hard starting ford 260

HELP! Having trouble starting 260 in my 64 Ranchero. Believe it electrical as it won't even fire on starting fluid. have electric to coil, shouldn't I be able to test coil with test light to see if any out put? am at my wits end as I tried a new coil without results and replaced the condenser. all suggestions welcome. as usual thanx for your input. larry

 

Check your grounds and clean their mounting points.

 

Try cleaning the points with fine sandpaper

 

Hot wire it from the battery to the coil, that will bypass any bad wires you may have from the car. If it fires start looking for a bad wire

 

Those Ranchero's used a separate "start" wire from the starter solenoid to the coil to by-pass the resistor wire that is providing power in the run position. The problem is they are now 50 years old and they tend to crack and build resistance of their own. Run a wire from the + side of the battery to the + side coil and see if it starts easier.
Just be sure to try and start it right after you hook up this jumper as you don't want to leave voltage flowing to coil without it running for more than a minute or so, or you can cook the points and or the coil. You will also have to remove this wire to shut it back off if it does start. But this will tell you if that is the culprit, easy test.

 

There should be a internal ground wire from the points plate to dist body. These can and do break ! = no spark.

 

Thanx for the info guys. Starting turned out to be points too widely gapped, a senior moment! Starts and idles great but won't rev beyond 1000rpm. Did I screw up the advance in distributor ? If I did don't know how, replaced accelerator pump diaphragm and fuel filter. any other ideas? thanx again!

 

Even with no advance the motor would still rev over 1,000 rpm. Start looking at throttle linkage being bound up or hitting something since you worked on the carb.

 

Set the points on .018" when they are on the high part of the cam.

 

I should have said the motor actually shuts down at 1000rpm tach goes to zero and it seems to start running again as motor slows. Not binding on linkage same result when I push the accelerator pump rod not using linkage. Would a coil going bad do this? again thanx for your help. if I had hair I'd be pulling it out by now!

 

I'd check the primary wire on the distributor. They sometimes break inside the insulation from flexing and when the vacuum advance rotates the breaker plate, it can pull the break apart and cause the ignition to quit.