1937 No start

[JM 35 Sedan]

I'm hoping this guy has not given up on our beloved Flatheads, decided to drop in an evil SBC and skipped out of town on us while chirping his tires in all three gears...LOL

[Hoop]

"Well in his first post he stated it was backfireing through the carb. Its not good if hes running a 94. He never stated which carb he was useing.And still hasn't.That was a shot in the dark we all make mistakes LOL ken ct."

Not exactly a shot in the dark. Troubleshooting is often simply checking and eliminating areas that you know will cause the problem. Mistakes are what you sometimes find while doing that checking.

Honestly, Ken, I can't believe he didn't find the problem with all his checking of the caps and wires. It sounds like he really carefully worked that area ... BUT I also cannot think of anything other than caps that will cause it to fire 45 degrees out .. "it appears the cam / dist "sync" is out about 45 degrees??"

The car was not running when it came into his shop. The pitfall may have been something the owner did that "nemw" thought was the correct setup and followed in replacing parts ... it still is a concern that he actually marked the cap to index #!.

This may turn out that he'll get the distributor back, the engine will run fine, and we'll never know what caused the problem ... or, he'll find his wedding ring came off and got stuck somewhere, and he'll clear this whole thing up.

Too often the real cause defies mechanical logic.

[George/Maine]

I have hear of these timing fixtures and this must be so a layman can put in with no problems.
This is out of and old book when you don,t have one.
Goes back to basics.

[George/Maine]

Enquireing minds want to know.
I have another thing that may have happened.
If you think number 1 is on Drivers Side,
and match wires to same side.Takeing the test
putting top left at 11 oclock.
This would mean that all wires,
and caps were off car at one time.
Swapping sides,Will never run this way.

[ken ct]

I hope thats not his thinking as #1 is front pass side. ken ct.

[George/Maine]

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When TDC was a 11 oclock and was said right with engine,asked to put number 1 at 11 oclock,if you used drivers side at 11 oclock,this would have pointed to out side contact.Then asked to see if lined up with engine ,he says off 45 degs.
Thats is the only thing that makes any sence of this whole thing.
And with wireing to wrong side makes it never going to run.
That my take on what happened and Bubba got the headach.

[IVT1]

As Dick said it takes 4 things for it to run spark, fuel, air, at the correct time

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

OK folks i am done !!!

My delay was wanting to run the distributor on tester with caps, adapters,wires and a load bench.
Got the caps in today and placed distributor on tester with all wires and caps sides etc.

Everything is good ( could be the best i have ever seen for sure) rotor gap is great (.003-.005) and with a load placed on system of 25,000 volts spark jump is good and clean on every rotor tip.
It may be possible to use the wrong year caps but it would take some work a the locating notch is in a different location and may be seen in picture number one, large rotor gap would cause some issues as well , if the engine did start it wouldnt rev up ( in my thinking). (photo shows large gap).
Picture shows the two types of caps.
Complete distributor is shown as well as complete unit being shipped out.
I also tested the entire unit with a "skips" rewound coil in place and again all is well.
The only thing left is correct firing order and that isnt up to me ....
I didnt know i would ever get so close to a distributor ..

[ken ct]

He HAD to have the wires in wrong,nothing that Bubba could find in my opinion?????!!!!!!!!. ken ct. Thanks Bubba. That should have been found about the #2 post. go figure. 188 posts on this problem that should have been found in 5 minutes.

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

Like someone said above we may never know exactly why this engine wouldnt start.
Lots of stuff can happen and i guess experience works in our favor in all cases.
Just yesterday one of my part time shop guys was doing a final test on a helment with the distributor machine. I had over seen all adjustments and everything was done just right . The tester lights wouldnt light and i knew ( experience) that he had just installed the coil and the spring contact was behind the post grounding out the coil. How did i know that ?????" been there done that" and wont even mention how long it took me to find my first one.
This year is my 30th year troubleshooting old cars at the Newport Hillclimb and i am sure i will have at the very least one car that kicks my ass with a problem.

My only hope is that the customer puts the distributor on the engine and it roars to life !!

[ken ct]

If he wires it right it will run? ken ct. Ive had my happenings with the spring caught behind the cup.Only happend once and i learned after that one Many yrs ago.lol ken ct.

[1931 flamingo]

Hopefully we will get feed back from the original poster. This has been one long AND interesting saga. JMO
Paul in CT

[1931 flamingo]

ttt

[jimTN]

Suggestion to original poster: Get the Ford Svc Bulletin wireing diagram or owners manual diagram wire it up by the picture and do not try to second guess left or right.

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

And the news is ????????

Is it running ....................?????????

[George/Maine]

It maybe one of those cases were it run 30 years ago,when I parked it.You fool with cars see if you can get it running.
Never heard from again if fixed thats the way it is.

[4dFord/SC]

"Ground Control to Major Tom,
Take your protein pills and put your helmet [distributor] on...."

[George/Maine]

Heads up Mainacs,
What happen to the 40 Ford sedan in Rockland with no dist,about 20 miles away.It was for sale the last two years.

[grumpys hot rods]

ttt

[sagil]

ttt This is killing me. Got to know how it turns out.

Gil