Hot Rods Old relible wasn't Saturday morning! - UPDATE

Our club had planed for a Saturday morning breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then a garage tour to Warren Wolfs shop to see the 1928 Bugatti type 44 he is working on and his one off 34 styled handmade aluminum body roadster, so I was up bright and early and had planed on driving the old Deuce beater.

I opened the garage door and fired up the old sedan just to hear it sputter and pop like it the timing was off or 4 spark plug wires were removed.

This is strange,I drove the car Thursday and it ran like a top,but I didn't have time to screw with it.

Thankfully,I have the mordor back up Deuce so I drove it,but left my darn camera in the other car.

We had a good turn out for breakfast and Warren's shop is amazingly clean for all the work he does,Like I said ,I left the camera in the other car but I am adding a link to his business,He does some amazing work and several of the cars he has painted have been Pebble Beach & Emilia Island winners. HRP

Royal Coachworks

 

Did ya fix it?

 

I haven't touched it yet,late getting home yesterday and I'm helping Brenda at the shop today,unusual to be here on Sunday but she got a call at home this morning to do the arrangements for 2 funerals,hopefully tomorrow I can figure out what the problem is.HRP

 

Earlier this summer I went out and started my 32 sedan, its started, sputtered and died. Pulled a plug and fuel runs out. Pulled the 7 remaining plugs and they are wet as hell. Took my little butane torch burned the fuel off reinstalled the plugs and it fires right up. Havent had this happen again.WTF????

 

At this point in time I'm not ruling out anything and I will check the plugs. HRP

 

Spent a few minutes fooling around with the sedan,it runs rough when I'm
giving it gas if I take my foot of the gas the engines stumbles & shuts off,tomorrow is another day. HRP

 

Last night I started trying to diagnose the problem,I'm getting spark but when it fires off it runs like a old hit and miss farm tractor.

I have a new set of plugs on hand and I haven't replaced them in years so that's probably where I'm going to start,If there is no significant improvement, the next logical thing is the wires,they are actually older than the plugs.

I have a GM electronic distributor.

Any helpful suggestions are appreciated. HRP

 

Danny , I'm tellin' you...That darn Eclipse that went over Anderson played havoc with all your electronics...!!!
Stan

 

Danny, the stock GM HEI distributors used to be notorious about the spark jumping the dist. rotor to ground on the weights below via the screws that hold on the rotor if the plugs got old and the gap eroded wider to the point that resistance to fire plugs under compression was higher than the resistance to jump to the rotor hold down screws. Fix was plugs, wires if needed, and nylon screws to hold down the rotor. If you pull the cap and see red dust, it's a dead giveaway.

 

Thanks Dave. HRP

 

a true detective project - how old is battery? - Thanks for link to Royal Coachworks

 

The battery is OLD, and your welcome,Warren is a true craftsman and his shop is TOO clean! HRP

 

As I recall. GM HEI dist's also had a problem with the advance lever rubbing on the module wire's. Good luck.

 

Something else to check. HRP

 

They generally all have red stuff (rust powder) under the cap.

Sounds like it needs a tune up. I used to love doing the first tune up on an HEI equipped vehicle, after they drove it for close to 100k miles without ever looking at it, and wondered why it was running rough

 

If some of the easier items don't result in a fix check the module in the HEI. They are notorious for failing with no notice. A friend had it happen the other day with the same symptoms. Some parts stores have the machine to test them. Trick is finding the guy that knows how!

 

or buy a new one, put it in, see if it works. If no change, then keep the old one in the glovebox as a spare.

 

Check the little carbon button in the cap, the part that makes contact with the rotor button. I'm thinking plugs and wires will get it, but then you have to start looking else where. Good Luck.

 

Due to circumstances beyond my control I haven't had any spare time to play in the shop,hopefully I can find the time this weekend to old sedan back up and running. HRP

 

My 34 Roadster pulled this same biz awhile back.....I checked all the usual things, sounded like your exact description.
Came out the next day thinking I’m going to tear this 327 out and put a 283 back in it !
Go to start it and it cleared out........it ran fine after that, but I’m still suspect about the whole deal, intake,compression,ignition/combustion & exhaust.
These “Old Reliables” have a good way of changing your opinion of them .

 

Today I started by replacing the spark plugs,I had a new set on hand and I noticed a couple had a larger gap than they should have but none were fouled and actually looked pretty good.

I reinstalled all the spark plug wires and it seemed to crank easier but still stumbled so I decided a new set of spark plug wires were in order and while I was going to the parts house I would remove the module and have it check.

BTW,there was a lot of red looking powder residue inside the cap.

They have a machine at the parts house that checks the module and it checked out fine,but a new one wasn't that much so I opted to replace it also, I did buy new wires,distributor cap and a rotor, my fingers crossed

I'll put the module,cap and wires on after lunch,keeping my fingers crossed. HRP

 

Thanks for update - if the latest batch of new parts does not make it run right try a new battery

 

Figured you already saw this HRP , but it would be good to keep in the garage for future use:

http://s173.photobucket.com/user/mr48chev/library/Napa HEI service info bulletin?sort=3&page=1

I tried to link the thread post, but had problems......MR48chev posted it and the link to his photobucket where it was at.

apology's to Mr48chev for reposting this link to his photobucket, but he had posted in a public area

 

I am happy to report that the old sedan is running like a champ after the tune up,I'm anal about checking the oil,water and tires but guilty of not staying on top of preventative maintenance.

While I was under the hood I inspected the hoses & fan belt,sure enough I need to replace the fan belt.

Looks like I will be going back to the parts house tomorrow. HRP

 

Glad to hear you gor your RR up and going again, LOL.

Sent from my SM-J700T1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

As 3wLarry was so fond of saying - "God will get you for that" HRP

 

Congrats

 

Yes sir. HRP

 

Not that it matters now, cause its obviously worked for you for a while, but just wondered if you are running the standard weights and springs in the distributor advance or if you've switched to the lighter ones?
All that looked good? Just thinking about the red dust and wear....Good Luck

 

The distributor is stock. HRP