I just got my 58 with a 223. I have replaced every electrical componet under the hood that i can think of--rotor-dist. cap-points,condenser,plugs,wires,coil,starter silenoid,voltage regulaor, and resitor, and I still get no spark. can anyone help me with this and also what is the gap in the points? If you got some cool guy info for me please e-mail me at abernathyboy23(No Email Addresses In Posts!) or reply to this message. Thanks alot for your time..

 

Well, your point gap should be between .024 and .026. As for lack of spark, get a volt meter and check for voltage on the side of the coil comming from the wiring harness... (not the one going to the dist) With the key on you should be getting between 6 and 8 volts at between that terminal and ground (engine block, fenderwell, etc)... When the key is in the start positon you should be getting 12v. This can be checked by disconnecting the starter lead from the starter side of the solinoid and having someone hold the igniton in the start postion. If you are not getting any voltage when the key is on but you do when the key is in start, you need a new resistor wire. This wire is under the dash directly connected to the ignition switch (or close to it)... It will be fabric wrapped and the wire is usually pink. If this wire is burned or broken in two, it can be replaced with one from the parts house or a firewall mounted one... It should be between .8 and 1.2 ohms and around 25w dissapation (I think on the diss). It is possible that the ignition switch is bad and is not applying voltage to the resistor wire. You can temporairly jumper 12v straight to the coil to test. If you get fire when the coil is 12v direct the problem is in the wiring to the coil, if not it is after the coil... Check that the wire going to the dist from the coil isn't rubbed through somewhere under the dist and touching the block...

Tyson

 

If you have voltage on the plus side and everything checks out like the previous poster stated, then take the wire that goes to the dist off the coil and hook it to an ohmmeter. Or take a test light and hook one end to the dist wire you just took off, and the other end to the plus side of the battery. Get somebody to crank the truck. If you are using an ohmmeter, the needle should pulse back and forth when the engine is turning. If you are using the test light, the light should blink on and off with the engine turning. What you are doing is checking to make sure the points are making and breaking the coil circuit. If this test fails, look for mis-adjusted points or the point plate may not be grounded right, or the wire to the points may be broken etc.