35 Starting issues

rgtharley

rgtharley

Senior Member
Hello all,

Finally got the 37 motor I bought last year into my 35 Tudor, and ready to run. First, some history, this engine looks to have been a military rebuild from the 40's, all OD green, and fresh pistons, and a few new valves. Cleaned all the scale out of the water jackets and heads, bought two brand new water pumps from Skip, the 37 style that also become the motor mounts. I rebuilt the carb with a kit from Ken CT, sent the 35 distributor to Skip for rebuild, (which I have since moved the timing several times, so I don't know where I am now).
New wires, caps and plugs, but when trying to start the engine, only get intermitent running , and not real smooth. I saw some arcing from the plug wire tubes, and I'm thinking, the plug wires might be shorting enough to cause poor running. Is this common, and is it possible that I bent up my new wires so much by shoving them through the tubes, that they are shorting out? Is there an easier way to run plug wires if you don't care about the original appearance? By having center outlet heads, I found that the wire tubes won't bolt up to the intake manifold anyway, so I'm thinking about just using aftermarket type wire separators to hold the plug wires. I'm also thinking about sending my distributor back to Skip to time it again. After that, the only other variable would be the carb, and maybe I need someone smarter than me to make sure I rebuilt it correctly.

Thanks for any and all opinions!
Bob
 
Set the advance slider up 1 line from middle. It will be back in the ball park. tubes from a 35-6 will not fit properly on a 37 block. Most are a 1 yr only fit the tubes are all diff yr to yr. Did you use old wires?? Make sure there in the right cap holes. ken ct.
 
it sounds like you have wire tubes from a 36 motor, on 36 they are curved to clear the water pumps in the heads I think the ones that you need are straight. as far as the wires I used 7mm wire, with a dark blue insulation. but I don't care about originality. some one told me that if you bend the original type wires that they can arc in the tubes. maybe you have your firing order wrong also go to Mac Van pelts web site , ii will try to find it for you and double check your firing order, good luck ...Brendan
 
Flathead_Distrbtr-wiring-1932-36.jpg


I hope this helps, Brendan
 
Thanks guys,

Ken, yes, the wires are new, and I am 100% certain the firing order is correct, and they are in the right holes. I'll reset the timing to one line up from the middle and see what that does.
Brendan,
Thanks for the Van Pelt diagram, I think I may have printed that out a while ago when I set up the wire tubes. They are the original wire tubes from the 35, and the motor that was in the car was the original babbitt bearing engine, so I am convinced that these are the original 35 wire tubes. They cleared the water pumps fine on the original engine, but with this 37 motor in the car now, they won't bolt up due to the center water outlets on the 37 heads. I may go ahead and pull the tubes off, and run new 7mm wire and see what happens. I'll try to post some pics just in case anything else jumps out at anyone.

Thanks again!
Bob T
 
Bob I mentioned to Skip about your distributor. He said if you can't get it working right send it back with $10.00 for shipping and he will set it up again at no charge. G.M..
 
You could just run the wires without the tubes temporarily to see if it runs all right. At least it would put the tubes out of the equation. But the new wires shouldn't have been damaged enough to cause arcing just by threading them through the tubes. Are the wires new and good quality? or new but very old stock?

Mart.
 
G.M.
Thanks for the tip to Skip, I actually called him last week to ask about where the timing should be since I screwed with it, and he told me the same thing, that is, send it down, and he would set it up again just for the shipping. Very nice gesture, and I think I will take him up on that offer.

Mart,
The wires were new, but I think they came from Mac's, and some things that I have bought from Mac's are of questionable quality. A starter switch for example, bought brand new from Mac's, and the car hasn't even been driven yet, and the button portion of the switch broke off. I may take Brendan's idea, and just run plug wires without the tubes, and see what diference that makes.
Thanks for your help!!
Bob
 
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