Misses at higher RPM

[MarkB2PW]

Need a little help here.

My 1950 B2 Power Wagon, 230ci flat head, was running OK until I changed the points, rotor and cap.  Now it sputters,spits and misses under load(Higher rpm).  Runs better than it did before I put the new parts in, but not at the higher rpm.  I tried changing the timing with no success.

Other notes:

I bought a new condenser to install with the points, but it would not start at all after installation, so I put the old one back in.

I converted to 12V a while ago which worked well. Added and alternator and new internal resistor 12V coil.

Any suggestions are welcome.  Hope I'm in the right forum for this one.

 

 

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

check your spring tension arm on the points for proper tension ......sounds like it may be floating...

[MarkB2PW]

Good suggestion, thanks.

How do I know if its too light?

 

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

you guess.....unless you have a gauge for measuring 17-20 ounces of pressure.....I have a number of gauges for tension, most are made by Chantillion I think it is....I can read from .05 grams up to a number of pounds push or pull....just be sure you have the spring bar in the proper place along with the electrical spring bar strap...

[mechresto]

Go back to the basics, 

Check your ign circuit. ie.

Point gap, arm tension, wires, cap, rotor.

Check available voltage @ both ends of the spectrum (dist side), scrutinize spark plugs carefully, make sure they are a quality plug... something like ngk or bosch. (Used to order champion plugs in 1000 lot quantities, minimum of 1% fallout for failed new plugs)

I'm guessing without more to go on, that your fuel delivery is at fault....main nozzle, water, low pressure,contaminated filter etc...

Your plugs should tell you where to look.

[MarkB2PW]

Heading to the shop now.  I'll let you know soon.

Gotta take care of a skunk in the trap first though.  An entire family wandered in through the shop rollup yesterday!

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

no poke the stripped kitty.......gets stinky fast...

[mechresto]

Just now, MarkB2PW said:

Heading to the shop now.  I'll let you know soon.

Gotta take care of a skunk in the trap first though.  An entire family wandered in through the shop rollup yesterday!

 

Check the play in your dist shafts bushings, point cam bushing as well

Good luck with the nice black and white "kitties" !!

[maok]

Don't just adjust the points to spec, check the dwell angle is actually correct.

[desoto1939]

how old is the breaker plate in the dizzy. It might be worn and you might have slop inthe unit so that  the points wander apart. The top and bottom sections should be tight.  When I do a tuneup onmy 39 Desoto I replace the entire unit with a newer breaker plate and then rebuild the old one as a backup unit.  Just another sugesstion of possible casue to your problem.

 

Rich Hartung

[DJ194950]

7 hours ago, MarkB2PW said:

Heading to the shop now.  I'll let you know soon.

Gotta take care of a skunk in the trap first though.  An entire family wandered in through the shop rollup yesterday!

 

 

(1) Animal control in your area?

 

(2) Shotguns allowed to be fired?

 

(3) very active animal cruelty people around  you?  -Just for other alternatives- I do not enjoy killing, but sometimes----

 

Do not like any of the choices- allow wold animal to be wild, but cannot live real close to some!  ☹️

 

DJ

[Plymouthy Adams]

8 hours ago, MarkB2PW said:

 

My 1950 B2 Power Wagon, 230ci flat head, was running OK until I changed the points, rotor and cap.  

 

 

 

this is what I based my answer on......

[MarkB2PW]

Nice diagnosis Dr Plymouthy Adams. 

The spring tension arm on the first set was floppy.  I took em back to NAPA.

The second set, from Autozone of all places, has very high tension and worked like a charm.  Noticeable difference in power. 

This forum saves me so much time, I'm very grateful for your help.

 

4 hours ago, DJ194950 said:

(1) Animal control in your area?

 

(2) Shotguns allowed to be fired?

 

(3) very active animal cruelty people around  you?  -Just for other alternatives- I do not enjoy killing, but sometimes-

1) Yep. Me.

2) Yep. Or .22

3) Nope. And skunks are rodents around here.

4) Mark 3, Skunks 0.

 

 

[Jerry Roberts]

One of the guys on the forum had this problem . He found that he had left out a separate spring that was found still in the box . Not all of the point sets have this separate spring though . His points were floating at higher RPM ' s . 

[Adam H P15 D30]

A lot of talk lately about the cr@ppy foreign made points on several forums.  Even some on the most traditional forums are citing defeat and changing to electronic ignition.

 

Adam

[Dave72dt]

Some brands of point sets have a separate tension spring that sometimes gets overlooked or installed wrong giving you little tension on the point arm.  I think the NAPA Echlin points were built with the separate tension spring.

[Jeff Balazs]

Early on I had issues with replacement point sets. Not spring related........ but quality of the contacts themselves. Saw a far amount of material transfer on 3 different sets I tried. I found this unacceptable and put in a Pertronix module with a matched coil.

I drive my truck every day and it never fails to run well with this set up.

Jeff

 

 

[mechresto]

Contact pitting results from an out of balance condition in the system which causes the transfer of tungsten from one point to the other so that a tip builds up on one point and a pit on the other. The direction in which the tungsten is transferred gives an indication for correcting the situation. If the tungsten transfers from the negative to the positive point one or two corrections may be made. Increase the capacity of the condenser or shorten the condenser lead,  If the transfer is from the positive to negative point, reduce condenser capacity or lengthen condenser lead.

[Jeff Balazs]

17 hours ago, mechresto said:

Contact pitting results from an out of balance condition in the system which causes the transfer of tungsten from one point to the other so that a tip builds up on one point and a pit on the other. The direction in which the tungsten is transferred gives an indication for correcting the situation. If the tungsten transfers from the negative to the positive point one or two corrections may be made. Increase the capacity of the condenser or shorten the condenser lead,  If the transfer is from the positive to negative point, reduce condenser capacity or lengthen condenser lead.

Point taken. ? There are a lot of these sorts of components that are subject to lack of QC.

I chose to get rid of the lot. As a side note the cap and rotor stay nice and clean after the Pertronix upgrade. Pretty much a win-win as far as I am concerned.

Jeff

[mechresto]

Oh, there's a definite benefit to Pertronix units, that goes without saying!!

But .....I still like points,

If I'm out in the middle of nowhere and my ignition fails, with points, I'm running in minutes....

hehehe

[maok]

14 minutes ago, mechresto said:

Oh, there's a definite benefit to Pertronix units, that goes without saying!!

But .....I still like points,

If I'm out in the middle of nowhere and my ignition fails, with points, I'm running in minutes....

hehehe

Why not run the Pertronix and keep the points&condensor in the trunk. If the Pertronix fails, you will be running in minutes...:)

[mechresto]

23 minutes ago, maok said:

Why not run the Pertronix and keep the points&condensor in the trunk. If the Pertronix fails, you will be running in minutes...:)

Cant trust them newfangled things, just ain't natural I tell ya!!!

No movin parts, must be magic er sumpin!!!

:^D

[Jeff Balazs]

26 minutes ago, maok said:

Why not run the Pertronix and keep the points&condensor in the trunk. If the Pertronix fails, you will be running in minutes...:)

I carry a spare module just in case.

[Adam H P15 D30]

I prefer the electronic slant 6 distributor mod with an HEI module. Better dwell control and spark than a pertronics and if anything goes wrong, every parts store carries the stuff. 

 

Adam