Starting Success! Sort of.

[Bingster]

Well, the '47 fired up . . . for about five seconds.  That's all we could get.

We experimented with a new plug arrangement based on the rotor being more about two o'clock than five. Actually, it was about 180 degrees off from 7 o'clock as some of you guessed.  That didn't work out too well. Then I tried to get TDC again. Then I decided that the plug arrangement was wrong, and I redid that.  I hit the starter and the engine fired and ran for about five seconds. That's all we got.

 

One thing that seemed very wrong is that the coil is getting very hot at the top half of the housing.  This isn't right, obviously. Either I have it wired wrong or the constant starting did it, or it's a bad coil. But somebody said coils never go bad. The battery was getting low and maybe that's why we couldn't start it again, even though we put a six volt charger boost on the battery.

 

So I'm sure there are a list of things that we can eliminate seeing how the engine did actually fire and run. Maybe the carb?  The fuel pump seemed to be working but I doubt the carb was getting any.  

 

The main thing now for me to solve is the hot coil. Somebody knows why that is.

[keithb7]

If you are tinkering on the car, trouble shooting, and you leave the ignition key on, and the points happen to be closed, the coil gets hot. 

Edited June 25 by keithb7

[Sniper]

10 minutes ago, Bingster said:

But somebody said coils never go bad.

 

Oh they most definitely go bad.  Coils get how, that is why there is oil inside them, for cooling.  How hot is too hot, I dunno. 

 

But did you even check to see if you had spark after is stopped running?  That would tell you if you had an ignition problem.

 

Did you pull the air cleaner and see if the accelerator pump shot a squirt of gas in the carb when you cycled the throttle?  That would tell you if your carb had gas in the bowl.

[Bingster]

We did have a pretty good spark from what I could tell. The air cleaner has been off the car for years.  My friend "manning" the carb probably didn't do that. He fooled with the choke and accelerator but didn't do anything specifically.  I did see a fuel leak under the carb fuel pump line fitting. Not from the fitting but coming somewhere from off the carb.  It wouldn't surprise me if I need a rebuilt carb.  Too many tiny parts for me to try that. 

 

I've been looking on YouTube and hot coils seem to be a thing.  They blow up sometimes.  I bought mine at Rock Auto three or four years ago and installed it but never used it until lately. After what I've read I'm kinda hesitant. I don't want to do a Jay Leno.

A low battery didn't help much. Maybe it started when we had a fresh burst of power. 

 

Where's a good source for rebuilt carbs? I'm gonna have to get one anyway.

[Los_Control]

Simple fact, if you did not have the plug wires correct, it would never have started for 5 seconds ..... so you got that right.

I'm just saying to leave the wires where they are and search elsewhere for issues.

 

Often at this point it can be fuel delivery ..... who knows.

 

Coils are actually known to go bad .... maybe not often but they do go bad.

 

I agree with @keithb7if you leave the key on and the points happen to be closed .... you will burn out the points and warm up the coil.

 

I do not think the coil should get hot in this situation ..... It will get warm, but not too hot to touch.

So if your coil is too hot to touch, this is not normal in any situation. ..... If your coil is bad, the car will not run properly if it runs at all.

[Bingster]

My ignition switch is not operational. Keith, I did just watch your video on the electrical system with the coil and distributor set-up. I'd seen it before but every time I see something I catch something new in it.  I think the first thing I'll do is get a new coil.  That's the cheapest thing to eliminate first. If it gets hot too I've  got something else going on.  The carb one way or the other needs rebuilding.  I've seen people who do that, like the re-sleeving of brake cylinders, White Post is one. I can't recall if they do carbs.

 

How long can you start a car on 12 volts? Does arcing the starter terminals do any damage to the starter? I just had it repaired. Works good.

[Sam Buchanan]

Don't rush into a carb replacement or rebuild, you're not at that point yet. Even a bad carb will run the engine if you pour fuel down the throat. Fuel leaks can be the result of a serviceable carb that just needs a little tweaking.

 

Rule #1; diagnose and address ONE problem at a time, otherwise you don't know what is working or what isn't........

 

Rule #2; don't go to the bank with everything you see on YouTube!

Edited June 26 by Sam Buchanan

[Bingster]

I think if I park the car in a barn for another ten years, take it out and try to start it, I'll have solved my problem.

[Sniper]

53 minutes ago, Bingster said:

How long can you start a car on 12 volts?

 

Been starting mine for 4 years on 12V

 

If you are running 12V to the coil without going thru a ballast resistor then that is why it is so hot.

 

 

[Bingster]

No, I haven't tried 12v. Like you say, I didn 't think that would be a good idea given the circumstances. I saw where  one guy's coil blew up.