The Ford Barn

sarettejo · 06-30-2013, 06:01 PM

I have a 1929 Model A -

I was teaching son to drive the car, and when he pulled out to get going again from a stop sign, the engine lost all power (although kept running for a while, barely), and would only just barely run at the same low rpm no matter how much the accelerator pedal was depressed. I had to pull the car home and have been working on it and learning about it through youtube and the internet.

More to consider - It appeared that there was no spark, so I pulled some info off the internet and ended up replacing the coil, condenser, and finally the points (which after all was said and done I believe to be the culprit). The coil and condenser did not need to be replace, but I did it anyway to have backup parts.

I now have spark all the way to the spark plug! But the car will still not run! I believe I am having trouble timing the engine:
- the timing pin trick doesn't seem to work, actually, when I hold the pin in to feel the dimple, the pin will depress to its hub when I turn the engine, and that location seemed to be inappropriate for TDC since the #1 piston was not at the top of its stroke (I checked it as follows) --> so I removed the #1 spark plug and used a section of a coat hanger to feel the piston coming up in the compression cycle, and I then timed the spark to coincide with the piston at maximum stroke elevation. Is this where the plug needs to spark?

After timing the engine this way, the car will still not fire over. I have even sprayed starter fluid (ether I guess) into the carburetor to see if that would get the engine to go.

Any Ideas? Thanks ....

06-30-2013, 06:01 PM	#1
sarettejo Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 8	Need help troubleshooting/timing I have a 1929 Model A - I was teaching son to drive the car, and when he pulled out to get going again from a stop sign, the engine lost all power (although kept running for a while, barely), and would only just barely run at the same low rpm no matter how much the accelerator pedal was depressed. I had to pull the car home and have been working on it and learning about it through youtube and the internet. More to consider - It appeared that there was no spark, so I pulled some info off the internet and ended up replacing the coil, condenser, and finally the points (which after all was said and done I believe to be the culprit). The coil and condenser did not need to be replace, but I did it anyway to have backup parts. I now have spark all the way to the spark plug! But the car will still not run! I believe I am having trouble timing the engine: - the timing pin trick doesn't seem to work, actually, when I hold the pin in to feel the dimple, the pin will depress to its hub when I turn the engine, and that location seemed to be inappropriate for TDC since the #1 piston was not at the top of its stroke (I checked it as follows) --> so I removed the #1 spark plug and used a section of a coat hanger to feel the piston coming up in the compression cycle, and I then timed the spark to coincide with the piston at maximum stroke elevation. Is this where the plug needs to spark? After timing the engine this way, the car will still not fire over. I have even sprayed starter fluid (ether I guess) into the carburetor to see if that would get the engine to go. Any Ideas? Thanks ....