weekend . One is a large popular show at the local museum . Have a long time friend , expert mech . going to take a look at it fri. morn if it will make it the 4 mi. to his shop .

 

Pop the intake manifold off and check your valve stem clearance? Is it stock cam or something aftermarket ? Adjustable lifters???

 

That is a Ford nut, NAPA sells them:
Weatherhead 6100x3

 

Ross , Thanks again .

 

Stock cam . Ran fine for 600 miles. Ran fine almost all the 30 mi. back from the show . It will run fine at idle some times , at more rpm , start fine ,sometimes hard . I am still leaning towards fuel delivery . Will check timing first thing fri. Then fuel pressure. Have a spare pump . Will take it along & may change . AM using R90 fuel .I hate being under the gun to make it o a show . They are both so close too .

 

Sounds like the way my truck was acting two years ago. I thought it was a fuel problem. I chased a lot of potential fuel problems. It turned out to be a worn out distributor. But you rebuilt your distributor.

I hope you figure it out quickly and easily.... and cheaply!

 

Remember practically all the condensers sold today (new) are junk and have no place in any auto parts store. They are typically defective right out of the box or only work for a short period if at all.

Replace condenser with a known good one. Points and condenser work absolutely fine but they have to be good quality ones or it will be nothing but trouble.

 

It does sound more like ignition. Wires, condenser or coil. Check the temperature of the coil after running for two or three minutes.

 

I had a similar problem and it was the coil. Let it cool and it would start again. I did just about everything you did.

The coil tested good with a meter when cold. Checked it when warmed up and truck died and it checked bad.

It did run better after the rebuilt carb, distributor, new solid core wires, spark plugs, flushed out fuel tank and lines, rebuilt pump. But it still died after it warmed up with that coil.

Scott

 

Here's what I think your talking about.
I was fishing around in my parts and goodies bin the other night and this is what I found.....made in the good ol' US of A.

As near as I remember I've had this for 30 some years.

 

Yep, for some reason those capacitors are now difficult to manufacture in a small enough size and still meet the voltage requirement. Seems like somebody signs up here once a month or so with a brandy new genuine chinesium point and condenser set that's junk.

 

Yup, I've been noticing that, lots of problems cropping up on here with the modern manufactured points/condenser ignition systems. Sometimes I think I should have retained the old flatty but my 351w with the electronic ignition system my engine has never given me a headache. I was raised on the old school stuff and even back then I was always tuning it seemed. This motor I'm using in my 49 has been in 3 cars and a van and never had any problems ignition related with the electronic systems. The block came out of a 69 mustang and I converted it over to electronic when I had it in my Cobra.

 

If you have a good working condenser, points not burning, leave it in there. Do not change it on tune up. A lot of old school guys subscribed to this practice. A fellow member here just went through a bad condenser. Maddening to troubleshoot.

 

Question. Just curious: what does a condenser do? What is its purpose?

 

Not sure I remember all my basic electronics education, but a condenser is commonly called a capacitor in electronics terms. The condenser stores DC voltage and then when the points close, it discharges the stored voltage almost immediately. that is what gives you spark. the coil then is a transformer that takes the 12 volt spark from the condenser and magnifies it to the much higher voltage that the distributor sends to the appropriate spark plug