Any Flathead Experts in Minneapolis?

[Young Ed]

10 hours ago, new_castle_j said:

Hello Everyone,

I am pleased to be reporting back that my car troubles have been solved!  I am so happy with how my engine runs now, hot or cold it's a pleasure to drive.  I ran into a very knowledgeable gentleman at a car show (Jeff). 

What car show?

[new_castle_j]

It was the cars & coffee monthly meet at Canterbury Park in Shakopee (free).  Jeff was there as a spectator, not a vendor.

[PT-81]

I have a 39 Plymouth truck with a 1954 218CU Plymouth flathead in it.  Everything is pretty much stock.  I have been fighting this exact same problem as New_castle for years with littte success.  I Have new carb,fuel pump  points, plugs condenser wires tuned up, etc.  Have tinstalled all stock heat shields, spacer under carb, blocked  off the heat riser and insulated the fuel line to fuel pump, added a few other shields  around the bowl carb. I will look into some of the other recommendations here. I hope I find the magic solution here as I am at my wits end with this and I love my truck.

 

[new_castle_j]

PT-81, I was also at wits end with my car, in my case everything was traceable back to the Pertronix ignitor.  If your distributor shaft is worn/wobbly/bent strange things can also happen. My distributor received new bushings during the rebuild.  I also found that when I used NGK spark plugs it ran noticeably poor.  I now use Champion brand. 

[PT-81]

New_castle:   Thanks for the response.     I am thinking of contacting advanced distributors to get a ball park quote on a rebuild.  My distributor seems to have a bit of play in the shaft when I hold the rotor and rock it back and forth. The advance seems to work when I increase rpm with a timing light on it. However distrutor is quite old...I know 6v can be tricky unless all is up to snuff.  I have even purchased a new harness for the truck (yet to install) as the original has seen better days at 80 years old...GC.

[PT-81]

I would welcome any other ideas regarding the Mopar Flathead 6 hot running problems and starting issues.  Great site.  Thank you.   

[Plymouthy Adams]

with the exception of a few microfarad difference in capacitance, the distributor operation of 6 volt verse 12 is nil.... 

[Mike36]

Champion spark plugs have given me more trouble than any other brand. For the Mopar flathead 6, I like Autolite 295.

[Reg Evans]

30 minutes ago, Mike36 said:

Champion spark plugs have given me more trouble than any other brand. For the Mopar flathead 6, I like Autolite 295.

Me TOO !!!

[HotRodTractor]

On 8/12/2017 at 5:16 PM, Mike36 said:

Champion spark plugs have given me more trouble than any other brand. For the Mopar flathead 6, I like Autolite 295.

If that isn't the truth..... I used to have boxes of old Champion plugs that I have pulled out of 2 Cylinder John Deere tractors that ran like crap.... tossed in some Autolite's and ran like a top.

[new_castle_j]

Fascinating, I'm going to switch to Autolite!  Excellent advice.

[PT-81]

I just went to NAPA today and got 6 Autolite 295.  Funny but someone just bought 4 of these an hour or so before me according to the counter guy and he said they sell very few.

[Plymouthy Adams]

7 minutes ago, PT-81 said:

I just went to NAPA today and got 6 Autolite 295.  Funny but someone just bought 4 of these an hour or so before me according to the counter guy and he said they sell very few.

the big push today are not your standard auto plugs....you got to have an exotic name and material composition.....they work well with high compression engine...not so much for these older low compression puppies...do a bit of reading...one thing to always check..ensure whatever plug you use is for your engine and I mean thread count...to extend beyond is asking for trouble...even more so with aluminum heads.....