new carb, lost a cylinder...

Not meaning to embarrass you. I know many here do not know the workings of a Model A motor like I do. I set my coffee down just as I read your post. Entertaining to say the least. I also know, you can find many surprises in these motors. I tore one down yesterday that had nice bores and a good re-grindable crank that had finishing nails for cotters on half the rods and twisted wire on the rest. Now, I have been guilty of using nails for cotters when I was young and very poor but, how much do cotters cost?
 
OK Gents let's close this thread!

I took the carb off, blew compressed air in the GAV and idle passages, shook out all the gas...

I could see that my low idle throttle setting still was two full turns of the throttle plate adjustment screw, so I set it to fully closed, put the carb back on and started it with 1/3 throttle lever and 1/4 turn on the GAV. It started good, so I warmed it up and walked down the idle, this time SMOOTH and NO SMOKE from the tailpipe, something had to be in that carb keeping the GAV from seating...

I learned alot about the ignition system and the fuel settings (the HARD WAY)

The car got invited to the June 8th car show down at Detroit Tiger Stadium before the game, so if you're down there, look for the guy with a big smile on his face next to the green '31 roadster.

Thanks to all, happy driving to you:D
 
Cool deal. Glad it's fixed.
BTW, the Tigers aren't playing the Rangers again on the 8th are they? :D
 
Glad to hear it. One last thing you might want to do is pull the plugs and just clean them again since you ran it so rich in your diagnosis. Clean that dark soot and crud off them and now time to enjoy!
 
John S said:
Cool deal. Glad it's fixed.
BTW, the Tigers aren't playing the Rangers again on the 8th are they? :D
Click to expand...

nice, way to rub it in, the Rangers have always been tough against the Tigers, but at least my car's running good (today, anyway).....we get to play Cleveland, that should be fun.

And thanks for the reminder Jason, I'll do that and a hot engine compression test while the plugs are out just for reference, since I plan on owning this car FOREVER!
 
markyb said:
maybe I'm not too far off now, the car would not even start with the NEW condenser, I put the old one on and it fired right up. Although I have not messed with the timing yet, I have a Nu Rex timing kit, and reading their specs I should slow idle at full retard...If I do that the car idles beautiful. It hates any advance at slow idle. I just ran up the throttle and it sounds pretty good with advance now, so I'll take it for a test ride.

Nu Rex says 5-10 degrees ATDC full spark retard at slow idle, and 30-35 degrees BTDC for high speed. I need to borrow a hand crank from a neighbor tomorrow to run the full set of timing tests and see where it ends up. I also noticed a fair amount of wiggle to my distributor, so I snugged the lock screw per the manual, I read that this could've given me erratic running too...

Off for a quick test drive, thanks to all for ideas with the troubleshooting. Also, as I read here on the forum and didn't believe it, I had a new in the box condenser that wouldn't let the car run.
Click to expand...

The condenser is a capacitor. The rest of the world changed the designation but automotive never did. Same thing.

These can and should be tested before installation. They must be open or have a VERY high resistance to DC, If they are shorted the engine won't run. If they are open or have a very low value of capacitance the engine will run but it will burn up the points quickly. Most DMMs will measure capacitance. Automotive "condensers" are often poorly made by modern electronic standards but work fine as long as they are not open, shorted or very leaky.

I would suggest picking up a modern Mallory style distributor at a swap meet for your A even if you would never have such a thing on your car permanently so that you can swap it on there for troubleshooting purposes.
 
Mamy years ago,I tuned up my A ,including the new condenser & it wouldnt start.Put in the old Ford one & it ran fine.Since then I never change one unless it is proven defective.
 
"These can and should be tested before installation. They must be open or have a VERY high resistance to DC, If they are shorted the engine won't run. If they are open or have a very low value of capacitance the engine will run but it will burn up the points quickly."

which is it?
 
tbirdtbird said:
"These can and should be tested before installation. They must be open or have a VERY high resistance to DC, If they are shorted the engine won't run. If they are open or have a very low value of capacitance the engine will run but it will burn up the points quickly."

which is it?
Click to expand...

A capacitor is open to DC and will pass AC in inverse proportion to its frequency. An ohmmeter is a DC instrument so when you connect it there will be a momentary kick and the needle will drop to open. Sorry for the unclear explanation.
 
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