Crab questions.

[Mart]

I am having some problems with poor running.

Can I get some feedback?

Who runs a crab distributor?
If you do, do you use solid core or suppressed (modern) type wires?
What plug gap do you run?
Do you drive the car hard?

The reason I ask is because I had good success running solid leads and .025 gaps no matter how hard I drove it. I fitted a set of suppressed leads and within a short time (less than 50 miles) the car broke down from what I suspect is a failure associated with the cap.

Anyone care to share their experiences?

Mart.

[ford38v8]

Mart, I've always heard that solid copper is the only wire to run with our ignitions. I never knew why until now!

[V8COOPMAN]

Mart ........Unless you're trying to listen to your stereo while driving (I doubt it), or you've got a computer running your old car(s)......(I doubt that, too), run SOLID CORE plug wires, like you always have. If it has points, run SOLID CORE wires. The RESISTIVE wires are to suppress corrupt EMF and RFI signals to the above-type devices. That flathead music is much more important than the sound of the radio. DD

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

I agree with the run solid wires crowd.

However theres nothing wrong with suppression wires either. A suspression wire will not cause a distributor cap problem unless improperlly installed.
Many of the resisitor sets come with only one end done up leaving the car owner to installing the ends themselfs. Thats usually the problem susspresion cable must be handled a little diffeently. And with some care , i will up load a example as soon as i get the chance.......

[scooder]

Mart,
I'd be surprised if the resistive leads caused the problem. I use em on almost everything at work. I agree with bubba on checking the ends. They can often be done better. When I install the ends I strip the outer away till I got the core (carbon string or the better spiral wound core types) poking out enough so it will fold over the end of the outer and back along the outer, length dependant on terminal style, so the core is against the terminal, clamped twix the outer and the terminal, end of core flush with terminal end. Never had a problem doing this way.
What has lead you to the cap related fault?

[Mart]

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I might be completely wrong, Martin, it might be the coil or the ignition module, I am interested if anybody has a had a problem with resistive leads.

I ran the car again tonight with solid core leads fitted. It was better, but not right. So it would appear that the leads are not the culprit.

The problem is with my roadster. I just got back from driving my coupe and everything seems all right with that motor, so I can use the parts from the coupe to substitute one by one until something makes a difference.

I'll let you all know what it was when I find out what the problem is.

Thanks for the help.

Mart.

[Bassman/NZ]

I have resistive leads (I couldn't find solid core locally) with my crab. Never misses a beat. 25thou gap, I push it fairly hard at times. Gotta say, having Bubbas build my distributor was one of the best things I did with my build. Jim is an artist.

[Mart]

Ran the roadster again tonight with the coil from the coupe. Still running really ragged after about 30 minutes.

New plugs and a dizzy tuneup next.

Mart.

[Don]

I'll pass along some good information for the guys working on there own dist,I try to learn something every day,at almost 80 I thought there wasn't much left for me to learn .Short story,friend bought a 41 2 dr ,by phone and delivered about 10 months ago,ran ,ran terrible ,at hi speed no power,missing on pull,changed coils ,plugs dist set up on old sun machine,never did get it to run correct,couple days ago removed dist to try again,noticed when dist was at hi rpm on sun Mach,the flash would come and go( firing)
Talked to Bubba a few months ago about cause,change the bushings he said,so did that
Set it up for 221/2 and total of 36 deg, 1 notch down on timing ,put it back on,run like a sewing machine at any rpm,no missing on hard pull,wide open.now I know why Bubbas dist get such praise.ALWAYS CHANGE THE BUSHINGS!!!!

[Bluebell]

If they absorb oil, then they are sintered bronze, which means they are made of little balls all pressed together to form the bush material.
Getting the oil in is easy:
1. put the bush on your fat thumb
2. fill it with oil
3. put your other fat thumb on top
5. squeeze..... The oil will pour out the sides.

This is what generator bushes are made from.

[Hoop]

Bluebell,

That works so much better than the Oilite method that I deleted my post.

From now on being "all thumbs" is a plus.

[Bruce in southern OH]

Good information Don,

[Ol' Ron]

How do you get 36 degrees from a crab distributor??

[Mart]

Dwell, Ron, dwell.

22-1/2 degrees dwell for the first set, same for the other set, give or take a bit to arrive at 36 degrees dwell for the pair.

My Churchill rig says to shoot for 35-1/2 degrees total, so 36 is a good approximation.

Mart.

[Bluebell]

Mart, Is the "Churchill rig" a British distributor jig?

[GB SISSON]

Are you saying you add up the dwell of both sets of points? Also I was very encouraged when I saw a post that said you could remove one set of points and run quite well on a single set of points. Even I could deal with that. I have always converted all my 59 ab rigs to the crab distributor. And while I'm at it I just have to ask v8coopman if that's Sky King's 'Songbird' in his avatar. Looks like the Flying Crown Ranch logo on the fuselage.....

[scooder]

Originally Posted by Bluebell

Mart, Is the "Churchill rig" a British distributor jig?

Yes,
Martin.

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

Are you saying you add up the dwell of both sets of points? .....

Total dwell is from when the first set opens to when the second set closes. The dwell of each individual set of points are overlapped.

[Mart]

My buddy Martin answered for me, but here is a pic of a Churchill timing jig with a crab distributor on it. It's a really nicely made piece of kit, I rigged mine up so it works from a buzzer rather than a light.

You flip the top plate over to do the helmet or Lucas distributors.



Mart.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

And while I'm at it I just have to ask v8coopman if that's Sky King's 'Songbird' in his avatar. Looks like the Flying Crown Ranch logo on the fuselage.....

Good eye.......that IS the Songbird.....N67832! DD

[zzlegend]

Originally Posted by V8COOPMAN

Good eye.......that IS the Songbird.....N67832! DD

I remember pumping gas around 1962 and Kirby Grant came in for a fill up. But not in his Songbird, but his Cad Conv. Ah, the good old days.

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by zzlegend

I remember pumping gas around 1962 and Kirby Grant came in for a fill up. But not in his Songbird, but his Cad Conv. Ah, the good old days.

Too bad his niece Penny wasn't along. ZZ, I like your avatar too. My kinda ride! Now back to the subject at hand, the trusty crab.