Me and the Meadowbrook

[Worden18]

5 hours ago, keithb7 said:

I measured 9,420 ohm from either the positive or negative post to the center of my 6V coil. -`1938 Ply.

Thanks man ?

[Worden18]

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.

[Worden18]

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.

[Adam H P15 D30]

14 hours ago, Worden18 said:

I got the car running, so it's not the pertronix unit in the distributor for sure. Those either work or they don't. 

Some of the ones I've trashed gave very erratic timing before they failed.  

[Worden18]

1 hour ago, Adam H P15 D30 said:

Some of the ones I've trashed gave very erratic timing before they failed.  

The pertronix unit??

[Ron175]

I see you have a vacuum gauge hooked up - what readings were you getting with the engine running?

[Adam H P15 D30]

24 minutes ago, Worden18 said:

The pertronix unit??

Yes, timing was everywhere +/- 15 degrees.  This started after 5 years of trouble free driving.  

Edited September 15, 2020 by Adam H P15 D30

[51_Meadowbrook]

John I don’t know if this help but they have a FAQ section on their website. 

[Worden18]

4 hours ago, Ron175 said:

I see you have a vacuum gauge hooked up - what readings were you getting with the engine running?

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

[Worden18]

4 hours ago, Adam H P15 D30 said:

Yes, timing was everywhere +/- 15 degrees.  This started after 5 years of trouble free driving.  

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?

[Adam H P15 D30]

No, I just throw them in the trash.

Does one of your distributors have points?  Throw it in and give it a try, you have nothing to loose at this point.  

[Bbdakota]

20 hours ago, Worden18 said:

the car just putt-putts and I cannot run it without the choke pulled and I can't give it any gas

I'm wondering if a piece of trash worked it's way into the carb and blocking flow somewhere. 

[Worden18]

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 ?

 

[keithb7]

So you are running points now again? Pentronix is out?

 

Glad to hear its running again. Points worked very well for many decades. As long as an owner is ok doing basic maintenance. Breaker-less ignitions were supposed to be easy and trouble free! Lol. Hmmmm. 

[Worden18]

8 hours ago, keithb7 said:

So you are running points now again? Pentronix is out?

 

Glad to hear its running again. Points worked very well for many decades. As long as an owner is ok doing basic maintenance. Breaker-less ignitions were supposed to be easy and trouble free! Lol. Hmmmm. 

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...

[knuckleharley]

11 minutes ago, Worden18 said:

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...

lol!

Edited September 20, 2020 by knuckleharley

[Worden18]

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.  

[DJ194950]

Raising the image of Another neighborhood!

Sale prices going up?

 

Congrats on getting the car going again!

 

DJ

[Worden18]

September 20:

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

 

[Worden18]

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.

 

[Worden18]

September 20:

The family in action ?

 

[Worden18]

My youngest kept yelling and pointing towards the kite. 

Stopped for a fall color photo on the way home. 

[Worden18]

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 ?

[Tim Larson]

I'm SO glad to hear the car is running again and able to be enjoyed by you and your family! This is the content we enjoy!

[Worden18]

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.  

Edited September 22, 2020 by Worden18