New car to me. New starter installed . Hit the starter and off we go. Runs terrible, missing, popping etc. Pulled the crab dist. and check points. Points, condenser all fine. Car never starts again no matter what I do. Mechanic friend says install new Stromberg electronic dist. Great idea!!! Install dist. car never starts. Tried everything I can think of. Checked all wires, all have juice. Tried new coil ,no. new coil wire ,no. 6V at battery, new. 6v at ign. switch,2v at coil. No spark at the plugs or at dist. Don't know what to do next.
If you have spark before the plugs, then try a new set of plugs. I've seen this problem many times. If your sure its in time, hook a tow chain to front bumper, put it in second gear and pull it. Valves my not be seating for good compression. If it wont start, you got some thing out of kilter. Iceman
Timing issue? Crab distributor, key on dist drive offset, and the 'timing' adjustment only moves as much as 10* total. I suggest points examiner got a smudge of oil on the points, or didn't set so they closed properly. Ballast resistor is probably above dash ledge, drivers side. (or atop the coil) 2 volts at coil would have been a siren...
Another thing (so I can add relevance to the thread) when you put in the new electric distributor, did you bypass the ballast resistor? Also, only doing one points to HEI, I also needed to use 14 gauge wire. I think mine was originally 16 or 18 gauge.
Run two wires from the battery. One from the battery plus terminal to the coils + terminal and the other from the battery's negative terminal to the distributor or the engine block by the distributor and see what happens.. Using a volt meter to troubleshoot a 6 volt DC engines electric isn't the best way to go. Make yourself a socket with a taillight bulb in it and use that to see if you have power..
If car has sat for LONG time put some oil in cylinders and crank over, you may have lost compression. Crank over and see if you have spark at coil. If not see if you have voltage at coil. If not go back to ignition switch and see if you have voltage there. If not go back to battery and see if you have voltage there if not charge battery. Once battery is charged go in reverse.
I even ran a wire from battery to the coil still no start. There isn't any points, all electric. No spark anywhere. All sounds impossible, but true.
I did the same after installing an Msd. Here the rotating shaft wasn’t deep enough to reach the cam face.
Since you said "the car is new to me", I have to ask : "Are you aware that the cylinders on a flathead are numbered different than most engines?" I have seen this cause problems a couple of times. Passenger side (left hand steering) : 1-2-3-4 front to to back. Drivers side 5-6-7-8 front to back.
What year is your car/engine? These early Fords (don't remember how many years) used a resistor to drop the voltage to the coil to about 3 volts. This was to extend the life of the points and with the dual points it worked fine. If it's a '42 - '48 look up under the dash on the extreme left side. If it is those years you will see way up high a little masonite panel on the firewall with 2 circuit breakers and a little coil on it. This thing is stuck way up in there and REALLY hard to see let alone work on it. You need a bright flashlight and a rubber neck to see it. Remove the wires from the resistor coil and connect them together. You don't need, or want the resistor with your electronic setup. Get an adapter if it's got the coil mounted on the distributor and use a modern coil. Check the voltage at the switch. Check the voltage at the coil. Also check any bullet connectors in the line. Those things don't usually fit tight and looseness and corrosion will kill it. Does your electronic setup use the original breaker plate? There a some spots on these that are really easy to short out. Double check the firing order. It's different than anything else and some early instructions are very confusing. The cylinder numbering on the earlier post is correct. The problem is surely an ignition issue if it pops and backfires. Good luck.
My manual says that a 1940 Ford used a ballast resistor ( mounted on the left side of the firewall inside the cab) to reduce the voltage from 6 volts to 4.5 volts at the points. 2 volts won't work. Your new distributor with electronics in it probably wants the full 6 volts ( I hope it isn't a 12 volt unit). You did say that you connected directly to the battery therefore bypassing any ballast resistor so that should have given you a full 6 volts at the points. The best test is to pull a plug and ground it and see if you have a nice fat spark or not. Tubman has a good point when he says that the cylinder numbering system for a flathead is different. Hope you checked that.
I had a similar issue with my '40 running an 8ba with it's coil and dist. Car would only start when I let go of the starter button. Finally found the resistor under the dash and removed the wire from one side and attached the 2 together on the other post, bypassing the resistor. Working great now for 30 plus years. Later coil did not need the resistor. Dave
I ran a wire straight from the ign. terminal (hot)to the coil and still no spark. Put in new coil, same set up, still no spark.
Now I want to drop in an old points distributor and try it . I am thinking maybe the electronics in your distributor could be the problem.
I don't know Blue, electronic distributors solve all problems. Personally I'd reinstall the original distributor, making sure you had continuity through the small condensor stud, the points were set correctly, you tried a different but known to work coil from another car, and make sure you don't install the cam tab 180 degrees off. Might also help to switch out the main coil wire.
Do you have voltage at the ignition switch terminal? Check with the wire(s) disconnected. Check again with it connected. Volt reading without wire = switch is good. No reading with wire connected = a short somewhere in the circuit. Those distributors are impossible to install 180 degrees off. The drive tang on them is offset. Can only mount one way. These are such a simple system so let's keep it simple. Carefully check the under side of the rotor for burn through or carbon tracking. Special attention to the shaft hole. Inspect the inside and out of the cap for same. Either of these will short to the nearest ground, i.e. dist shaft, etc. A shorted condenser is a possibility, also. A modern one can be mounted on the coil connected to the distributor side of the coil. Disconnect the old condenser and try to start the engine. To check for spark without the distributor connected, use a jumper wire on the coil and lightly brush it against a grounded surface to see if you get spark at the coil wire. Sometimes takes a few tries. If you can get spark at that point the problem is in the distributor.
This has happened to me. Timing off 180 degrees. Go back to running crappy equasion. rotate distribtor 180 try that. Fingers crossed.
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