The flathead in the 37 coupe started cutting out during acceleration. Spent a day going through the easy stuff. Total ignition tune up. Checked advance and timing. No change afterward. Ordered two power valves and throttle cups from Dickster and tore both carbs apart cleaning them. Worked great. I imagine I blew one of the power valves. Ran great. Took it for a 60 mile drive and returned home to find the front carb leaking at the throttle shaft. Tore the cover off the front carb. Readjusted the float. Reassembled and decided to test it. The car started up, ran for three seconds and shut down. Tried again fired but no start. Tried again. Started, ran for three seconds and shut down. After that there was no fire. After a day of frustration I dove into the problem. No spark from the plugs. The coil had no voltage at the + terminal. Ran a jumper from the battery to the coil, started up. Had to be either the wiring or fuse, I thought. Checked the fuse. All good. Began tearing apart my wiring harness to trace a bad coil wire. Crawled under the dash tearing apart my harness to get to that damn thing. Ignition switch wiring, good. Wiring to the coil. good. Wiring to the fuse box ??? Wanted to make sure I had the correct wire number so I pulled the old directions for this Kwik wire assy. About ready to give up for a couple days while looking at the layout. I came across a paragraph about the security coil shutoff switch attached to fuse panel. . Here some how the plastic switch was found laying on the floor mat broken from the fuse box from some kind of hit. Hell I have no idea how I could have kicked the fuse panel breaking the switch off being so high into the dash. Every day is a challenge. All this in one week.
There are other reasons, which are both cynical and political, and which I shall therefore not catalogue on this forum.
Combined with the china nature of a lot of parts now a days it can be a pita.. but whenever possible never give in to joe suburb..
All those plastic parts get brittle sitting in the sun/heat/cold, and will break if you sneeze on them. On the car my kid was "gifted" from a family member, most of the plastic bits are crumbling like saltine crackers...
Even a lot of the "newer" old cars that are made up of mostly plastic are the same. Every time I try to fix stuff on my OT pick up that's almost 25 years old, I break more stuff trying to get to the broken parts because the plastic has gotten so brittle.
The kill switch on my Kwik Wire fuse panel looks robust and is all metal. BUT... I don't trust it to turn it off and on a bunch of times. I figure my chances of getting stranded using it are about 10,000% higher than someone stealing the thing...
Your probably right Bob. I’ve used my switch during times I’m traveling out of state. It’s the roll of the dice. This Kwikwire kit was installed about 20 yrs ago. The switch on this older unit was plastic.
Dude, so true! My roadster has spent more time on a hook and on the side of the road than driving. Very fun when running but very frustrating during the " learning curve" Sent from my E6810 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Very good point. We get very frustrated when they don’t run right. But.... That’s the actual time we learn more about them. And that my friend is more fun than driving them. Love it when it all goes right from hard work. Great looking “A”.
Here's the thing, most of what goes wrong with these old cars can eventually be traced and fixed. I hate it when I have to take my modern cars to a shop because I can't trace the damn computer glitch. I just had to change the upstream oxygen sensors in a '95 Trans Am. Drivers side was easy, but the other... What a job. My Model A doesn't even know what an "upstream oxygen sensor" is, for Chrissakes. I'm sick of new cars. One of those dies, who knows where to start. Give me something I have a chance of fixing on the side of the road with a screwdriver, pair of pliers, and a coat hanger in the trunk. Hell, walking aint that hard. We all have cellphones, anyway.
Won't be long and we'll all be given a new car every 3 years or a self driving car will come pick you up.
Had the same problems myself, when I got the Edsel last year as a matter of caution I replaced all ignition components , a couple of months ago I broke checked everything , it turned out to be a bad condensor lucky i had a spare as i bought a few at the same time from a well known USA company, then at the start of this week i started having problems which i thought was fuel , after trying 3 different carbs it seemed to run fine with the last one I set off to work the following morning got about a mile and broke down, (condenser again ) this time i fitted a NOS Lucas one i had for my old Vauxhall, the Edsel runs better than its ever done, the ones I bought recently were cheap so I take it they are not USA quality but cheap imports , you get what you pay for
A little mental exercise I sometimes go through. Build (in my mind) the most basic, simplistic, easy to repair vintage daily driver. For me, a '62 Biscayne. Six, 3 on the tree. No power anything. Brand new stock wiring harness. Tools, fan belt, spare hoses in the trunk. Little kit with a spare points set, feeler gauges and cap / rotor. Doable on a budget.
Yup totally agree , its bit of a PIA when they break down but at least its fixable on the side of the road and in cases like mine its substandard aftermarket parts that let you down, not like the modern stuff that you need a computer to find the fault, over here in the UK we have yearly safety inspections and one of the new rulings is that a car will fail if the engine management light is lit while running regardless of the emissions results , the Wifes car has just failed on this and despite replacing most of the sensors the light wont go out so need to book in to dealer I was thinking on buying her a classic as over here they are inspection and road tax exempt which on her 2005 car is close to $300 per year
One of my best cars was an old-man '65 Falcon my ex-wife drove in 1977. When me and my wife split up I told her to sell me the Falcon when she was tired of it... fat chance, never saw it again. Simple, 170 engine, 3 on the tree, manual choke, no radio and it got 27 MPG.
I could probably replace any system on my car (twice) for the cost of one of the many computer control modules on the OT cars I have owned in the last 15 years... Chappy
I used to own a bunch of cars at any given time, maybe have 2 registered at a time. Gives greater chance that 1 will be running when you need it. I always have an eye peeled for another car in the $4000 price range. I came close to getting a '65 Mustang a couple of years back, told the guy $4500 and he was asking $7000, think it went for $5000.
Your challenge was not old car stuff it was new car stuff in an old car. You're a good solid mechanic, and now you know to wire around someone's idea of a safety device. Its a shame that some wannabe engineer decided to build a better mouse trap. Maybe it made them feel good but it caused you a problem. I hate it when good people get stuck with a problem. Glad you got it sorted out. Like I said @Petejoe you are a good solid Mechanic.
Just got off the phone with my lady friend and her 2012 VW Passat. It sporadically will not start on her. Fiddle around with the key and tumbler enough and it will start and behave for months. The dealer has the parts on order, of course it has to be programmed to her VIN and all that crap... the parts will be here in 10 days. She's going to roll the dice and keep driving it, I may have to offer up my OT daily and drive the Ford for a few days...
The best answer when asked "You broke down?" standing by your car on the roadside is, "Nope, just stretching my legs." All the while madly trying to contact that one guy you know with a rollback.......
LOL people don't usually stop for me anyway. No matter what I am driving or riding. I did have a guy stop while I was relieving myself a couple of years ago. He said, "Do you need help?" I said, "Nope its not that heavy."
The Jalopy Journal
