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Technical Dual points - dwell meter causes stall

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by limachine, Nov 6, 2016.

  1. limachine
    Joined: May 5, 2013
    Posts: 23

    limachine
    Member

    Hey guys, a little embarrassed, but I have a situation with an old Ramjet fuelie with a dual point distributor. It's in a straight axle Vette and everything's been professionally rebuilt, but it just went back together and I'm trying to get it all sorted out for a friend. Hopefully someone ran into this before. It starts and runs fine. I set the dwell by blocking one set of points and adjusting to about 26 or so, then switching, making sure they're about even for a total of 30 degrees. After it heats up, let's say 20 minutes of driving, I start getting a miss. A bit low on power too, most noticeable off the line, low speed. Once you get the revs up, it's fine. But it'll stumble and eventually cut out at idle. When it acts up, timing is still dead on, but Hooking up a dwell meter makes it cut right out. When it cools off, the dwell meter won't affect it. I don't see anything wrong with the points, even swapped a different coil, tried a different meter. I thought maybe the points are closing up a bit and checked it out. I haven't removed the distributor from the engine yet. Probably my next move. Would love to convert it to electronic. Just curious if anyone knows exactly what I should be seeing wrong. Thanks!
     
  2. squirrel
    Joined: Sep 23, 2004
    Posts: 56,043

    squirrel
    Member

    try a new condenser....just for fun....they do strange things.
     
    metlmunchr, Speedys Garage and RICH B like this.
  3. deathrowdave
    Joined: May 27, 2014
    Posts: 3,545

    deathrowdave
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from NKy

    I'm betting on condenser , check ground wire inside of distributor also . Move it around and be sure it's in sound condition .Good Luck , I'm just guessing I've never had any issues like this running a FORD engine !


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
  4. GMC BUBBA
    Joined: Jun 15, 2006
    Posts: 3,420

    GMC BUBBA
    Member Emeritus

    Yep condensor ........
     

  5. I thought that the Points are supposed to be Set at 30%
    Dwell on each side
    and what Curve is in the Dist....???
    that will tell you what Timing to put on the Engine.
    Just my 3.5 cents
    or when the Cows
    come Home.!
     
  6. limachine
    Joined: May 5, 2013
    Posts: 23

    limachine
    Member

    Thanks guys...and deathrowdave, I'm on both sides of the fence, I build Shelby Cobras mostly. Did a lot of corvettes too.
    Distrib is stock. Gonna swap a condenser and see what happens. It was my only guess.
     
  7. limachine
    Joined: May 5, 2013
    Posts: 23

    limachine
    Member

    Took a while but Heres an update. I swapped a condenser and the stall went away. Also found mismatched points, one good set of Blue Streak and one Chinese piece of crap that was burned. The condenser was an old delco that someone wire wheeled the rust off of to reuse. "But its original" Also wound up swapping in a new coil for a high rpm miss. The repop original style coil that was installed would grow an additional ohm of resistance when warmed up giving me a total of just under 4 ohms between coil and ballast. Anything over 3 causes a hi rpm miss. Problems solved.
     
    hotroddon likes this.
  8. squirrel
    Joined: Sep 23, 2004
    Posts: 56,043

    squirrel
    Member

    thanks for the report!
     
  9. Ebbsspeed
    Joined: Nov 11, 2005
    Posts: 6,254

    Ebbsspeed
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Thanks for the follow-up! Not enough people report back when an issue is resolved, and how it was fixed. Follow-up helps all of us learn.
     
    Saxman, metlmunchr and Johnny Gee like this.

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