trying to start.....

1930artdeco

Well-known member
OK, I tried to fire her up last night and nothing. She cranks over just fine, has gas in the carb but no fire from what I can tell. I was even using starter fluid and she was not even catching. So I need to verify that I have spark namely I saw some sparks/flashes under the pass. side manifold:eek::confused:. I will tinker around with her this weekend a bit more.

Mike
 
Sounds like an ignition problem.
You should not be able to see any arcing outside the spark plugs at all. If so, inspect spark plug cable boots for cracking. There's usually not much you can do to prevent spark jumping to ground without replacing the defective cable.
 
check that firing order is correct and rotor is not 180 deg out of time. even with iffy plug wires and correct timing you should get some action out of a couple cylinders.
 
UPDATE-she has a heart beat after 40 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for the help, FORDOR41, you were correct. After trying really heard not to she was 180 out. Rotated the dist. shaft and she fired up on the third try. She has a very fast idle speed and am not sure why yet. She also has an exhaust leak as I have smoke coming from both manifolds. Lots of smoke from the tailpipe but that cleared up eventually. Here is proof.


https://youtube.com/shorts/Y48hJoVV0AI
 
The choke is still half closed, so probably still on the fast idle cam of the choke.
There is an adjustment screw on the passenger's side of the carb, on a lever that's attached to the throttle shaft fast idle speed is way too high.

Sal
 
Yep, after cools down I will fiddle around with the carb/choke. I did manually open the choke plate and she slowed some but not enough.
 
OK second run and took the choke out completely and screwed the idle screw out so it was touching the cam at all. Got her to run much slower still a tad fast in my book. Temps were as follows: Rad-160, Pass manifold 330, driver side manifold 430? Temps are all approx. will tinker with her slowly over the next few days and weeks as I am moving onto floor pans.
 
The choke is still half closed, so probably still on the fast idle cam of the choke.
There is an adjustment screw on the passenger's side of the carb, on a lever that's attached to the throttle shaft fast idle speed is way too high.
Sal
1930artdeco,
The eccentric cam the fast-idle screw rides on may be stuck in the Engaged position.
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  • '57 List 1273 pass side, hi-idle.jpg
    '57 List 1273 pass side, hi-idle.jpg
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A previous owner probably has the accellerator connecting link adjusted too high. If you pop the clip off the carburator, you should be able to push the accellerator mechanism against the idle-stop screw.
I would start all over on carburator adjustments beginning with adjusting idle/fuel mixture screws using manifold vacuum guage then re-adjusting idle speed screw to about 500 rpms. Adjust accellerator connecting link length last.
 
There is also the normal speed screw on the driver's side of the carb for adjusting the idle speed when the engine is warmed up and the shoke is fully opened and not on the fast idle cam anymore..

Sal
 
If it has a dashpot, check the adj. If throttle lever is too close to the dashpot it can hold the carb at a faster idle than you want.
 
Let the engine warm up for 10 min or so and then recheck the timing.
Timing needs to be correct to get the right idle speed. ;)




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