Hot Rods wits end-283 won't start

Damn, no update as to what the hell it was.

 

Someone mention the familiar 180° out distributor? I didn't see it in earlier today posts.

 

Well, I didn't fix it really and I don't think I will ever know what happened. Remember the car started and ran last fall. Starting got worse over the winter. Two new coils and a new ignitor unit. Voltage and OHM tests out the ying yang. I solved it by removing the distributor and coil and installing an HEI unit I had removed from another car. Resoldered some wires, replaced plug wires because terminals were changed. Car started up immediately. After timing and idle adjustments, took the car for a ride...……….

 

New wires, try a continuity/resistance check on your old coil wire.

 

Engine was TDC, pointer to #1

Tried various coil wires before that functioned on other engines.

 

I would check for insulator & conductor breakdown of the little wire going thru the body of the old distributor. Cut the rubber open gently & check that wire for being half-fried, inside the insulator where it doesn't show.

I have seen this with a couple cars. Everything tests OK with an OHM meter pushing milliamps, but under a real electrical load, a perfectly good looking wire has significant resistance, as it is burned at its most insulated spot.
And it can burn a bit more each time you start the car, as the ballast resistor is cut out during starting.

Maybe those wires were pulled hard, or shorted out for a second, but didn't quite burn up. This damage can accumulate in a hockey stick fashion.

Also, I'd think about the internal contacts of any vintage ignition switch, though I'm sure you bypassed the switch with a jumper, right? Maybe?

 

How old is the gas ? The gas today goes dead in a very short time. Try hooking a auxiliary gas tank with fresh gas. JMHO

 

Thanks Ulu, all good suggestions. I did consider the switch but it is fine. The wires are fairly new but I see your point. It's amazing that one little thing can cause so much trouble. One thing I am considering also is that since I timed it last fall, the distributor traveled (retarded). I am infamous for not tightening bolts enough! The gas is fresh 93 octane.

 

Glad you got it going. Lots of posts here, so maybe someone mentioned it and I missed it, but... Pertronix says not to use a ballast resistor with their igniter modules. Maybe it fried each one. Anyway, you’re driving it now, so maybe it just a bad memory now.

 

Look how close the crank and rods get now think what would happen if the cam got out of time. some 5.7 rod 383 SBC have to grind the rods to clear the cam when in time. Engine won't start we don't know happened. On a 283 I don't see it but other engines yes. https://s1266.photobucket.com/user/Volfandt/media/235 Rebuild/235rebuild076_zpsccc92426.jpg.html

 

O.K.

 

Links to straight 6 photos ? Really


My 283 just cranks and cranks but won’t start
What wrong ?
Oh because the connecting rods are hitting the cam, I just know it.

I laughed my ass off!!!



Then /
that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard
That’s impossible
I just laughed again.

 

This is at least the 2nd time someone has said this, can you explain how this is one of the worst things that could possibly be done?

 

I'd like to know that myself.

 

Now,,,,,,,this is the old Hamb we know and love,,,,,LoL.

Tommy

 

Idk if it’s the worst thing,,,
But things always store better for me when they are well prepared for the slumber and just left alone.
Fresh oil, fuel Tanks full, engine ran till carbs are dry, battery charged and kept warm.

If they aren’t prepared for slumber then you need to keep them going or climate control storage. Trying to play with it occasionally and slumber between seems to give you shit to deal with you probably would rather not and otherwise wouldn’t have to.

Condensation is just one thing. Humidity and dew points play into that with temperature swings. Along with condensation is corrosion soon following. Just one.


Run time ratio with choke on (fat) vs normal Is way off the normal ratio. Maybe it’s 15 mins of warm up and 3,5,10 hrs of run time normally and probably no ice cold starts. That’s not good either for multiple reasons. What the statistics for percentage of engine wear on cold starts and warm up vs normal running ?

 

According to my Knights of the Mystic Sea Lodge pocket slide rule, it's .897754.2%. And pie are not squared, pie are round. Cake are squared.

 

Maybe in Kansas, but in Kentucky the cake is round and the cornbread is square.

 

I was always told that starting an engine for short runs is terrible, because it drives moisture into the exhaust system and leaves it there. It doesn't evaporate the condensate out the draft or the tailpipe. The oil is polluted, the inside of the engine grows rust, and the muffler rots out.

HOWEVER, climate means a lot. The climate here is generally quite dry. Not like Phoenix, but drier than LA.
Nobody warms their cars up much here.

In Minnesota, long warmups were the norm.

Storing a car for the winter means plugging the tailpipes and air intakes for sure! You don't want moisture or critters in the system. I used old oily rags, and the mice evidently avoided it. I've heard of using mothballs in a rag too.

If you have a lowrider those mice will crawl right up the tailpipe and nest in the exhaust.

 

.

 

Are you from Calif, Kentucky or Minnesota?

 

31Vicky with a hemi explained it perfectly... As usual.
Thank you 31Vicky with a hemi!

 

The alcohol free gas I bought last fall is still good. Good enough for the lawn mower at least.
-Dave

 

if you need a laugh watch Matt try to start his 34 Ford on Iron trap garage.
If you're in impatient scroll to the 17 minute point.

 

I thought the guy was trying to get the car to run after it had been stored, not periodically starting it in the middle of storage. But what bothers me about the post is the "worst thing that could possibly be done" thing. I could think of far worse things that could be done, and if you at least allow it to get up to temperature you will be drying out any condensation in the exhaust, you'll be getting fluids moving, lubricating gaskets, for a car with an automatic trans you'll get the trans fluid pumped back into the TQ and stop any seeping that is occurring around the trans because it's over filled, if you get the water temp up to operating temp, in the process you'll be boiling out any condensation in the engine oil. The hard part IME is actually getting it up to temp if it's a manual trans car, with an automatic you can stall the TQ and bring everything up tot temp that way (being careful not to overheat the trans). Is it better to just store store it properly and leave it for the winter and not start it at all until spring? Maybe. But I don't think firing it up and bringing it up to temp is the worst thing possible that you could do to it.

 

I'll be nice, I know Matt is a member here and don't want to insult him, and from some of the things he said I guess he hears a lot from armchair quarterbacks telling him what he does wrong. I just have to say though, damn, don't crank a starter that long like that, especially when it starts dragging. That's a real good way to damage the starter. I was yelling at my computer when the kid was holding the button down, and the starter started dragging, and he just kept holding it: "OK!! Stop!! Got to give the starter a break after more than about 10 seconds or so, especially when it starts to drag, that indicates it's not getting enough amperage, and that'll heat the starter up even faster (starving an electric motor of amperage causes a lot of heat). Better to take a break, hook up a battery charger to get a little more cranking amps going when you get back at it.

Funny stuff though when those nuts start flying out of the exhaust pipes!

 

Should I bother blowing this post apart and repacking it ?

 

Remember I started that post with I don’t know (Idk) if it’s the worst thing.
It’s easy to get mixed up on who’s saying what to who on these threads. I pissed off someone by agreeing with them lol.

 

I don't get pissed by any of this stuff, my skin is not that thin, it's all good.