Technical Starting a Banger

hot wire it, 12v straight from the battery , if it fires you know where the issue is, if it doesnt you are closer to knowing where the problem is.

 

Weak spark, sounds like condenser. Its firing but weak with cleaned points... That mickey mouse condenser hold down also is a bad ground path for sure for it. You could probably pull it out, clean the ground up and make it work.

 

From what I understand, Japan is a country in which cars are essentially deemed obsolete at 60,000 miles. So I'm guessing there's not a lot of parts support, especially for ancient ignition technology. I admire Pete for committing to an old banger in that environment.

 

The model A club is world wide, I would think there are members and cars in Japan

 

ClarkH, there's quite a large following of the American Hod Rod culture in Japan. Mooneyes has a huge event there every year and Moon has a store there too.
If worse comes to worse, I'm sure he could find an old Toyota or Honda coil that would work.

 

The following for American cars there notwithstanding, Japan has a huge (and awesome) car culture for its domestic market cars, many of which use conventional coils. Shouldn’t be too hard to rustle one up.

 

Trust me guys, I’m aware of the tuner culture in Japan. Years ago I interviewed a guy who’d made quite a name for himself importing aftermarket Toyota Crown parts for use on US Lexus models; won some awards at SEMA. I just wonder if that really extends to old standard ignition parts. But what do I know? I’m old enough to remember when you get a low-miles Japanese engine for peanuts on the West Coast; they’d yard them out of Japanese cars at 60K and ship them here. Things have probably changed since then… so many things have…

 

That's correct, that's where all those good used engines were sourced. They don't actually "outlaw" older cars, but they make it very advantageous to buy new, by onerous inspections and essentially requiring all new hoses and other parts, and general jiggery-pokery that makes it a huge pain to keep an older car on the road. "Older" meaning not very old at all. Great way to support your domestic vehicle production. They just cut the engines out and shipped 'em over here for service replacements where they run for another couple hundred thousand miles.

 

Thanks for the help but I have been distracted fellas hope to look at this tomorrow. Had a lot of Model A Tune Up parts arrive today ex USA but no condensor

Sorry for my lack of knowledge is there a difference between 6v and 12v condensors?

 

another check is the wire from the points / condenser breaking as the base plate moves back and forth for advance and retard . Might not be quite the same for the B dizzy but broken wires are common. They might look good with an intact covering ( more likely bound with tape) but the wires inside the insulation work harden and break. A quick check on the continuity of the short lengths of wire will throw up and breaks or higher then normal resistance if the wire is down to a few strands.

I fitted the modern points base plate and parts to my A when I had it and it was an improvement as the wires under the base plate were eliminated .

Another issue can be blockages in the tank outlet . My A would consistently run for a hundred miles or so then produce a slight miss fire then a back fire , the fix was to disconnect the pipe at the base of the tank and use a computer keyboard air duster to blow through the outlet and clear the debris .. It would run great for another 100 miles ..

 

I started this pile after it sat since the 1960's

 

Starting the old turd is easy.......https://www.flickr.com/photos/75289626@N08/15262178918/in/dateposted-public/

 

Pete, Did you ever get the A running?

 

Thanks for checking up! My 34 arrived and been focussed/distracted on that but will try again today. I used sandpaper last time to clean the points but have now been able to borrow a points file so will have another go with that in addition to checking the condensor earth. Will report back.

 

Finally got some time with it again. Woohoo it runs and runs VERY well. Thanks for that offered help and support. Filed the points, cleaned the plugs, sanded the plug straps but still no start. Pulled the distrubitor cap and cleaned it up. Put in a new rotor cap. Had spark but not real hot. Pulled the distribitor body and realised I hadnt cleaned it fully including the contacts which got a light filing. We did that, put it all together and it fired up straight away and once warm idled like a champ. Super stoked. I knew it would be something simple. Thanks again all that helped.

 

Good to hear!!
Go drive the wheels off of it now!

 

That one needs to pass inspection too I assume

 

Did I miss a photo of the old gal?

 

Sadly our winter has come early and we have already had a lot of snow. The upside is we have been snowboarding, the downside is its too icey to get it out of the garage and drive it although I might get lucky and get a warm day. My 34 is in the garage too and Im yet to drive that too.

@rsuty valley yes this one needs to go through an isnpection too. I had hoped to get to keep both the new cars but C19 has had a huge impact on our business and the next care taker will do the inspection as if it goes through initially with fenders it has to stay that way, where it will most likely be chopped and run highboy here. I have a 34 axle Okie Joe drilled axle, T spring, 550/750 Firestones, headlights etc that the next owner can use. The previous owner built this as a regular driver hence the radials.

 

Yup, she’s a beauty Pete!

 

Not tuner stuff....there are pretty surprising amount of VERY TRADITIONAL early Fords in Japan. Same type of guys that are into 40-50's Levi, coca-cola and rock n roll. We've sent a large amount of stuff over there from the speed shop.

 

The Mooneyes Yokohama show which is on this weekend is awesome and if you guys ever get the chance to get here plan around being here for that weekend. So many great customs, hotrods and bikes. If you search Insta for #HRCS2021 you'll see a lot of the action.

Got the A out of the garage and a sneaky little drive the other day but need to be very careful as winter is here and the roads icey. Really love the car but it needs to find a new caretaker so I can pay our bills.

 

You need to install a wire directly to the coil that eliminates the resistor while the starter is engaged. This was standard on most, if not all, 12 volt cars back when the earth was still cooling. Hard starting without this extra kick of voltage. The only way I can think of to make this work automatically is to modify the starter switch housing so you can run a wire direct from the starter terminal (NOT the battery terminal). A hole drilled in the appropriate location on the switch body would allow a neat install. The starter terminal under the switch body is copper so soldering a wire to the side of the terminal shouldn't be a problem. Be extra careful about insulating. The easy way is to install a modern ('56 & up) Ford starter relay and a push button. These relays have a resistor bypass terminal.