Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

A friend asked me to help him with his 36 no start. I have ZERO experience with this early engine. I do have a 52 F3 with 8RT and I'm a retired Cat mechanic so basic knowledge.

The car was running when it was parked. Not sure how long ago. He's having memory problems. Maybe parked 6 months? Maybe longer?

It is getting fuel. He also tried starting fluid and nothing.

It has a helmet distributor but it has an external coil? Anyway the coil was open so we put a spare on.

The spare coil says 6 volt, It checked at 1.9 Ohms

With key on there is 6.33 Volts at negative coil terminal. Battery is at 6.35 V

When cranking there is spark from coil wire to ground. Doesn't look very bright though.

When the coil wire is hooked back to distributor no spark to plugs.

I emailed Charlie NY and he said send it but, my buddy (Johnny) isn't quite ready without doing some more testing. I'm hoping you guys can help me out here.

He also wants to convert to 12 volt and alternator. I'm sure I can handle that but, I'd like to have a running engine first. I talked to Mac Van Pelt about a 12 volt alternator and we have one on the way.

Mac doesn't have a mounting bracket for the 36. Does anyone know if the 37 up would work or can it be modified? I'll fab one up if necessary.

Other than seeing him drive the car around before I know nothing about it. His memory is fading so I'm doing my best here to give you information.

I'm going to check compression and maybe fuel pressure. It looks like the mechanical pump is pumping. He has an electric one to prime. The gas doesn't look or smell bad.

Charlie said to send him distributor, carb and pump and he'll make them right. I recommended this course of action since he is tired of messing with it. However, he is going to want to make sure thing NEED to be sent before he does.

I'm looking forward to some expert advice. Thank you all in advance.

Scott

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

Since the Dist. Needs to be set up on a machine, I would send that first as you say no spark to plugs.

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

If your sure the coil primary is 1.9 ohm it does not need a series resistor. Look for the resistor under the dash on the inside of the firewall, either short it out with a jumper or place both wires on one terminal.

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

marco39, I think he should just send it to Charlie.

Terry, I measured across the coil terminals and got 1.9 Ohms. Is there normally a resister? I was thinking that there "probably" wasn't since the full battery voltage is available at the coil.

I'm heading over to his house now.

Thank you for the replies.

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

I just went over to see how he was doing. Said he left it on the charger all night and it started. Three times.

Wouldn't start while I was there. Cranking too slow. Doesn't want to buy another battery if he's converting to 12 volts. I don't blame him there.

He's still thinking of just sending the distributer to Charlie so he knows it will be good to go once he does the 12 volt conversion.

He's kind of overwhelmed, not one to give up and difficult for him to hand it over to others. I'm trying to help and not step on his toes at the same time.

I'll still take any guidance you all have to offer. I sincerely appreciate it.

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

The turn-around time from Charlie has been surprisingly quick in my experience.

I'd try to continue your advice. He's not giving up, he's making sure these components are not going to be part of problems that still need solving.

There are things Charlie will check on the carb that most people will not even know to look at. The fuel pump will be reliable again. The dizzy will be tuned up.

Try something like, it's not really a thing of 'can I do it' but how many times might I have to re-do it vs. briefly send it to a person who lives-eats-breathes it for a thorough check-up.

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

My car was backfiring then lost spark completely, sent my helmet distributor to Charlie, it had multiple issues but he fixed them all. Runs great, he also had rebuilt my carb a year or so before. Stuff wears out why not have everything rebuilt and be done with it, best advice I can give to your friend.

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

remove the coil .now take a test light connect one end to batt feed. take the probe end & touch where the coil connect is. crank eng if light don,t blink points are not working.if light blinks dist is good. the rest is simple to check

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

trouble with the rotor button grounding out to the shaft going thru it. I remove the distributor and take it apart and insulate the shaft that goes thru the rotor button

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

Thank you all for the feedback and advice. I'm in the send it to Charlie camp as well.

Johnny knew this stuff well until recently. He has two Model A's, had a Model T and other cars and motorcycles. He did all the work on all his cars for many years. The guy is not one to give up so I understand his reluctance to send it off.

His wife suggested to him to just send it off and be done with it. He just called saying he's going to pull it and send it off.

I just ran to the post office and grabbed three different flat rate boxes. He can decide if he wants to send the carb and pump as well.

I'm going to give his wife Charlie's shipping address and contact information. I think a direct conversation with Charlie is best. I'll send an email to Charlie giving him a heads up.

Looks like I'm going to have to fabricate an alternator bracket unless you guys know if the 37 up will work?

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

Strengthen those boxes by a factor of 3 if you can.

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

Good advice on the box Jeff. I'll pass it on.

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

No need to convert to 12V if everything is in good shape. 6V worked for years. Invest in a good 6V Optima battery and send the rest of the stuff to Charlie. In the interim, make certain all contacts are clean and bright and he has 6V cables.

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

I agree with Lawson. Not the best idea to change to 12 volts. As soon as I see that mentioned I realize that the owner is taking what he considers his easy way out with 12 volts. The car was designed for 6 volts and thats how it should be. Any problem that is occuring on 6 volts will still be there on 12 volts. An all correct 6 volt system will work very reliably. They were fine when built, so just find and fix what the problem is. Regards, Kevin.

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

Yup. There are no panaceas that will take the place of a correctly designed and maintained system.

Re: Need help trouble shooting no spark, 1936
 

He wants to go 12 volt so he can ad A/C, not so much to fix his ignition. I gave him Charlie's contact info and I went camping for a few days. I just got back so once I find out what he and Charlie decided I'll update this post.

I agree about a correctly maintained system. My friend was very knowledgeable on these old vehicles. He kept his cars in top shape and until recent changes in his health, they ran great. His memory is fading unfortunately.