Correct Coil Resistance

[flatjack9]

Sounds like you've hit the solution.

[Lawrie]

Henry.I got a couple of GOOD shocks from my snap on timing light ,if the pickup slips down on the spark plug wire and touches the top of the plug were the wire goes on,man you get a big shock,
Lawrie

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

Originally Posted by Lawrie

I can see a problem in the bottom pic,the split pin on the left points looks like its touching the copper strip on points.
Lawrie

Not really a side view would show clearance. We ran it on a tester for some time as a final inspection...

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

Henry , WD40 will help insulate those wires , might try it before replacement. Just spray them down and wipe off the excess......
Worth a try.....

Jim

[Bored&Stroked]

Good news - have had that issue before . . . forgot all about it!

[Old Henry]

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Originally Posted by BUBBAS IGNITION

Henry , WD40 will help insulate those wires , might try it before replacement. Just spray them down and wipe off the excess......
Worth a try.....

Jim

Thanks. I'll give it a try. I absolutely loath the thought of threading new wires through that conduit, the rubber boot, into the upper distributor cap and plug into the inner cap and get the upper cap to close. Not fun.

[47COE]

Originally Posted by Old Henry

I absolutely loath the thought of threading new wires through that conduit, the rubber boot, into the upper distributor cap and plug into the inner cap and get the upper cap to close. Not fun.

I agree. It is a real project to replace the ignition wires in a rabbit ears distributor.

Once upon a time I knew a guy with a Lotus Europa that wouldn't start in wet weather. He fixed it by cleaning the wires and then coating them with corona dope such as:
http://www.alliedelec.com/gc-electro...4702/70159781/

Unfortunately in this case, the wires could still be arcing inside the conduits or outer distributor cap. But I'm a believer in trying the easy option first. It might be all you need.

Tom

[Old Henry]

I sprayed the wires down with WD40 before starting this morning. When I started up and pulled out of the garage and down the street the timing light was exactly right and engine running smooth. Unfortunately, that only lasted for a minute before all returned to bad. So, unfortunately, WD40 wasn't even a short term solution.

My recollection of the WD40 trick is when water is a problem, not so much on the wires as the distributor cap. The WD40 displaces the water and eliminates it as a path for spark to short cut. Water wasn't my problem so the WD40 didn't help. Even if it did, as 47COE said, there is still a lot of wire in the conduit that I couldn't spray and could be leaking to that thing.

I just ordered the wires to replace them. Gonna have to put on my favorite music to keep me calm during the ordeal of replacing them. But, if it fixes the problem, it will be well worth the effort.

[Steves46]

Originally Posted by Old Henry

Thanks. I'll give it a try. I absolutely loath the thought of threading new wires through that conduit, the rubber boot, into the upper distributor cap and plug into the inner cap and get the upper cap to close. Not fun.

If originality is not a concern you want to consider replacing your existing distributor cap with (IMO) the more user friendly crab-style cap that was used on the 42 models. My 46 has one and I have been very pleased with it. I believe the only modification is replacing the clips to secure the cap (as per the photo in post #27). I hope you are able to soon resolve the issue. Steve

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by Steves46

If originality is not a concern you want to consider replacing your existing distributor cap with (IMO) the more user friendly crab-style cap that was used on the 42 models. My 46 has one and I have been very pleased with it. I believe the only modification is replacing the clips to secure the cap. I hope you are able to soon resolve the issue. Steve

Thanks, Steve. I certainly consider switching to a crab cap every time I have to replace the spark plug wires but I'm afraid that I am very passionately committed to originality and authenticity. It's the thing that keeps the "time machine" working so well. So, I continue to suffer. Fortunately, the suffering is only for and hour or two. Then I get to enjoy the authenticity for at least a year or two. I figure I'm no worse off than those that drove this car in the 40's and 50's every time I experience an "authentic" mechanical problem.

[Steves46]

Hang in there and hope the new wire set will resolve the problem. I know you are looking forward to your road trip and we are looking forward to reading about it with some photos.

[FlatheadTed]

At night I think you will get color (static ) of the wires even new ones .Ted

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by FlatheadTed

At night I think you will get color (static ) of the wires even new ones .Ted

You may be right. It may be that new wires aren't going to fix my problem and I waste my time and money changing them but it's my best hope at the moment. It's the only thing I have found that clearly looks broken that could cause my symptoms. Nothing else has manifested itself in all of my testing. I hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

[47COE]

Originally Posted by Steves46

If originality is not a concern you want to consider replacing your existing distributor cap with (IMO) the more user friendly crab-style cap that was used on the 42 models. My 46 has one and I have been very pleased with it. I believe the only modification is replacing the clips to secure the cap (as per the photo in post #27). I hope you are able to soon resolve the issue. Steve

I went from the rabbit ears cap to crab cap because of the minimal space in a COE. It was very difficult to pull the distributor with the deeper rabbit ears cap with the truck fan and fan shroud in the way.

Besides the clips, the crab cap requires a different rotor with a larger radius: 21A-12200 instead of the usual 59A-12200.

[Old Henry]

Looks like something's not quite right here. What do you think?

I got the new spark plug wires in and took the old ones off with the inner distributor cap. Here's what the inner distributor cap looks like.









There are all of those metal flakes all over that looks like metal from the distributor posts. And the posts look like they've been worn down by the rotor hitting them. All of those cracks around the posts can't be good either.

Here's what the rotor that I just put in looks like:



It looks like it has pounded on the distributor posts.

So, I checked for play in the distributor shaft and here's what I found: (Video) https://youtu.be/F04Ran7T2MY

I've actually had this before, a worn distributor shaft letting the rotor his the cap posts. That's the distributor I traded in for this one from Bubba's. Looks like I need to do it again.

What do you think?

[47COE]

It's hard to see from the video. Best would be to pull the distributor and measure the end play. I have a distributor with more than 0.05" of end play vs. another one with less than half that.

I don't know what amount of end play is normal.

Tom

[George/Maine]

I think with 250,000 miles its time for a different dist. and spring for a new cap and rotor.

[tubman]

After reading all of this, I'm starting to appreciate the "Load-a-matic" on my '51. I hope you can get this solved; it'll be good to know what the actual base problem is.

[Old Henry]

What a relief! What a blessed relief! - to have Old Henry's heart ticking again just as it should and hasn't for months. It passed the stress EKG with flying colors - no arrhythmia, no tachycardia, no stumbling nor stuttering of any kind. And more power than I've had for months.

The biggest problem I had I didn't notice 'till I got working with that old inner distributor cap some more. See if you can see it.



The button that's supposed to be in the middle of it for the rotor blade to run on isn't even there! There was nothing for the rotor blade to run on to get the spark except just sliding over what was left of the base of the button. Add that to all of the other problems with the worn terminals and cracked terminal bases and I think we have the biggest problem there was. I replaced that along with all of the spark plug wires and the engine runs fantastic and powerful in the most harsh acceleration and up the steepest long climb - like it hasn't done for months.

Thanks to everyone for all of your help.

[ccnelson]

Glad you found the problem and Old Henry is ready for another road trip.