Whats happening here

Well my radius ball cap assembly looks like everyone else's so I must be close.

Thought I would start it up and celebrate the event ---- refuses to start, even try to start despite voltage, gas. Closed the hood, said a prayer for the car and wished it well wherever its new home will be.....

It was an adventure. :mad:
 
Don't give up!!! It may be something simple like the points closed up. Many times a person may forget to tighten the locking screw on the points block. The engine will crank and run for a while and vibration will allow the points to close up and then It just won't start. It could be a loose ground screw where the condenser mounts on the manifold side of the distributor. If all of that checked out, it could be a faulty ammeter. If you've got a short length of wire with an alligator clip on each end, you can bypass the ammeter at the terminal box. If you hook an aligator clip with wire between the wing nuts on the terminal box this will bypass the ammeter. It could be a faulty ignition switch. I've had more than one of the low cost switches cause grief. This is just a few possibilities. We sometimes have to fight these things untill all of the little stuff is fixed, Then it will be dependable. Here is my roadster when I got it in 03. You have a nice looking roadster. It shouldn't take too much work to fix.



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Maybe you can get some help in your area. Bud P here on the barn lives in va not sure how far from you but can steer you in the right direction or maybe to the right people in your area.
 
I'm going through this one more time this morning. Thanks for the tips. Mechanical experience, owned a few oldies in the past 31 Chevy, 35 Chevy, 28 Dodge Brothers and had my 64 front clip, engine, transmission out and down to the frame rails. :p

I'll bypass the ammeter, thats about the only thing I haven't tried. This thing ran and started nice for two straight days and last night decided to pull this stunt.

Hopefully something obvious will turn up. I'll let you know. Thanks again.
 
Ok, checked my new rebuilt dist again, no shorts, 6v where it is supposed to be, pig tail good, but no spark when I open and close the points. Went in and had some coffee, about 40 minutes later went back and tried the spark test and had two healthy sparks, one weak spark and then nothing.:confused:

I dare say Reggie could this be a capacitor problem. As I mentioned a few times this is a newly rebuilt dist with original configuration. There is nothing left in the circuit other than the cap.
 
Most likely a poor electrical contact in the coil primary circuit, which includes the points contacts. After setting for several weeks in humid weather my 28 failed to give good spark while cranking with the electric starter, but fired right up with the hand crank. And this even happened after I cleaned the points contacts. Once it fired up by hand then the starter fired it right up just fine for the rest of the summer.

When I worked at the GM dealership some of the points wouldn't work, even new straight out of a sealed box. All it takes is a bit of skin oil from someone touching the contacts, or light corrosion from humidity. This is rarely a problem, but over the years I've had it happen a few times.
 
OK Bill, sounds like a switch problem. Try screwing the switch cable either in or out of the distributor just a little bit at a time. keep checking at the points with a test light. When and if the light comes on tap on the side of the distributor and see if the light comes on. Do all this with the switch on of course! Keep Jack or Grandad nearby either for despair or joy.

Sewall Tyler
 
I usually run some fine sandpaper between the contacts, even with new points. Points can glaze over and the engine won't start. Could the armored cable be screwed in too far and shorting??? Unscrew the armored cable and test with the switch on to see if any juice is passing through the cable, by shorting it against a head nut. The problem could be a bad ignition switch.
 
Ok key on 6v at points arm, turn key off no 6v. Loosened the main cable to the dist and jiggled it around no problem there. I don't know what to try next, unless the point contacts are made of plastic or something I am out of options, as I stated prior occasionally I get a good spark when exercising the point arm so the problem is intermittent. In;) reading my Andersen's book no spark when operating the points points to the capacitor. Since I have no spare guess the problem will have to wait until I get one. Thanks for all the help. ;)
 
Make sure the flag on the wire is bent like the one in Marco's picture and
not touching the distributor body.

Bob
 

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at least you have your problem narrowed down. Keep at it. Henry didn't provide much room in those dizzies. Lots of places to short stuff out. everything must be just right.
Tom, I have seen what you described many times....such as oil from fingertips contaminating new points, etc. Those point contacts must be really clean. Condensers are always suspect, always keep one or two spares.

I drove my original '28 Chevy into my car trailer one day and it would not start the next due to a thin film of corrosion overnight that of course was not visible. But that was in the very humid northeast. No probs like that in Texas.

If you have that experience with earlier cars you should be able to figure it out.
 
Thanks - now the frustrating part having to order a part - I shall order several of them. I have one somewhere. After I had the car for a while I went to modern upper and lower dist plates but now I have no clue where I put the original stuff I took off. Probably same place as the fuse setup I bought and can't find...... Best of holidays.
 
Well found 2 original style caps in my shed - replaced the new one in my rebuilt dist - turned the key on and checked the points and I had the nicest blue sparking every time. I swear I heard trumpets one time..

Started it right up and everything seems normal.

Appreciate all the suggestions and efforts to keep me from jumping off the bridge :D

Tomorrow I shall take it out (raining/storms now).
 
William Kelchner,

Excellent, glad to hear that you have it back up and running. Sure is worth having some extra, preferably original good condition, parts around.

I would still make sure that I have a spare condenser on hand, when they act up they seemingly cause all kinds of unexplained maladies.

Darryl in Fairbanks
 
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