humboldtcorrado Posted November 1, 2015 Report Share Posted November 1, 2015 ok, so here's the deal... my 72 year old neighbor has a '49 plymouth coupe. stock 217 flathead 6. he had "some guy" R&R the exhaust manifold because it had a gnarly exhaust leak. the dude got everything back together, but the car wouldn't start. last time the car ran was about a month ago (before the dude took it apart). neighbor said it's been running poorly lately before it was taken apart... he asked me to check it out. problem 1: it was DUMPING fuel from the carb; like, a fat pool of gas in the intake. i got a kit online to rebuild the Holley 1920. carb rebuild went well, and it no longer dumps fuel into the intake. problem 1 fixed. problem 2: it wouldn't even cough when we tried to turn it over. vehicle is still a stock 6v, positive ground setup. 6v battery is less than a year old, and i threw it on my 6v charger to make sure it was good to go. cranked over just fine, but wouldn't cough at all. somebody had replaced the cap and rotor before i got my hands on it, and had the correct firing order, but put the plug wires in a completely random spot on the cap. i found #1 TDC by removing the pipe plug by the #6 spark plug, and realized that the distributor was 180° off. i got the plug wires in the correct spot (180° off), but no spark... awesome. removed the distributor, and checked the points and condenser. the screw for the point/condenser contact was loose, and the condenser didn't have a good connection at all. replaced the points and condenser, and gapped the points to .020. popped the distributor back into the block at the correct position (rotor @ 7 o'clock). super bright spark @ #1 cylinder now, and with starting fluid, it pops out of the carb, but it doesn't seem like it wants to start. firing order (checked it at least a dozen times, is @ 153624). just in case i was tripping, i moved the plug wires 180°, and it wouldn't even cough. moved them back to "normal", and she just kept backfiring through the carb again. i haven't static-timed the distributor, but i did move it around while he cranked the engine over, and it didn't try and start - just more popping out of the carb. i'll static-time the distributor in the next couple of days, but am i missing anything else? thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptwothree Posted November 1, 2015 Report Share Posted November 1, 2015 I think your on the right track. #1 plug wire should be a the 7 o'clock position. Rotor spins cw. Set static timing at 0 to 5 degrees advanced. An ohm meter works well here. Use #1 cyl. to find TDC. With a healthy carb full of gas it should fire right up. If not, check for voltage at the coil and points. Make sure the points are not only opening. but closing as well. Make sure you have the right rotor and cap for that distributor. They made different one for various years. Could also be a crappy condenser. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted November 1, 2015 Report Share Posted November 1, 2015 You are probably 1 wire off, meaning all is correct except that the plug leads are one cap tower off. I chased a similar problem after my rebuild, Checked and rechecked to no avail. then re indexed the wires and it started right up. Also note that TDC arrives 2x per cylinder once on the compression stroke and once on the exhaust stroke. So unless you are absolutely sure #1 is on compression you may still be 180 out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando Mendes Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 I use this instrument to know when the #6 intake valve is beginning to open.At this moment the #1 piston is at TDC.My rotor is pointing to distributor #1 plug wire tower(2 o'clock). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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