36 Pickup stalling when warm

[david.skinner]

I suspect I'm about to open Pandora's box but I would like some guidance in the process to fault-find my wife's 36 pickup car engine ('38 24 stud Engine to the best of my knowledge with a Crab distributor) stalling when warm.

We've had the car a few months and it has run perfectly. I'm in the very final stages of overhauling the cooling system and the car will not start and idle when warm.

Interestingly one thing I have noticed that when turning it over it will either fire on the first rotation of the crank of not fire at all. Once it has stalled I also seem to bet getting some crankshaft locking when subsequently turning it over where the engine abruptly stops turning with some associated unpleasant loud noises. It has also backfired on me a couple of times with subsequent cranking which is really scary.

It seems to start well when cold with say four pumps of the throttle and full choke but when it warms up and I gradually close the choke I can hear it starting to miss and it then stalls and wont restart.

First thoughts are obviously fuel or electrics but can someone point me at a 'standard' proceed for fault finding this sort of thing or is the range of possible causes so wide that its a case of testing everything?

Thanks in advance
David