Projects Truck Quit on me! Thinking it's the carb...

A tester like this puts a decent stress test on the coil, points, condensor, etc when the gap is opened up to 3/8" or so..
https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-20700-Coil-Spark-Tester/dp/B00IXMA1RY

 

Would points fail that quickly ?

 

If the switch was left on... yes. Sometimes that can burn them.

Also they may not have been set perfectly or maybe not tight enough and have loosened. It's always worth a check.

 

If it has not already been mentioned, check the condition of the grounding wire between the vacuum advance plate, and the distributor body.

 

If not running correct coil or no resistor will burn out points pretty quick.

 

Just had a similar issue with mine.
Checked all the usual , points.plugs,condenser, entire fuel system.
My coil, with only 6000 mi was the culprit.
Although my Champion spark tester thingy showed a strong orange pulse on the plug wires, and it tested to spec with my ohm meter.
Put a new coil on, problem solved.
Bench tested the old coil, although it did make spark,
it was very weak.
So that's one more thing I will carry a new one of under my seat.

 

Little update - definitely not the condenser. Managed to get a little time over the weekend to work on it, and swapped out the condenser with a new 12V unit. No improvement. I've got to do a little more disassembly to get the distributor off and check the points, but that's my next stop.

 

It doesnt hurt to try another condenser just in case the new one was also bad. Coils rarely go bad-----so try another one

 

If the vehicle had been sitting for a while before you started driving it, the roof of the gas tank likely surface rusted. When you start driving it, fuel slosh knocks rust particulate into the fuel and plugs up your fuel filter in short order. Ask me how I know??

 

Definitely had this problem before in some other vehicles. I don't think that's my issue here, since the tank is brand new, and so is everything running up to the pump. Not that I couldn't have a clogged filter anyway... I did bypass it though to eliminate it from the system, so that's not my problem either. Troubleshooting continues!

 

I don't know why I didn't do this earlier, but yesterday I went out and popped the #1 plug lead off and put in a known good plug that I keep in my toolbox for just such a test. Attached my remote starter to the solenoid, and lo and behold, there was fire when I cranked!

Now then, about that carb...

 

Hi. Here is the stupid method of checking distributor, points, condenser & coil all at once - Remove one wire from any spark plug and wrap fingers around the end and hold it there. Have someone bump over the engine. If that makes you crap your pants & bang your head on the hood you can eliminate the above mentioned parts. If it does not then begin with checking voltage at coil input and go forward from there.
Good luck with that method. Jimmie

 

Beat method I've heard yet!

 

If you smell fuel and it'll kinda run as long as you are working the gas pedal but dies when you let it return to idle then it is classic trash in the needle & seat and carb is flooding. Look into the top of the carb, is it all wet?

 

Had some time to do some troubleshooting over the weekend. Pulled the inlet line off the carb an gravity fed it fuel from a funnel and hose - ran like a champ. SO... that told me it wasn't the carb, nor the ignition. HAD to be fuel delivery.

I had some related fuel problems before, so I recalled seeing a thread here on the HAMB about push rod length on the fuel pump, with the gist of it being that it can cause supply issues. So I pulled the whole riser off and took the rod out. Sure enough, it was worn at the tip. Welded a little on the end for length, cleaned it and polished it, and reinstalled. Runs like a champ now.

I've got two other pushrods here though, from other flatheads. One's a 21 stud, and the other unknown, and both are about 1/8" shorter than the one I took out, and that one needed an additional 1/32 added to it for a total of 9 1/16". Anyone care to school me on pushrod lengths?

 

I’m surprised to find that at the beginning of this thread, you seemed to have excess fuel problems, and now identified as fuel push rod worn, which would suggest not being able to supply enough fuel.
When my push rod failed, I had no fuel delivery, hence it was easy to find.
I cut the end off the worn one, tapped a thread into it, screwed a bolt into the thread with a locking nut to make an adjustable push rod. Next time it wears, I just have to unwind the bolt a little.

Too find the correct length,we just measured carefully the throw of the fuel pump lever, height of fuel pump stand, gasket thickness etc.


.

 

Now there's a winning idea for an adjustable rod... I'm going to have to steal that!

I think that the excess fuel was due to the condenser. I did swap that out somewhere in those steps. I also think I have some sealing issues in the distributor cap, because a week after I fixed the damn thing, I went to go for a ride and the engine was missing like crazy - at least one cylinder wasn't firing at all. So that's today's job anyway; trying to sort that out.