Worden18

I like it...but IMO they're asking too much considering the mechanical condition. Even if you can get it to run without slinging oil you can bet on replacing the brakes all the way around, exhaust, carb rebuild, fuel tank and lines, radiator/block flush (minimum), complete tune-up,etc. All fine and dandy (and fun to work on), but not at that price. I've seen running driving cars for that price. Not trying to discourage you, just saying. I'd watch it for a while and offer him 2k. It won't sell for $4500 in that condition.

9-23: Home after that satisfying cruise. When we stopped for snacks a guy approached on his bike saying he really liked the car, and it's color. He took some pics.

9-23: Cruising down 5th Street in Winona. Then, at Kwik Trip again for snacks!? Car is running great. The kids and I are having so much fun. The car really does sound like a sewing machine at about 30mph?

9-23: At the barbershop ?

9-23: Into work this morning. Wish I was headed out for a long cruise instead!

9-22: Out for a 50 mile night cruise with the kids. Stopped at Kwik Trip for snacks. Wouldn't be the same without snacks ? The car likes 51mph now, but cruises great at any speed. The empi carb is really nice, I like it a lot. We cruised between 40 and 55. Not much for traffic. It was nice and cool (had my a/c vent open), and the crickets were partying in the ditches. I forgot my tool box; didn't need it. Once we got back into town, we drove around and snapped a pic of this nice and spooky decorated home. I suppose its hard to tell, but that's a creepy woman in a dress (to the left) almost 2 stories tall! She was flashing on and off. This was the best cruise we've had in months.

Don't be discouraged. Even if you do one small thing a day it's a victory. I'd like to see any kind of car you'd post! I'd get on the machine shop's *ss and make them give you a completion date or you'll be on their back burner indefinitely.

Monday, 9-21-20: Drove into work this morning. My co-workers were happy to see the car in the parking lot. It felt good behind the wheel. Later on after supper I spent some time in the garage timing the car and setting the idle mixture screw, both with the vacuum guage. I'm really close now as I was at around 18 on the guage. The kids and I cruised around for about 20 minutes. It ran great and I had good power. It chugged too much for my liking when using Fluid Drive. It didn't die though, and I even took off in 3rd gear. I'll play with the idle mixture screw again maybe tomorrow. The best part of the test cruise was mashing the gas pedal to the floor! Why? With the Empi carburetor it sounds like a hot rod! Not bad at all I must say. I can imagine dual carbs and dual exhaust.

Awesome! I like the master tech guy ?

Stopped at Sinclair for fuel. The log on my phone says I hadn't filled up since May.? A guy walking by stopped to admire the car. We chatted for about 10 minutes. He gave me some bodywork tips if I wanted to go in that direction. Final pic: home again. I will leave it there tonight. I'm driving it to work in the AM ?

My youngest kept yelling and pointing towards the kite. Stopped for a fall color photo on the way home.

September 20: The family in action ?

Sept. 20: We were parked by Veteran's Park. In 2000 they unveiled the WWI Memorial; I got to meet a 103 year old WWI Vet. He died 3 weeks later. I'll get some pics of the individual memorials soon.

September 20: Out to Lake Winona to fly our kite. Finally had a good breeze so we didn't want to miss out!

September 20, 2020: All dressed up and ready for the ball ? My neighbors haven't really seen this "thing", so I'm getting lots of looks and thumbs up.

Yep, points are in. Now that I've had the distributor completely apart about a dozen times I actually understand how it works now. I'm grateful that I had that much trouble with this whole mess. It's what I needed to learn. I have no trouble at all pulling out the distributor and setting points on the bench. Stay tuned for my regularly scheduled programming...

Saturday, Sept. 19: A friend visited me today after trying to coach me over the phone on the steps I needed to follow to troubleshoot my car. I'm sure he sensed I was desperate. I never would've gotten my car running without him. Before I give him all the credit I want to say that I ALWAYS appreciate everyone's help/suggestions here. It's just that today I needed a hands on tutorial because I'm not smart enough to figure this stuff out on my own a lot of times. My points were shorted out to ground. The little wire (that runs from where the points and condenser wire connect) to the bolt that comes into the side of the distributor (from the coil ground wire)...was touching the distributor. I didn't know it couldn't touch the distributor or it would ground out the points. How elementary now that it's been explained to me. Problem #2: all of my plug wires on the distributor cap were one hole off...how that happened I don't even know. It explains why I had huge burn marks in the plastic on one side of each contact point inside the cap. How on earth the car even ran at all I can't say. I'll say this: runs good now! I still think the Pertronix unit was bad. Running fine with points now ?

Hmmm... I'm 4 years into the Pertronix unit now. If the car won't run after I install new ground straps, looking at that pertronix module is next. Thanks for this info. Obviously the written statement by Pertronix on their website claiming the unit will either work perfectly or your car will be dead is wrong. Have you contacted them about the failure of yours?

I didn't see readings because I stayed behind the driver's wheel trying to keep the car running. I will check this.

The pertronix unit??

I really don't care what happens to my things, I'll be dead. Nothing I have is worth a lot. My 48 B1D might be worth something if I can get it to where I envision it should be before I croak off. My kids will fight over the 2 vehicles believe me!!?

I got the car running, so it's not the pertronix unit in the distributor for sure. Those either work or they don't. But the car just putt-putts and I cannot run it without the choke pulled and I can't give it any gas. So, my ignition wires come out through the firewall and into the unit pictured (damned if I can remember the name of it), and to the starter relay. I tested for volts DC between the two with my ignition switch on and got 5.83. I tested for resistance with the key switch off and got 29.xx! That can't be good, correct? I also tested for resistance from where the battery ground cable connects to the engine....to the firewall and also got 29.xx. so my plan is to run a ground strap from the top of the engine to the firewall. I should also probably run one from the engine to the frame, or from the frame to the body, correct? Someone might ask, well how did this car run for 70 years without these ground straps and all the sudden now it's a problem? I guess I don't know if it's the problem or not, but I know the resistance reading isn't a lie. I believe tomorrow my ground straps will be here, so I will take that next step and see what happens. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I did my resistance test again. Primary: between .7 and .8, right on target. Secondary: 8,920. That one is good too. The coil is good. next I'm going to have to figure out how to test the ignition circuit. Tomorrow my ground straps should be here in the mail, so I will hook those up.

Thanks man ?

Yes, please lmk what you get for ohms on your coil from negative post to the center. That's the one that may determine if my coil is bad. I'm also wondering about my ignition switch. I think I can test it if I can figure out how to get under the dash to remove it. It's so far buried I'm not sure if I can get to it. Worst case scenario I'll start a separate thread.