Newbie with grounding problem

T

tomtoo

Junior Member
Hi run in and thanks in advance for any help. Bought a 1931 AA dump truck. Hasn't run in maybe 20 years put in modern upper and lower points plates, new coil , rotor , cap . Trys to fire but noticed spark lever rod where it connects to the column at the springs is getting hotter than %.Checked the lower plate for grounding and bent the tab that sticks out for the original condenser around. No obvious arcing marks on anything other than some tracking where the power wire comes thru contacting the lower plate. Could something be shorting in the new point plates themseves ? Tom
 
I would add a ground from the battery to the engine, sounds like the starter
is trying to ground through the spark rod and possibly the fuel line. Also make sure the frame is clean where the battery grounds to it.

Bob
 
You can use a jumper wire from the distributor to a head nut for a good temporary ground. Also be sure the engine to frame has a good ground, or you might heat up the fuel line trying to find ground.

Setting for years usually only means the points need to be cleaned and the fuel needs to be replaced with new gas (hopefully the good gas without corn crap in it).

Never start out by replacing good parts. That usually leads to more problems, either from poor parts or poor adjustments of the new parts.
 
"Never start out by replacing good parts. That usually leads to more problems, either from poor parts or poor adjustments of the new parts."

This should be a permanent banner headline across the top of this site.
 
Started putting a ground from motor to frame last night. Thought that the starter was struggling a little . The points were pretty pitted that's why I bought the new points.Thanks for the help Tom
 
tomtoo said:
Started putting a ground from motor to frame last night. Thought that the starter was struggling a little . The points were pretty pitted that's why I bought the new points.Thanks for the help Tom
Click to expand...

Welcome to the hobby and to the Fordbarn.

Please check the connection from the battery to the frame as well.
 
Every vehicle needs good 3 point to point grounding, battery, frame, engine, but not necessarily in that order.
 
Use an analog volt meter to check for voltage drop caused by poor connections. Just clip one meter lead to the ground post on the battery, and connect the other meter lead to the starter case. This will measure the line loss on the ground side. You can likewise measure the line loss on the other side of the battery by connecting to the negative post and to the starter switch stud. To measure line loss you MUST have current flow, so do these checks while running the starter.

If you are checking for line loss to the headlights, just connect in a similar manner to the battery posts and headlamp terminals. Connect on either side of a point in question to check for line loss. You can connect the volt meter across the two wing nuts on the terminal box to check the wires, ammeter, and connection in that short circuit. Just remember that you need current flow to check for line loss, so turn on the headlights to do the terminal box/ammeter check.

Having fun with junk cars:
https://guyviral.com/auto/country-boys-have-fun-with-ford-truck-demolition/?v=2
 
If you are building a working truck rather than a points restoration one solution would be to wire a grounding block directly to the battery and use it for known good ground point.
 
Start the motor in the dark,that's how I found the ignition cable was grounding out on the head.
 
That's great , I'm always in the dark. I'll finish the motor to frame ground tonight . I looked for the engine ground strap but couldn't find it , was there one originally? I'll also do some more electrical testing .Thanks
 
700rpm said:
"Never start out by replacing good parts. That usually leads to more problems, either from poor parts or poor adjustments of the new parts."

This should be a permanent banner headline across the top of this site.
Click to expand...

I could not agree more! Wayne
 
No original engine ground strap, but the engine should ground through the front motor mount and the engine side pans, as well as the distributor armored cable, fuel line, rear motor mounts, and driveline.
 
If you have one of the green handled battery cut off switches it may be the cause of your slow starter. Take it out of the system if you do have one and see if that changes things.

I know that you have "upgraded" to the modern points but I read a lot of posts on this site about people having troubles with them.

My suggestion is to go back to original.
Just my two cents worth.
 
I just want it as a driving vehicle. It was fixed up a little 30+ years ago , and been sitting outside. No cut off switch. The spark at the plugs seem kinda small. But it did try to fire. I'll work on it some more , and maybe I will go back to original points if it keeps giving me trouble . Thanks everyone for their advice
 
The positive (grd) goes from the battery + to the center crossmember. Clean it and add a heavy duty 6volt cable to one of the transmission tower bolts.
 
Got it started, it ran a couple times for about 20 -30 seconds and then died. What I found is that the cam that the points ride on can move up and disengage from the distributor shaft so it doesn't spin . I've looked at it a hundred times checking for spark and it always turned when I turned the motor over .But it must have been doing this off and on all along and I finally caught it.
 
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