I’ve searched the forum for this issue, but haven’t come up with anything… apologies if it’s out there already.

1946 1.5 ton with flathead V8, has not run in MANY years and last registered in 1983. Attempting to get it fired up to see how much effort it will take to restore. It cranked immediately, but no spark. Replaced points, condenser, coil, and plugs… now has a strong spark at all 8 plugs. Rebuilt carb, old fuel line detached to prevent pulling varnish from tank. Putting gas with a little bit of 2 cycle oil down the carb… still no start.

Here’s what i’ve tried:

1. Verified timing and that i’m not 180 degrees out.
2. Verified firing order and correct plug wires. Tested for continuity and wire brushed ends. (And again i have spark at the plugs.)
3. i have good compression on all 8 cylinders.
4. Changed from gas to starting fluid in case my gas was bad… (it was fairly new 93 octane non-ethanol fuel).

No luck. But two interesting findings… 1) coil gets VERY hot (again, i have strong spark at the plugs, and new points that aren’t fused shut) … and 2) the plugs are bone dry when i pull them despite using enough fuel to flood the engine.

What am i missing? I have a ton of vacuum when i cover the carb inlet with my palm while cranking… so the fuel that i pour in HAS to be reaching the ignition chamber, right? (And I started with only a very little bit of fuel, so flooding is unlikely)… am I at the point that i have to pull the intake manifold to verify that there isn’t mouse-age in there?

Bottom line is that i’m *pretty* sure this is a fuel issue given that the timing, spark, and compression all seem good… and the plugs stay dry no matter what i do. I could certainly be wrong though. The only other potentially important piece of info is that i have no key.. yet… so i’m jumping at the solenoid with the coil wired directly to the battery. That may be reason for the hot coil, but i’m still getting great spark at the plugs, so it should fire. No?

Thank you everyone, learning a lot from browsing your expertise.

dan

 

If it's still 6 volt the coil won't get hot, if it's 6 volt and you're using a 12 volt battery, yeah, it will roast the coil, points and condenser, make sure which system you have, if you're poured a lot of gas in the carb, most likely the cylinders are flushed dry, pull the plugs and ad a little oil to the cyl's,.

 

Will try the oil idea, thank you! And yes, using both a 6v coil and 6v battery and still getting extremely hot.

 

how about removing spark plugs and adding a bit of gas on the cylinder . maybe remove 4 on same side ,just to see if she fires !

 

Thanks, will try that too! Have you (or has anyone else) heard of the intake manifold getting clogged somehow? It would be odd since i’m getting vacuum at the carb inlet but I can’t make any sense of the bone dry plugs…