""Starter turns over but does not catch at all"" from 1st post..

Did you try putting some gas in the carb?

Did you mean the truck will not crank up/run when trying to start OR that the starter doesn't catch/engage and turn the engine over?

 

"Kurttb1" brought up a good point. After you confirm that you have spark at the plugs, and if it still will not start, check to see if you have gas in the carb float bowl. Although It sounds like your truck shut off very quick, so I would lean towards an electrical issue before a gas one.

 

Good info here, will validate after tomorrow (family visiting and wife says I have to be with them). Thanks

 

had enough gas to get squirt from accelerator pump when it first happened. will validate again.

 

as to the starter, it engages wheel (ran with clutch off and it moved truck) Just sounds as if no combustion from power stroke. AM leaning toward electrical as initial cause.

 

Take a test lite and with the key on, check for power at the + terminal of the coil.

 

Did a quick 'old fashion' test. Pulled plug, tested by grounding and cranking and no spark. Pulled coil wire at distributer, grounded, cranked and had spark. How do I test the PerTronix 1281 electronic points for input and/or output! Checked ground and it looked good. Checked gas and its coming to the venturies (sp).

 

 

I would check the rotor. Not only for breakage, but make sure it will not spin freely on the shaft. If spark is getting through the cap from the coil, the only other option is the rotor or the center button inside the cap.

I would also go up to .62 on the carb jets. More power, less warm up time, and actually better fuel mileage if you keep your foot out of it. As a bonus the cylinder temps will go down. At least go to .60.

 

I think I am running.50 on my Autolite 2100. You think I would get better mileage with a larger jet? That seems hard to understand considering more gas goes thru the .62

 

Taking X-mas off to spend time with family. Hope everyone enjoys the day in a manner that pleases them (or the spouse)!

 

Definitely better gas mileage, and lots more power. Will run much better cold also. The engine is starving for fuel with .50s.......50 is small for a 302 where a .52 works better for them. I've done this with those engines and carbs.

 

And for future reference, either don't do that test with the coil wire, or at least make sure that the wire is long enough to get well away from the distributor.
Ignitors (and most other electronic devices when it comes right down to it) do not like errant spikes and sparks flying hither and yon. I once fried a perfectly good Ignitor I because I wanted to test the spark out of the coil wire. Got one and a half healthy sparks, then nothing.
Generally, testing the plug wires this way is not as much of an issue, since they're longer and farther away from the distributor and module anyway. But the coil wires are often shorter and you end up grounding the tip much closer to the distributor.

From then on my method for checking for spark was to connect an inductive timing light and watch for the pretty flashing lights.
The bonus of this is that you can very easily see erratic sparks and tell whether any particular plug is not getting a spark.

Back to your issue, have you pulled the distributor cap off since the problem started? If you have, sorry I just missed it in the comments.

Good luck.

Paul

 

That's a great idea for testing spark to a plug !!