35 Ford Suddenly Running Ragged

[Road Journey]

Had Red's headers & dual exhaust professionally installed on 35 Ford coupe at Ralph's Muffler shop in Avon, Indiana, Great, no problem fit & neat installation. Smithys 22" glasspacks & 2"pipes.

Drove about 5 mi. home & car running very ragged from the get go, almost like not on all cylinders. Nothing obvious astray in engine compartment. Any ideas on this?

Also looking for recommendations on good heat shield to protect battery. Pipe runs about 2" from Optima battery.

Thank you.

[4dFord/SC]

Stock distributor and ignition, or electronic?

[19Fordy]

I doubt if installation of dual exhaust and mufflers have anything to do with "ragged running". Check fuel flow, fuel pump performance, collapsed fuel line, plug wires, distributor cap,
and all the things you would do at tune up time. When the car is parked with engine running how does it run when you give it gas? Bad accelerator pump? Exhaust pipe cloth heat shield wrap will protect battery. You wet it and wrap it around your exhaust pipe using stainless wire ties that should come with the kit. https://www.google.com/search?q=exha...hrome&ie=UTF-8

[Road Journey]

Stock.

[tubman]

Also, I have had problems with a dirty/corroded ignition switch on a '36 I had. There could be problems with the fuse/resistor under the dash. If you have a multi-meter, you should check the voltage at the coil. To get a good reading, you may have to "jog" the starter a time or two to make sure you take the reading while the points are closed.

[STEVE O]

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Its possible for the wire feed welder to search for grounds, thus it could have cooked your coil. Probably not but I know on a different setup, it will kill motorcycle coils where a flywheel magnets for the ignition are used if the battery is not disconnected when welding.
Just a thought.

[Ggmac]

Make sure both headers are about the same temp , touching real quick will do . Check each tail pipe , make sure both are flowing, I've seen some crazy stuff inside exhaust mufflers .
If you have a vacuum gage stick it on and check reading . I'm betting a plug or ground wire off or loose

[19Fordy]

I think STEVE O is on to something. Ask the shop if they disconnected the battery.

[Mart]

Is it possible the shop disturbed the plug leads while doing the work?

Maybe put them on the wrong plugs or just not on correctly.

Other than that you are just down to some good old fashioned troubleshooting.

Mart.

[Road Journey]

Thanks for responses. Think battery was not disconnected when it should have been. Battery was dead at shop this morning when I went to pick up (very unusual), did get a charge on it there but dead again about two hrs. later at home. Am going into cables routing, shorts, grounds, battery condition (was good), etc. Thanks again.

[19Fordy]

If the shop did not disconnect the battery and charged you money as a "professional", they owe you "a fix".
Probably going to be tough to prove.

[deuce_roadster]

A suddenly rough running engine could have one of the movable points spring strap broken. A flathead will run with only 1 set of points, but not very well at all due to lack of dwell.

[Tinker]

More just for fun.


Not sure welding a body part would or could fry a coil, A magneto (old harley or other) yes maybe (but then it wouldn't have a coil). People get mufflers all the time, even with sensitive computer electronics. Yes, You should certainly disconnect a battery when doing electrical...

Try welding a 6ft piece of old steel with the ground on one end and the electrode on the other. Mig or Tig. It's not always good, because its looking for it own contained ground. If you hooked the welder ground to the battery, maybe not so good.



Now leaving the ignition switch on would fry the coil. It would also drain your battery some before smoking your coil, shouldn't have zapped your battery.... maybe it was not so good anyways. Just a thought.

Not sure how familiar your shop is on older fords.



Excessive heat isn't good on batteries, Next would be condenser in my thought process.





.

[Mike in AZ]

Original floor starter button/switch? Suspecting something around floorboard. Battery. Brake light switch. Good luck. Mike