34 Ford Pickup - Intermittent Spark

[jhswolf]

Hi all,
As mentioned a in my intro a few days ago, I recently picked up a '34 Ford truck that's mostly original. My number one goal is to get it running so I can move it to a better storage area. The top issue is that it has intermittent spark to the sparkplugs.

It is a 6v positive ground system.

The previous owner had the original coil rebuilt about five or so years ago. It ran great, but then it was parked for the past 3 - 4 years. When he tried to get it started a month ago, he only got the very faintest of spark.

Since then, I picked up the truck and last week I replaced the coil unit with a new coil adapter, coil, and condenser from Van Pelts. I installed it per instructions and I was excited to see a good blue spark on #5 sparkplug the first time I tried to crank it over. I installed the plug, tinkered with adding some gas to the carb, but the engine wouldn't fire. The engine cranked over fine. I pulled the plug and checked the spark again, it was very weak. I put the plug back in and tried various combinations of a little more gas, choke, throttle, etc., but the engine wouldn't fire. When I pulled the plug, there wasn't any spark at all. I ran out of time and ideas and called it a day. (In case you're wondering, when I put the coil adapter in, I jumpered the ballast resister per the instructions).

Today (a week later) I topped off the battery, cleaned the battery ground connections, took off the coil adapter, inspected the inside of the distributor, and reinstalled the coil adapter and coil. I recorded 6.2v at the battery, 6.2v at the starter switch, and 5.9v at the negative side of the coil. (Keep in mind my VOM is a POS and the measurements aren't very reliable. I'm looking for a better quality VOM).

When I first cranked the engine over, I got a nice blue spark from #5 and #6. I put the plugs back in, added a little gas, and the engine actually fired two or three times, then nothing, the engine only cranked. I pulled the #5 plug, cranked the engine over a number of revolutions, and there was a very faint spark the very first time but then no spark at all.

This seems to be a repeat of last week's attempt. It initially has good spark, but after trying to start it a couple of times, the spark dies out.

I'm posting some pictures of the inside of the distributor. I think the white particles might be from the decayed gasket. Does anything seem unusual inside here? The point cup actually looks better than in the picture, it's just the camera angle makes it look crusty.

The truck has some of the original wiring, but there are a lot of new wires spliced in here and there. I downloaded an electric schematic and the existing ignition circuits "appear" to track with the schematic.

it seems odd that I can get spark the first time I tinker with it, but then it dies out.

I am trying to find out when the points, rotors, and dist. caps were changed last.

Normally on a small block Chevy, I would replace the dist cap, rotor, and points in a jiffy. But being a newby to early flatheads and Fords, it all looks foreign to me and that distributor cavity is very intimidating.

Has anyone had a similar problem or any suggestions on the path I can take?

Also, is there an Early V8 "bible" and source that someone can recommend?

BTW, there are fuel issues that I'll put in a separate post, I didn't want to mix things together.

Thanks,
John