Hello everybody, my name is Bernard and of course Im new. I have a problem trying start my 53 flathead over. I bought a rebuilt 94 holley for it cause when i bought the motor it didn't have one. Im not a automotive mechanic, I did work on helicopters for the military. So if I can do that, I know I can kick her over with some guidance. I have the motor on some crates with the trany still on. Its been sitting there since I bought her. I would've got to her sooner but I was going thru the fire academy. Like I said I bought a nice restored 94 holley and put it on her. connected the fuel lines, put knew spark plugs with correct gap,and put some used spark plug wires. I poured a little bit of gas down the carb, grounded the block with the battery by the side and gave direct power to the starter and coil. The starter rotated the engine, but did not ignite the engine. I tried choke the carb to my knowledge. SOo Im wondering if the coil is bad or if the points aren't any good any more, cause Im lost to this point. I would surely appreciate any help I can get.

 

Are you able to get a spark with you have everything hooked up? If you get a spark is it orange or blue? Orange is weak, blue is a strong spark. If you're getting a spark does it sputter at all? If you have a weak spark your coil is probably bad. Also, make sure you have good spark plug wires. Check the wire going between the coil and distributor. I had this wire break in both of my trucks. One minute the trucks ran fine, the next they wouldn't. There's actually two wires, one comes from the coil to the stud on the outside of the distributor, then there is a wire from the inside of the stud to the top of the points. This wire tends to short out on the distributor.

Has the engine been sitting a long time? I have a flattie that I replaced everything on and it wouldn't start, it had a spark but wouldn't fire up. A friend told me that if an engine sit for a long time the rings contract and the engine will have too low of compression to fire. He told me to hook up a strong 12 volt engine and make the engine spin at a very high speed. The extra speed overcame the lack of compression and the engine fired up. After the engine ran for a while the rings got warm and expanded. After that engine would fire up fairly easy.

 

Thanks for your quick response bud. The motor has been sitting for about six months,didn't have any time working on it while I was in the fire academy.I hadn't checked to see if any fire was coming out and what color. Im also using old spark plug wires, I have some new ones but did want to damage them just to kick her over. I also have a 12v coil and an elect. distributer kit that I have not installed either, for the same reason. I have another question as well, can I connect the positive side wire of the coil straight to the battery while Im trying to kick her over. Like I said Im not an automotive mechanic and am learning as I go. I did change out the spark plugs with new ones and gapped them to .30, I can do body work and paint cars all day, but this is a different animal and surely appreciate your help.

 

You can hot wire the ignition by connecting a wire between the battery and the battery terminal of the coil. Just make sure you have a way to quickly disconnect the wire if the engine fires up. It may start up and rev up too high or another problem might pop up. I use aligator clamps on each end.

In your first post you mentioned you have the engine on some crates, do you have it securely fastened to the crates? If you don't, and get this thing to pop it's going to take off on you and if you're in the way it's not going to stop until the ignition is disabled.