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havi · 06-13-2013, 10:12 PM

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Hope ya don't mind me piggybacking this thread, but I just tried to fire an old flathead 6 today for the first time. It's a rolling chassis, where the wires are there, but cut where they met the body. It's how I bought it. So I set a battery on the frame, and used jumper cables to go straight to ground (POS) and starter post (NEG). Cranked over ok, with all plugs removed (noticed #2 cylinder had a valve stuck open), but had no spark. Everything from the coil to dizzy to each plug is still hooked up. I used a jumper wire to go from the key side of the coil to the same starter post. I got no spark. There's no ignition switch, no regulator, etc... the points do open and close (I think), the little springs look rusted on the plate.
Following what I read here, I moved the ground cable closer to the coil, so I could clamp the test light clip within reach, I then hooked the NEG cable to the starter (automatically engaging it), and started checking the coil. I got steady lights on both sides of the coil. So from that, it's safe to assume the problem is in the dizzy? Without the plugs, there's no compression, so the engine spins faster, but it should have still shuttered on and off if the dizzy was good, right?

06-13-2013, 10:12 PM	#6
havi Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Northshore, MN Posts: 139	Re: ignition problem Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) Hope ya don't mind me piggybacking this thread, but I just tried to fire an old flathead 6 today for the first time. It's a rolling chassis, where the wires are there, but cut where they met the body. It's how I bought it. So I set a battery on the frame, and used jumper cables to go straight to ground (POS) and starter post (NEG). Cranked over ok, with all plugs removed (noticed #2 cylinder had a valve stuck open), but had no spark. Everything from the coil to dizzy to each plug is still hooked up. I used a jumper wire to go from the key side of the coil to the same starter post. I got no spark. There's no ignition switch, no regulator, etc... the points do open and close (I think), the little springs look rusted on the plate. Following what I read here, I moved the ground cable closer to the coil, so I could clamp the test light clip within reach, I then hooked the NEG cable to the starter (automatically engaging it), and started checking the coil. I got steady lights on both sides of the coil. So from that, it's safe to assume the problem is in the dizzy? Without the plugs, there's no compression, so the engine spins faster, but it should have still shuttered on and off if the dizzy was good, right? __________________ I'm just an old truck guy trapped in a hotrodder's world. Last edited by havi; 06-13-2013 at 11:03 PM.