54 Savoy cuts out on acceleration

[Nick307]

So I'm a little frazzled here. I just bought this 54 Savoy with the original 218 and 3 on the tree. It was hard starting but drove good. Until it warmed up it didn't want to idle and was running rich. So I rebuilt the carburetor and did a full tune up (plugs, wires, cap, rotor, points, condenser, and coil). Now anything over 1000rpm causes it to hesitate, cut out, and just miss something fierce. I double checked my adjustments and made sure nothing was bound up in the carb. Still no luck. HELP!!!

[Tooljunkie]

Pull the vacuum line off distributor and plug it. Then report back. 

[Tooljunkie]

Oh, one more thing, check the wires Under distributor cap. Either a broken one or its grounding as breaker plate turns. 
with vacuum hose off, breaker plate wont move. 

[kencombs]

32 minutes ago, Nick307 said:

So I'm a little frazzled here. I just bought this 54 Savoy with the original 218 and 3 on the tree. It was hard starting but drove good. Until it warmed up it didn't want to idle and was running rich. So I rebuilt the carburetor and did a full tune up (plugs, wires, cap, rotor, points, condenser, and coil). Now anything over 1000rpm causes it to hesitate, cut out, and just miss something fierce. I double checked my adjustments and made sure nothing was bound up in the carb. Still no luck. HELP!!!

How do the plugs look?  black?  when under 1000, how does the exhaust look?  Clear and clean or smoky?  As you can tell, I'm suspicious of the float condition or  level and/or fuel pressure.

[John Reddie]

Hi and welcome. When you changed your points and condenser, did you inspect the small pigtail wire in the distributor that feeds current to the points? This little wire can rub against the housing when the breaker plate moves when you accelerate and in time wear the insulation through to the wire inside and cause symptoms that you describe. I had that happen one time and it drove me nuts until we figured it out. Good luck to you.

John R

[John Reddie]

11 minutes ago, Tooljunkie said:

Oh, one more thing, check the wires Under distributor cap. Either a broken one or its grounding as breaker plate turns. 
with vacuum hose off, breaker plate wont move. 

That is exactly what I am talking about. Great tip about disconnecting the vacuum advance. I never thought of doing that.

John R

[Nick307]

I plugged the advance and no change. The little wire inside is technically now a ground wire as it was converted from positive earth to negative earth. It is a little frayed but intact. I havent plugged the plugs back out yet, but they only have a couple miles on them. What's got me puzzled is that it revving up just fine before I replaced the points and rebuilt the carb. And I didn't adjust the float. The only thing I found wrong when I opened it up was the step up was seized. But I cleaned everything thoroughly and made sure it moved freely. I've just never had a car going from poor idle and good revs to good idle and poor revs after a tune up.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Nick307

[Plymouthy Adams]

check o ensure your springs are correct on the points themselves and not bouncing at speed.....may over look the heavier spring on install....some sets have the spring separate and one must physically connect the spring to the points on install...

[greg g]

When you put the carb back on did you assure the gasket was aligned properly in relation the the hole in the base of the carb that feeds the vacuum signal from the intake manifold to the step up jet?  The high vacuum at cruise and idle hold the jet closed.  It opens to provide extra fuel for acceleration and hill climbing.  When it's open all the time it's default with no vacuum, it will cause an over rich mixture except at wide open throttle.  This will foul plugs in a short time effecting all running conditions.

[plymjim]

Check the pigtail wire inside the distributor (as tooljunkie said.)  This tiny wire 

flexes & the insulation frequently wears off.

[kencombs]

2 hours ago, Nick307 said:

I plugged the advance and no change. The little wire inside is technically now a ground wire as it was converted from positive earth to negative earth. It is a little frayed but intact. I havent plugged the plugs back out yet, but they only have a couple miles on them. What's got me puzzled is that it revving up just fine before I replaced the points and rebuilt the carb. And I didn't adjust the float. The only thing I found wrong when I opened it up was the step up was seized. But I cleaned everything thoroughly and made sure it moved freely. I've just never had a car going from poor idle and good revs to good idle and poor revs after a tune up.

Question:  rebuilding a carb has always included needle and seat replacement in my terminology.  And that requires a float adjustment as most replacements are not the same dimension as the original .  It is possible to improperly install the points (spring not installed), but that normally causes a high speed issue, not low speed.

Edited April 26, 2020 by kencombs

[Tooljunkie]

26 minutes ago, plymjim said:

Check the pigtail wire inside the distributor (as tooljunkie said.)  This tiny wire 

flexes & the insulation frequently wears off.

The wire can break inside the insulation too. Also, if your old points werent that bad, put the old condenser back in. Unless its nos parts, the new condensers are a crapshoot. That comes from a good distributor guy i know. He uses nos whenever he can. 

[Tooljunkie]

Rereading your first post, it sure seems like there may be a fuel delivery issue. 
checked timing?

[Sniper]

Since the OP replaced the points I wonder what the gap/dwell is set at.

 

 

[greg g]

Pull the spark plugs, what do they look like?

[Dodgeb4ya]

New offshore points and condensers....are generally worse than what was just replaced.

[Nick307]

Fixed. It did end up being the points. I originally taking them back apart to reinsulate the ground wire and decided to compare the spring tension of the old set to the new set. And as Plymouth Adams stated the spring was not connected allowing it to essentially 'float' at higher rpm. Rookie mistake I wont make again. So I cleaned everything up again, insulated the ground wire, set the timing and idle. And now she runs like a dream. Thanks for all your help quick responses! 

[Sniper]

Thanks for feeding back to us the problem found.

[Tooljunkie]

Glad you solved it.