ignition problems
 

I was helping a friend troubleshoot his stock 1931 pickup. Stock except for running modern points. We would get it running and it would either quit on its own or would not start again. At one point we were chasing ghosts. I would get voltage at 6 v on both sides of the coil and points then it would change to 6v and 4.5 or nothing. Bypassing the ignition switch resulted in the same results. Changed points , condenser and problem persisted. no spark at plugs or very weak. Also changed the coil all to no avail. Pulled the distributor and then found the problem. The wire from the ignition switch into the armored cable was frayed at the outlet to the distributor. There was only 4 strands of wire still connected and also shorting on the cable.
Sorry for the long story ( short compared to the time it took us)


Des

Re: ignition problems
 

Thanks for taking the time to report your findings. Good to know a potential problem to tick off in one's troubleshooting list.

Re: ignition problems
 

Does this 31 commercial still have an Electro-Lock pop out switch or does it have a conventional key switch? A modern key switch can be set up to open and close either the power side of the coil primary or the distributor side of the primary. The vendors carry the wire inside the armored cable conversion to replace the pop out switch cable. The late OEM Electro-Lock switch has all wiring internal to the mechanism where it's not so easy to see the condition of the wire in the armored part.

Re: ignition problems
 

So how do you get that armored cable out of an original electro-lock switch? Someone sells a wire kit? I have a dandy one, but I suspect the guy that re-did it used that what I call wax based wire, instead of something more like silicone.

Re: ignition problems
 

First a person had to carefully remove the cover on the back. There is a procedure to remove the lock cylinder and switch mechanism. The early types (1928/29) were easy to remove the armored section since they had a contact terminal in there. The 30/31 typed were soldered and the insulation was clinched on. It just takes care to remove some stuff to keep from doing damage. Folks who rebuild the Electro-Locks have it down to a science.

Re: ignition problems
 

This had a modern switch not a pop out or even one that resembles one. Standard on off ignition switch