I have been having no luck in getting spark to the plugs on my C69a. Crab distributor which has been swapped out 3 times, cap 3 times, stock coil, 42-46 swapped out 3 times, rotor also swapped, condenser also swapped. 6 volt positive ground, power to the coil is good, frustrated, help. Cross posted on the Fordbarn as well Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Have you determined the firing order is correct? Does the rotor spin while cranking the engine over? Bring number one cylinder up under compression and verify the rotor is pointing to the number one terminal on the distributor. With the ignition on and number one plug wire connected to a plug, ground the body of the plug, rotate the distributor slightly back and forth by hand and see if you get it to spark. When the plug sparks you'll know you are very close to having correct timing. Once that has been determined, the engine should be able to run. When it runs set timing with a light. Good luck!
When you say "swapped out 3 times" you mean you tried three different ones? I find it hard to believe all three were bad, so you've got to look elsewhere.
Rotor spins and is going the correct way, counter clockwise. I agree alchemy with you but cannot seem to figure it out. Checked wiring, grounds, points etc and all look good. Something simple that is not obvious Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Have you verified the rotor actually points to number one terminal on the cap when number one spark plug is supposed to be firing? I've seen my share of dist. drive gears that have sheared their locating pins, causing the gear to slip on the shaft. Most times the gears will slip but then catch on a remaining stub of the pin, allowing the rotor to continue to turn while cranking the engine, but cause it to be out of time.
Step back...move step by step! Remove wires from coil. as a future investment, make up 2 simple sturdy jumpers--two alligator clips and 4 feet of 14 gauge wire each. hook ignition terminal on coil right to battery. Don't forget it's there! hook your other wire to distributor primary terminal on coil, put a secondary wire into big terminal and hold its other end 1/4" from a head nut, repeatedly touch that to another head nut and take it away...you should see and hear a spark jumping each time, AND it should be a fat blue spark. Thin yellow spark sends us another way! If you hear snap-snap-snap and see a good spark you can forget about the coil. Obviously you have eliminated upstream wiring and switch problems by hooking coil to battery. We can eliminate cam drive for now...take out the 2 dist bolts, jumper dist body to engine, rotate it by hand from drive tab. You should hear and see sparks aplenty as you turn it. If dist timing scale is on center timing will be close enough to run. Reinstall distributor...let that coil cool down for a bit. Visually identify wide sides of drive on distributor shaft and cam as you reinstall...some people have managed to install distributors 180 off! Be sure it is engaging solidly. Recheck firing order all the way around. At some point right around here, have another person look! All of us make simple mistakes that we cannot see, because we have looked the wrong way 10 times in a row!
I agree step by step. 6v + ground so you could take coil hv lead connect to good spark plug laying on a good ground. Coil -- negative to battery-- negative with a clip lead. Then clip lead coil + positive to good ground temporarily...so touch that to a good ground for a second, remove, plug should fire...so "tapping" that lead on ground, plug should "snap-snap-snap". If so, coil is good. Then try same test now connecting coil -- negative lead to wiring. Key on, same tap-snap test with one clip lead. No spark, check you should have 6v there. I assume good points, gapped correctly. A bad points condenser can cause weak or no spark. Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk
Turn on the key and open the points with a screw driver or a pencil or anything you can stick in there. They should snap when opened. If not you are not getting power to the distributer and I would suspect the coil is the culprit. That said I would chase the wires in the distributer and check to make sure that the points themselves were not grounding out as well as make sure that the condenser is good. I have run into all of these problems with points distributers over the years. A distributor is a distributer, flathead ford or dodge or Hudson or . . . Yes they are motor specific but they all work the same way pretty much.
Thanks for the help and will have a closer look with the information given Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
After many parts, distributors, coils, capacitors and countless tips from a lot of people, it finally started and ran this afternoon. I must have got lucky with the right combination of parts so will swap in to verify what works. I am thinking it was a coil and fuel issue. Either way, another sleeping flathead as awoken. Thanks to all for the help. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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