I need help. My distibutor in my flattie shorted(?) out and proceeded to start a small fire inside the cap. It was truckin' down the road, backfired, and quit running. Put new points in it, put the juice to it and it smoked every wire inside. Why? any ideas are appreciated as now my car is'nt running and had to be pulled home. Thanks Cody
I'd guess that whatever it was in the first place wasn't the distributor...maybe the coil shorted out, and that's why it happened twice?
'51. I sold an intake so I have some money, I may just put an electronic one in it, I don't really want to spend the money on that, though.
those wires short out to the dist. as it passes thru... those isolaters wear out... seen it a few times Tokyos merc was one example... I have a NOS dist. for sale if you need one... never been on a flatty the wires are PERFECT. Its not the coil Tuck
tuck- thanks for the info-Mine's been converted to 12v could that possibly have something to do with it? It was done when I bought it so I'm not exactly sure what's going on there. Anyway, checked out the link at the bottom of your post-cool shoebox keep us updated.
12 V will have nothing to do with it... a dist. is whatever you feed it 6V or 12V. take the dist. out and look at the hot wire... it usually shorts out where the isolator wears out or somewhere below the points... I wouldnt sweat it as you could fix/replace the wire thats shorting out and drop a new set of point in it. Do you have a dig. pic of it? or can you take one?? Thanks for the props on my shoe... i actually have a couple of them... and a shitload of parts. Let me know if I can help. GOOD LUCK Tuck
you are exactly right. It was a wire underneath the points that began to smoke the second time, that's how I know..Thanks for the help. I don't have a camera so no pics-but in reading what you said I know that has to be what happened.
absolutely.. I've been here a little over a week and already learned quite a bit..Thanks for the help everyone.
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