41 flathead v8 cam and distributor

I inherited a 41 ford coupe deluxe from my brother and can’t get it to start. I bought a new distributor and battery 6v and have verified all the cylinders and valves are working. I can’t get it to fire. The old distributor shell had been modified - cut to allow more adjustment (I assume). It also has a short cam in it as there is the cam adapter on the distributor. Any suggestions??? Thanks

 

so you bought a "new" distributor, as in a complete unit rebuilt and set up on a scope so as to be ready to run? have you checked to see that there is power at the coil with the key on? there should be 3 volts there as there is a resistor under the dash, check that if no power at the coil. also a good idea to clean the battery ground, and be sure you have big fat cables for 6v system

 

Thanks rusty. Yes a rebuilt and scoped distributor. There is spark at the plugs. But I’ll try measuring it.

 

If it cranks over at a decent speed and has spark, give it a few sniffs of starting fluid and see if you get any results....you can post this on the HAMB main message board also, " the antiquated " is for non car related stuff....

 

Pull a spark plug wire and hold it about an 1/8th inch from a clean spot on the cylinder head (wear gloves), have someone spin the engine with the key on. You should see a spark after a wruup - wruup "engine turning over sound".

If no spark, get an Volt, Ohm, Amp meter (VOM) and set it on 10-20 amps. unhook the wire going to the coil, and hook that wire to one lead of the amp meter, while hooking the other lead of the VOM to the coil. Turn the key on and carefully turn the engine over a turn or two. When by myself, I have put the transmission in 3rd gear, and just pushed the car front fender forward, with my leg, until the point (one of two) closes, and I see an amp reading on the VOM. Careful as the engine could start and run over you. You could run the car's bumper against a tree, which would be safest.

You should see around two to four amps on the VOM. If yes, you probably have a bad condenser or a bad coil. Beware the Chinese coils, as they use too short a wire in the coils winding, and the engine will run only with full six volt battery voltage or some such. Remember these coils are really three volt coils.

New old stock (NOS) condenser are usually dried out, and will or have already failed.
Buy a new one from Dennis Carpenter, NC or some dependable source - not NOS.

To see if the points are burned, unhook the wire to the coil, and put the VOM (on 1X Ohms), zero the Ohm meter, and then see if hooking the VOM to the points wire, while hooking the other VOM lead to a really good ground, and turning the engine give you a alternating reading close to zero and then alternating to infinity. (it should if the points are usable). If the VOM gives one, two, or more Ohms resistance reading, the point/points are burned and need cleaning (in a pinch) or replacing. The science here is that the increased ohms (resistance) of a burned point (say 2 ohms) when added to the ohm reading through a good coil (around zero to an 1/2 ohm, and then divided into the volts at the coil (around 3 volts) will give you the amperage. You need a couple amps to run, (but you can't stand more than about 3 1/2 amps to run very long, You get this condition when you skip or bypass the "six to three" volt ballast resister on the inside firewall). Trying to run four or more amps will burn the points way too quickly, and may even melt the coil.

I have had Chinese coils that would run good on straight 6 volts, but be drawing so many amps that they fried point daily. Automobiles use coils that take less than battery voltage (in your case a thee volt coil) because the battery's output drops drastically when the starter is cranking the engine, and if the coil needed a full six volts to fire the plugs, a battery only having four volts( or so because the starter is loading the battery so much) just wouldn't hack it. Most cars bypass the ballast resister when cranking the starter, and the hook back through the ballast resister when you release the starter button.

Ford distributor caps (the inner ones) and rotor (inside the distributor, and look like a big, black plastic ring with copper or brass inserts) are pretty famous for shorting through their plastic parts, and allowing spark plug voltage to go to whatever metal is handy, which will surely prevent the engine from running, or running on all eight.

You need around .005" gap from the metal lip of the rotor to the four leads of the inner rotor. Less than that may break one or both of the inner caps and/or the rotor. More than .005" gap would give me cause to consider replacing rotor and caps during a thorough tune-up.

Of course, you need compression, proper cam timing, and fresh gasoline. After it starts, you need an open exhaust system with no potatoes, or entrapped mouse colonies.

 

You mentioned a distributor adapter to "space" the distributor. I would mark number one cylinder "top dead center" on the fan belt pulley (off the front of the crank shaft), and hold the cylinder number one spark plug wire near the new TDC mark, and turn the engine over to see if you are firing number one when your TDC mark says you should be firing. You will see this home made TDC mark twice to every one time that spark plug wire off number one cylinder fires. You can be 180 degrees wrong, and be firing some other cylinder while you think you are firing number one. All this is assuming someone messed up making that "add on" cam spacer and allowed you to mount the distributor in the wrong place "radially'"

 

due to the distributor drive tang being off center, its pretty hard to bolt a distributor on incorrectly. not that it hasnt been done, but it usually results in breaking off one of the mounting bolt ears. if it has spark and compression i would give it a drink. about a shot glass full of gas down the carb, crack the throttle open a bit and try to start it. if you have help, some times pull starting with a chain or rope helps to "wake up" one that has been snoozing for a while