1937 No start

[George/Maine]

Those front dist are hard enought to work on in car.Take it out and turn it by hand and see if it sparks good put it on fender with longer wire and test should jump 1/2" nice sharp sounding spark.When you think it good take out plugs and turn over and see if the gear drive jumps were dist engages.Any more then 5 degs maybe to much.You must be sure that it not out 180 degs.Does it look like its been apart and messed with.timing cover.You may have some bodys fix that didn,t work and been sitting for years.When did it last run.

[47COE]

Check to make sure that the exhaust isn't plugged. A mouse nest in the muffler would keep it from running.

The astute reader can guess how I know that.


Tom

[fourtydlx]

No timing chains in flatheads, just gears.

[George/Maine]

I have another test you can try.Take the wire off dist with pos grd, It would be the neg wire remove.Put meter across battery should read 6 volts,now leave the pos wire there and hook to ign wire nothing else hooker up.If you have the correct resister under dash .5 ohm you should read 4 volt now+or-.Now hook up to coil and see if you have good spark.

[nemw001]

I poured a 1/2 cup af raw gas right down the carb held the fuel pedal to the floor and cranked - and just the backfiring - would not fire off until fuel was exhausted as you would expect it to do if it was fuel related - This particular engine has timing gears, and I'm not sure whether the 1/2" "play" is normal or not. I did move the timing adjust one notch at a time, in both directions, and tried to fire it off and still just the backfiring and I would think that doing that would gain 1/4" ish of the slop in gears and allow it to fire off if excessive play was the issue, Not sure though??? Thank you for the input - I am feeling really dumb about now and am sure this will turn out to be something really simple and overlooked by me.

[nemw001]

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Originally Posted by George/Maine

Those front dist are hard enought to work on in car.Take it out and turn it by hand and see if it sparks good put it on fender with longer wire and test should jump 1/2" nice sharp sounding spark.When you think it good take out plugs and turn over and see if the gear drive jumps were dist engages.Any more then 5 degs maybe to much.You must be sure that it not out 180 degs.Does it look like its been apart and messed with.timing cover.You may have some bodys fix that didn,t work and been sitting for years.When did it last run.

I did put distributor in vise last week, hooked up 6v to it and rotated by hand, there was an intermittent spark - I swapped out the condenser with one I had on hand and that gave me a good strong white / blueish spark from rotor center as I rotated it.

[nemw001]

Originally Posted by George/Maine

I have another test you can try.Take the wire off dist with pos grd, It would be the neg wire remove.Put meter across battery should read 6 volts,now leave the pos wire there and hook to ign wire nothing else hooker up.If you have the correct resister under dash .5 ohm you should read 4 volt now+or-.Now hook up to coil and see if you have good spark.

I did test voltage at coil with all wriing hooked up, it was 2.5 - 3ish volts - I took wire right off of coil and ran straght 6v to it while cranking - still just backfiring - I then had someone crank engine and I hooked a 12v jump pack to it while it was cranking - still just a more intense backfire

[George/Maine]

Sorry I got that test wrong.post 24
Wire off coil neg.Disconect pos cable from battery, On OHMS scale with key on other end the wire to coil.IT should read less then 1 ohm maybe .5ohms.IF its back firing may have to turn dist little.

[Chris Nelson]

There are only 4 things needed to makie an engine run.
1-Compression and you seem to have that.
2-Fuel and you seem to have that or you would not get a backfire.
3-Ignition and you seem to have that or you would not get the backfire.
That leaves out only the most important of all and that is;
4-Timing
I would hazard a guess that you are out of time in your wiring. I wouldn't waste time on the timing gear backlash. You are getting spark, but it is only occuring on an open valve,(backfire), which indicates the wires are not in the proper order, or you have cracks in the dist. caps.

[nemw001]

Originally Posted by George/Maine

Those front dist are hard enought to work on in car.Take it out and turn it by hand and see if it sparks good put it on fender with longer wire and test should jump 1/2" nice sharp sounding spark.When you think it good take out plugs and turn over and see if the gear drive jumps were dist engages.Any more then 5 degs maybe to much.You must be sure that it not out 180 degs.Does it look like its been apart and messed with.timing cover.You may have some bodys fix that didn,t work and been sitting for years.When did it last run.

This car has an off-set keyway that wont allow for the distributor to be put on 180 out - If you try to do that you would crack the distributor housing I do believe. - Spark at each plug wire is blue / white and jumps at least 1/4" at each lead at the plug end using a ground wire.

[nemw001]

Originally Posted by Chris Nelson

There are only 4 things needed to makie an engine run.
1-Compression and you seem to have that.
2-Fuel and you seem to have that or you would not get a backfire.
3-Ignition and you seem to have that or you would not get the backfire.
That leaves out only the most important of all and that is;
4-Timing
I would hazard a guess that you are out of time in your wiring. I wouldn't waste time on the timing gear backlash. You are getting spark, but it is only occuring on an open valve,(backfire), which indicates the wires are not in the proper order, or you have cracks in the dist. caps.

I did verify firing order using VanPelts diagram, I took caps apart and checked them, saw no sign of arcing. I ohm checked the wires with loom and cap attached off car and they were all like 2 or so ohms, I wiggled them to be sure there wasnt a chaffed wire or two grounding out in the metal loom and none were. Maybe I should just replace the caps, inner and outer and wires just to eliminate them for sure.

[nemw001]

Originally Posted by 47COE

Check to make sure that the exhaust isn't plugged. A mouse nest in the muffler would keep it from running.

The astute reader can guess how I know that.


Tom

I am going to disconnect exhaust at the manifold and try to start it and see what happens. I held my hand over tailpipe to check and see if there was pressure there, and seemed to be ok. However, no backfires out of the tailpipe may indicate some sort of restriction that my calibrated hand cant measure - LOL --==

[37ford4dr]

any chance the intake is blocked? by bees or mice or what ever.....may be worth putting a leak down tester on one of the cylinders and rotate the crank and see if you can get air coming out of the carb..

i have had motorcyles that when the plugs get gas fouled (too wet) they ground out and the spark never makes it too the electode, but you say the plugs are dry that makes we wonder if there is an intake obstruciton

[47COE]

Originally Posted by Chris Nelson

There are only 4 things needed to makie an engine run.
1-Compression and you seem to have that.
2-Fuel and you seem to have that or you would not get a backfire.
3-Ignition and you seem to have that or you would not get the backfire.
That leaves out only the most important of all and that is;
4-Timing
I would hazard a guess that you are out of time in your wiring. I wouldn't waste time on the timing gear backlash. You are getting spark, but it is only occuring on an open valve,(backfire), which indicates the wires are not in the proper order, or you have cracks in the dist. caps.

Actually there are 5 things.

5-Exhaust

The engine won't run if there is no place for the exhaust to go.


Tom

[Chris Nelson]

If the exhaust were plugged up, at least the engine would try to start and run, if only momentarily. I still think it is firing on open valves due to a wiring problem. Your distributor is putting out a proper spark (1/4 inch in open atmosphere is desireable). If all the valves are opening and closing properly, not hanging up, then it must be electrical timing. You have fuel or you wouldn't have enough to backfire. It would be a fun project if it weren't so frustrating for you. I can appreciate your frustration. Years ago when I went to the Johnson Outboard factory school in Waukegan, Illinois, the teachers fixed up an engine for me to "FIX". Boy did they fix me up with a doosie. It took all day and I couldn't get it to run. They had altered 15 things and that was all they would tell me. They would give me whatever parts I needed, but I had to ask for them. I coudn't get it to run and at the end of the day, they showed me a gasket that they had cut with scissors so that it looked like a factory gasket. It was the gasket that seperates the crankcase pressure from swapping between cylinders, right under the butterfly intake valves. The only consolation was when they said that no student had ever found that one. Sometimes it can be such a simple thing that is staring us right in the face.

[47COE]

Originally Posted by Chris Nelson

If the exhaust were plugged up, at least the engine would try to start and run, if only momentarily.

That wasn't my experience. For a period of several months of off and on trying, we cranked and towed my truck all over and it never once gave a hint of firing.

Sawing off the muffler with a hacksaw fixed it right up. A friend that stopped by came up with the idea to check the exhaust.

I'm not saying a plugged exhaust is the culprit in this case. But since most everything else has been tried, why not check it.


Tom

[George/Maine]

I,d make sure your points are set the same.I found this in old book it may help with your timing.

[nemw001]

Took off muffler and tried to start - same deal - no start and backfiring out of the carburetor - I am going to order caps, inner and outer, and wires. - will update after install them hopefully by weeks end.

[nemw001]

Thanks George - I will check it - this distributor was just done by VanPelts so I ASSummed it was fine - but ya never know -- where you at in Mid-Coast area? I am in Warren.

[George/Maine]

In the macs catalog 35 36 some are not the same parts rotors also,cap,you may have mix and match.
I'm up 131 to Belmont cornor,if your out and about Renys Belfast cruise night Friday. Seeya