Model A frustrations.

Terry said:
You all are going to laugh like hell when I tell you what the problem turned out to be! Iwent over it for the umpteenth time, only this time I was using the Ohm function on the meter. Everything looked good till I came to the points. I had rotated the plate till it was on a high point, but the meter showed continuity. I pulled the distributor and worked on it on the bench ( Light is better) I could see that the points were moving slightly but not enough to break. A .020 feeler gauge confirmed this . This had happened once before and I reset them. I don't think I put 100 miles since then. So the points loosened themselves up and closed up. Who the heck has this happen! I guess I'll have to watch them from now on. Thanks to everyone who contributed a possible solution!
Terry
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Hey Terry, glad you're back firing on all 4. Make sure you have a little cam lube on the cam for the points... and some of the aftermarket points have terrible rubbing blocks. In fact I've seen where they wear so fast that the metal arm will short out.

Glad a little tweak did it. check that cam for lube. A little Vaseline will do the job as well.
Happy A Motoring!
Larry
 
Hey Terry, are those points the new style or original style?

One other thing I found, those blocks wear very quickly after installing a new set of points. Really need to keep them greased up.
 
Terry, my points mount the pot metal holder for the fixed points, was cracked and after awhile the gap would close!
 
Points will do that if the rubbing block is not lubed. I grew up with points and cond, quite aware of this issue.
 
For the future (and your enjoyment) you might think about picking up a 12" by 12" Fresnel lens to help in your reading efforts.
Paul
 
Don't feel bad, I've had points close up on me often enough. I think some of the modern point sets have a rubbing block that isn't as hard as the originals, plus new ones close up anyway while they're wearing in. I can usually sense the problem at this point. On the other hand, my Town Sedan started running a little rough so I checked the points and found they had opened up a bit. A quick adjustment and all was well again. Go figure.

I've also discovered that if its a gas problem, clean the carb; if its an ignition problem check the points then the condenser, finally the coil and that usually takes care of the issue. All of which are related to modern causes; bad gas, bad points, condenser, or coil. Of course, weird things do happen - had an ignition wire shorting to the instrument panel once that drove me nuts trying to find.
 
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