'37 Flathead no spark

cretin

cretin

Senior Member
Hi guys,
I haven't been around for quite a while.
I'm back and I have a question.

I picked up a stock flathead a little while back out of a '37 Ford pickup.
I don't have much flathead experience, so I thought I'd ask you guys about it.
I have a guy who is interested in a trade for this flathead, and he wanted to know if it runs, so I told him I'd try to fire it.

I already knew the engine turned over ok. The engine is not in a vehicle. Hooked up ground, and power to the coil, and tried to fire it.
Engine turns over, but no spark at the plugs.
I filed the points up a little to make sure they were clean, and tried opening the points with a screwdriver to see if they sparked. I'm getting sparking in the distributor.

Like I said, I have little flathead experience, so maybe there is a problem area I don't know about.
What else should I be looking at?
 
Finally got a chance to put on the new condenser. Still no spark.
Before when I was opening the points, I was using a screwdriver and I was being sparks, but I think it was only happening when the screwdriver struck metal. Pushed open the points today with a toothpick, and the points aren't sparking when they open.
 
clean the plate where the points are mounted, I have seen rust under the points which would not allow a spark (when you used a screwdriver it sparked -right?) also rotor button's have a tendency to ground out on the distributor shaft, old plastic is finally drying out! put elecrical tape in the smaller area of the shaft and even use shrink tape in the same place-works great!
 
...while you're at it,remove the points and clean the contact faces. It's common for corrosion to form and prevent current flow, your sparking with the screwdriver suggests this is the likely problem.
 
I did file them a bit perviously, but removing them and making sure the faces are clean certainly won't hurt!
 
Well, Alanwoodieman, I think you nailed it. Pulled the distributor off, took it apart and found rust. I cleaned it all up and put everything back together. I didn't get the chance to try to fire it, as I didn't think the neighbors would appreciate open headers at 12:30 in the morning.
So, instead I decided to open the trans since I couldn't get it in gear. It wasn't good news in there. I saw some broken gears, and the case was full of water. Based on that and the rust in the distributor, this doesn't seem to be a get it running and get it on the road situation.

Looks like I won't be making that trade, and I'll have more work into this engine then anticipated. Thanks for the help guys.
 
Power to the coil but no spark? Ok but on your info it's been sitting a while, it could just be the coil as the can after sitting over time get moisture in them . Perhaps contact Bubba or a similar coil tester rebuilder. We found this exact problem on a rebuilt 37 that had been sitting a fair while. New coil and we had fire in the hole.
 
Yea, looks like a coil is the next step. I'm glad I got in that distributor and cleaned it out though. That rust wouldn't have helped anything.

I think we have a coil adapter that will fit that distributor at the shop, so I'll give that a go.
 
Well, this flathead still won't cooperate with me.
I've cleaned up the distributor.
Put a new coil on it today and still no spark.
I've got new wires on the way because it needs those anyway.
With the new coil, I'm not getting spark when I push apart the points.
I also put some machinists dye on the rotor and turned it over, and it doesn't look like the rotor is making contact with the contacts for the wires.
 
Should the rotor make contact with those, or should it just be close?

I went into the distributor again, just to be sure there wasn't anything I missed, and nothing looks obvious in there. There is some wear on the front end of the distributor shaft where the rotor rides, but that should be turning with the rotor shouldn't it? Is that wear anything I should be concerned about?
 
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Well, I walked away from this for a while. I've put new spark plug wires, put new points and adjusted them to .016", and even though they looked good, went ahead and put new plugs.
The only other things I can think of to replace that could be a problem is the caps and the rotor. Anyone else got an opinion? This is by far the most trouble I've ever had getting spark.
 
Check the plate the points are screwed on to is grounded, disconnect the wire from the coil to points for this.
Martin.
 
When I got my 239, I had no spark. All I did was clean everything up and do a minor tune up, points and condenser. I got spark right away. And then I replaced the plugs and cap. Be sure to check all of your connections. There might not be any contact underneath the plate. Check the screws and connections if you haven't done so yet.
 
spark at the screw driver suggest dirt on the points ,likely all it needed was a clean .points may now be out of sink ,one set must be open at all times .
 
on my flathead, i had voltage to the coil and no spark. we ran a wire directly from the battery to the hot side of the coil and the engine ran. apparently there was enough resistance in the ignition circuit to limit the current when i tried to fire it. might be worth a try.
 
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