1930 Ford Model A Running Rough

[KeansClassics]

I took my 1930 Ford Model A to its first car show yesterday and had a blast with it there. It was the oldest car at the show. It starts right up and runs good at idle, and I was able to make it to the show that was only 5 miles away, but it had trouble keeping enough power to make it go. There were some pretty steep inclines on the route to get to the show and they were about all the car wanted to take. It died on me a few times just going up the hills. I believe the third and fourth cylinders are missing every now and then, as I have jolts of power on and off while driving it. I grounded out the third and fourth cylinders with the engine running and it had little effect on the firing of the engine. I have a feeling that it is the condenser that is causing some of my issues. I never did replace the condenser when I bought the car, and I know the previous owners never did either as they never ran the car for the 10 or so years they owned it. I plan on replacing the condenser, points, rotor, distributer housing and cap. Is there anything else I should be looking at to make this engine run better? The reason I didn't replace the condenser is it looks like it would be a pain to get out because of my aftermarket heater exhaust manifold and shroud. Can those condensers be taken out without having to take off the intake and exhaust manifolds?

Thanks for the help!

[Kurt in NJ]

Have you checked the point gap?? too small of a gap can cause your problem

Just the age of the parts doesn't mean that they are bad, many times old parts are better than new repro parts.

Don't change all the parts at the same time, sometimes replacing too many parts makes for more problems.

Buy a condenser from A&L, i have been using the same one for more than 25 years, before that I replaced many

[James Rogers]

Change the plugs first! I recently had one on the engine stand with these exact symptoms. I checked the points, changed the condenser, fixed a frayed ignition wire and, checked the plugs for firing. When I shorted out the plugs with a screwdriver, all made the engine miss except #4 which would spark but had no effect on the engine. I changed the #4 plug and got worse with no spark when shorted out. I changed it again to a plug out of the box with the gap checked and the engine smoothed right out. No more missing, plenty of power and, no backfiring out the carb.

Plugs are simple things but they can spoil your day even right out of the box.

[Patrick L.]

You could just remove the distributor if you can't get to the one condenser screw.. The heater manifolds I've seen have a hole cast in them for the distributor retainer screw.. I guess there are some manifolds without that hole so a screwdriver could be 'warped' to fit..
Are you sure the problem is electrical ?? Have you tried playing with the spark lever and GAV ??
Long story I'll try to shorten.. A fella has been chasing 'loss of power' problem for a couple years.. I guess out of desperation he came to the house and we had a talk.. He had been thru the carburetor a dozen times, tried old style and new style distributors[plates], condensers and anything else he could think of.. I looked over the same things except I took off the fuel line and drained 3 gallons of fuel without a hitch.. So I pretty much ruled a fuel delivery issue.. Off we went for a ride and his description was right on.. It would run 40 mph all day.. At 45 or higher, after 2-3 miles, it would loose power and slow down and if left like that would start backfiring within about another mile.. Slowing down to 40 mph it would continue on like that for another mile and suddenly all power would come back.. If felt to me like a fuel delivery problem but the draining of the 3 gallons had me scratching my head.. Just for the heck of it I took off the fuel cap and looked for the vent holes.. There were none.. The center hole was fine but there were no outer holes.. I had to scratch around with an ice pick to find the only outer vent hole.. Between pickin' and blowin' all the junk finally came out out of the cap.. Went for another ride,, all is well..

[KeansClassics]

I did replace the spark plugs and coil as well, so those are new. The distributeor is stuck in there pretty solid, so it might be a challange getting out unfortunatly. I will have to check the point gap to see where it is set at.

Thanks!

[1930artdeco]

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when I had my heat on, it destroy condensors in short order. I had a one piece heater that would just so hot they would start to die. The car would lose power and start to backfire on level ground. That being said the condensors quality may have been suspect at the time. the fix was to pull over and let her cool down and she would be fine.

Mike

[Patrick L.]

OK, so if you can't get the distributor or condenser out then you could try disconnecting the condenser when checking the points gap/condition and install another to the coil..