Tudor lost spark

F

fried okra

Senior Member
My '31 Tudor was idling great in the driveway and then shutdown. It cranks fine but now has lost spark. I am running 12v negative ground.

As a start, I pulled the distributor to replace with possibly one of the two spare dizzies I've got as a first diagnosis.

I am running the two piece distributor shafts.

Now, when trying to install any of the 3 dizzies I've got none of them will seat the lock pin in the hole in the head. The dizzie body lock pins come within about 1/4" from the seating hole in the head but the dizzie's don't want to go further down. So, in essence, the dizzie's are about 1/2" from fully seating the dizzie body on top of the head.

All the dizzie shaft drives are clean and lubricated and the dizzies go in easily up to the point 1/4" from the lock pin hole. The dizzie top shafts will seat with the lower shaft and the rotor/shaft will not spin then as a result.

I have not removed the lower dizzie drive shaft. Nor have I tried to "hammer" the dizzie top shafts further down.

All thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.
 
Sounds like the bottom shaft has turned ever so slightly, OR (more likely) the lower shaft has tipped over against the engine block casting. take a flashlight and look down the hole with the dist out as a first step. A long screwdriver may allow you to tip it back up center. IF (and only if) you need to turn the shaft with a screwdriver it only needs to go a very little bit one direction or another.

And don't screw your ignition switch cable in too far. It will ground out the inner body of your dist if you do.

Check the simple stuff first...
 
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I suspect you have thought of this but in case you haven't, the distributor will only go in when lined up correctly. If 180 degrees out of the proper alignment the blade will not engage. The blade and slot are offset. The other thing to check is to see if the drive gear is fully inserted. You have to take the valve cover off to check that. There is a large spring that pushes down on the gear.
 
Have loosened the hold down set screw ? You shouldn’t see it sticking into the distributor bore.

As for the loss of spark did you check for voltage on both sides of the terminal box and at the coil ? Do you have a fuse on the starter, those fuse holders are troublesome
 
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Sometimes the “slots or tabs” aren’t quite the same size. Have you tried putting your old distributor back in, just to see if it will drop in?
 
Another issue is the head may have been shaved, and the upper distributor shaft on the different distributor may be too long.
 
Okra,

Our coupe came with a faulty repo distributor casting, which has its small locating pin, the one that seats down into the engine head, offset by a few degrees. This required the distributor to set off parallel from the edge of the block about 5-6 degrees.

Those incorrect castings are out there.
 
fried okra said:
My '31 Tudor was idling great in the driveway and then shutdown. It cranks fine but now has lost spark. I am running 12v negative ground.

As a start, I pulled the distributor to replace with possibly one of the two spare dizzies I've got as a first diagnosis.

I am running the two piece distributor shafts.

Now, when trying to install any of the 3 dizzies I've got none of them will seat the lock pin in the hole in the head. The dizzie body lock pins come within about 1/4" from the seating hole in the head but the dizzie's don't want to go further down. So, in essence, the dizzie's are about 1/2" from fully seating the dizzie body on top of the head.

All the dizzie shaft drives are clean and lubricated and the dizzies go in easily up to the point 1/4" from the lock pin hole. The dizzie top shafts will seat with the lower shaft and the rotor/shaft will not spin then as a result.

I have not removed the lower dizzie drive shaft. Nor have I tried to "hammer" the dizzie top shafts further down.

All thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.
Click to expand...
Do Not Hammer! Should slide together! Upper/lower shaft not aligned!!!!Simple!!!!
 
Pulled the plugs, rotated hand crank bout half a turn, and now all three dizzies drop easily and fully in place with lock pin in the hole in the head.

The top of the dizzy lower shaft dropped from 1-4/8" to the now 1-7/8" below the boss on the head. The lower shaft obviously had ridden up, although it didn't wanna go down when tapped.

Thanks group, now to figure out why lost spark.
 
I would love some fried okra right now :)

Seems hard to find in stores now though.

Am thinking bout getting an air fryer.....ever use one of those?
 
Air fryer is very similar to a convection oven. A zillion of these things were sold as Christmans presents so check with a few people near you. Someone may be thrilled to loan theirs just to get it off their kitchen counter.
 
I don't have an convention oven but use my air fryer a lot. I think it is much hotter than a convention oven. I buy frozen chicken pieces that were processed in an air fryer and then heat them up in my air fryer and add them to my fried rice (cooked on the stove). A lot lower in calories. I toast the brown rice before cooking which makes it much more fluffy and not heavy.
 
You guys are making me hungry :)

Any good recommendations on a dizzy condenser available at the typical local auto parts stores?
 
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