Electrical problems

[Neshkoro]

I've been having some issues with my 1930 Model A Tudor.
Some times it will start right away. Some times not. I believe it to be an electrical issue. The problem is it won't stay running. It might run for a minute or not. Today I started it up and pulled it out of the garage to warm up a bit before i headed out for a ride. It ran for a minute or so, made a big backfire noise, quit running and wouldn't restart. I fiddled with a few things and got it running and put it back in the garage. While fiddling, I removed the instrument panel to make sure nothing was wrong there. While it was hanging from the wires, I tried to start it. It fired right up! I could see some little arcing between the armored cable and the speedo cable! As I was moving the panel around I got a big jolt like from if you grabbed a spark plug wire. It appears that something is shorting out. Also, as I was checking I found that someone some time ago must have had the same arcing problem as there was a small length of rubber tubing, about 2" long, slipped over the armored cable right by the junction box. Also, the junction box is cracked and melted a bit. I bought a new junction box some time back. never had the chance to install it yet.. I'm thinking about rewiring that portion of the wiring hoping to find a frayed wire. Right after I bought the car, I replaced the small wire between the distributor plates as it was frayed and shorting out preventing it from starting. I'm concerned about the small arcing between the armored cable and the speedo cable. Any thoughts about that?
Thanks,
Bill

[tinkirk]

You answered your own question
Do away with that cable it’s bad and causing your no start, start problems


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[Neshkoro]

Tinkirt, you were right on. The shielded cable was nicked so I cut the bad end and added a length of wire to it. While I had it apart I installed the new terminal box and made a new harness from the terminal box/ coil to the ignition switch/ ammeter. I haven't finished putting it back together but I'm sure that was it!

[Neshkoro]

I put it all back together. It started right up and I went for a little ride around the neighborhood! Ran like a champ. Now I'm ready for the next dilemma!!!

[SAJ]

Well done Neshkoro.
Great that you diagnosed it without replacing parts randomly, cleaning plugs, points, retiming etc etc.
Intermittent problems are sometimes hard to spot.
SAJ in NZ

[Neshkoro]

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Thanks SAJ. I knew when I saw the sparks there had to be something simple. I never would have thought that the shielded cable would have been damaged!