Weak Spark and old carbs.

So I just had the funn of getting the motor I put in my 37 Chevy Pickup started and I thought that I would share. Now the motor I'm running belonged to a friend of mine and had been sitting in the corner of my shop for 8 plus years until this project came along.
So I'll start with the enormous heater core leak I found as I started pouring in the coolant. What a Joy. Fixed that and finished filling the cooling system. Turned on the fuel pump to find the the Holly carb that had been sitting on the motor for that 8+ years leaked out of every gasket and orifice that it had, and the accelorator pump was stuck. Off to the parts store for a rebuild kit and 2 hours later I had a functional (mostly) carb. Then I get spit, fire and cough when I try to start the beast (by the way it's 11.5:1, 248 degrees durration at .050" cammed, single plane intake 327 chevy). I pull plugs and check spark to find that the new Mallory ignition I used has this little weak spark that looks like it belongs to some 40 year old coil. After trying some other plugs I have lying around and finding a nice hot blue spark I remembered why I hate Autolite plugs. A set of Champion plugs later and the engine LIVES. And when I say lives I mean that it sounds like race day at the drags, this engine is going to be fun.
So now I sit here waiting for my two front tires to come in the mail so that I can get it rolling and drive the beast. I must say that the cheater slicks that I got from Cody and his Dad at Hurst Racing Tires look GREAT, if the drive half as good as they look I can asure you I will be happy with them. Any way I just wanted to share my excitement with all of you out there and I will post pics of the truck as soon as I get it outside. Thanx for listening. Jaysin

 

that sounds cool ! i had a mallory unilite dist. in a big block chevy that worked excellent. i pulled the motor, and it sat for about 2 years. i sold the dist. to a friend of mine, only to have him tell the same story that you're telling. he had to replace the module in the dist.
i don't know why it woudl go bad from sitting. the motor sat in a heated garage, covered up. the only thing i can figure is that moisture got in it, and corroded the module somehow.