Lachlan's 1938 Chrysler Royal C-18 Sedan

[Lachlan]

It's an odd thing owning a car more than twice your age. A potent mix of reverence, fear and curiosity skews what was previously considered 'just transport'.

 

This ageing beauty entered my life quite unexpectedly. An acquaintance mentioned he owned a 'really old car' which immediately piqued my interest. Up till that point, I'd considered my 1972 Datsun 1200 to be really old.

 

"So, what is it?"

 

The car he went on to describe completely baffled me. I'd heard of a Royal, but that's an Australian model from the late 50s / early 60s. This was old enough to receive the aged pension.

 

It was his dad's car that he'd purchased in the 70s and had restored in the decade following. The son owned it about 10 years but seldom used it during that time.

 

"Do you have a photo?"

 

At the time he didn't, but Google prevailed. I was somewhat familiar with the general style: fuller proportions, long sweeping fenders, pronounced headlights and chrome everything but I didn't know these were collectively called Pre-War cars.

 

As we chatted, he mentioned it was probably time he thought about selling the car. He was torn given the family connection but it was languishing on his daughter's driveway.

 

Some time later he would send me this charming photo of his parents standing in front of the car in its former glory.

 

 

Sadly it does not look like it once did, but then again neither will I.

 

More time passed and we stayed in touch. It helped that we saw each other fairly regularly at church. We kept chatting and eventually organised an inspection one evening.

 

As we had a full fleet of cars, there was no room for another. It was more to satisfy my curiosity and to test the waters with my better half. To my surprise, she was quite warm towards it. I believe it was the art deco inspired gauges and suicide doors that garnered her favour.

 

Honestly, I was somewhat nonplussed. I was enjoying the Datsun revival and had other fun cars to play with so I didn't have the headspace for a new project.

 

In a rare moment of maturity, I cooled my desires and focused on enjoying what was already on my driveway. We did talk price but couldn't land somewhere we were both happy with.

 

Sidenote: There's been a few times in my life where pushing things too hard ended poorly. I took heed, moved on and didn't look back.

 

A year or so passed and the opportunity came around once again. As he anticipated retirement, he wanted to tie up some loose ends.

 

"Are you still interested in the Chrysler?"

 

I checked with the Minister of Finance and she gave the go ahead. This was crucial.

 

While I'd had a sneak peek during the previous years' inspection, this was the first time I'd seen it in broad daylight.

 

 

Time spent baking under a tarp had not been kind to the once gleaming exterior.

 

 

This represented something very different to my normal wheelhouse of cars and I was in for a penny.

 

 

After a bit of persuasion from a Korean heavyweight (Kia Tasman), we managed to get her loaded on the trailer. In case you're wondering, a Toyota Kluger (Highlander) was not my first choice of tow vehicle but I ran what I brought.

 

 

After an uneventful journey, we arrived at my place. The ridiculous incline of my driveway is unclear but very much present.

 

 

I'd naively thought I could reverse the car all the way up and into the garage without a drama. In my attempt, I nearly took out my garage wall and my wife's beloved little Mazda. Thankfully, I'm ridiculously skilled at reversing trailers lucky so I missed on both counts.

 

Here's me reevaluating my life choices after slow cooking in the summer sun for hours. Not a happy chappy.

 

 

But, where there's a will there's an uncle. Five friends, a curious and equally car mad neighbour and my wife on steering and clutch, we managed to inch that beast up the driveway, off the trailer and safely into its new digs.

 

 

Now the real fun begins.

[Lachlan]

Having had the car a month now, I'm starting to piece together what I have. Here's my initial findings.

 

Exterior is faded but in good condition. I'm told by two sources that it was repainted in the 80s. A careful buffing will bring back much of the shine. It's a bit thin in parts where the cover has rubbed it down. There is minor rust near the cowl vent, along the edges of the hood hinges and around some doors. The major rust is around the boot lid and boot floor. I suspect there was a water leak that kept things damp in there as the hinges have also rusted up. There is rust in the body behind the driver's side fender e.g. right-hand side. I was told the sills need attention but I can't confirm as I haven't removed the running boards.

 

 

Underneath looks solid. I haven't had it up on jack stands and crawled under for a close inspection yet. I can see the handbrake cable is disconnected and dragging on the ground.

 

 

 

Interior is very good. It's easily the best part of the car. The gauges are present and clear. Steering wheel has a little wear. The driver's seat has a small tear. The rear seat did come with a lot of parts and paraphernalia strewn about but still presents well. The seller's dad was a motor trimmer by trade and is testament to his work that it still looks good after 40 years.

 

 

 

Engine is a 23" head. The condition is a mystery. I haven't attempted to start it but am preparing to do so shortly. It was locked up when I got it but thanks to a homebrew mix of 50/50 ATF & acetone along with some gentle persuasion, I got it freed up again. The water pump was also stuck but decided to give in after sensing imminent defeat. The oil is black and after removing the filter I could smell the faint aroma of petrol (gas). Will note that for later. The head, block and accessories were previously painted blue but it's all flaking off now.

 

 

From what I can tell, it is fairly stock with a few key differences.

 

• Carburetor is a Stromberg BXUV-2 which was used extensively in the Australian market particularly on Holdens. The original Carter is missing. The oil bath air cleaner was also changed for a conventional filter element type.
• Generator has been replaced with an alternator. I was told the electrical system has been changed to 12V but I haven't verified this. It didn't come with a battery.
• Mechanical fuel pump was removed, blocked off and replaced with an electrical fuel pump in the tank. I'm unsure of the condition.
• Diff was changed but information on this is scant. It was done by the seller's son which instills very little confidence. Was it to fix a problem or improve performance? I was told he pinched the brake lines while doing so.

 

Now for the big one. The original transmission, overdrive unit, bellhousing and prop shaft have all been changed to accommodate a later 70s Chrysler Valiant 3 speed transmission. I was a little deflated when I found that out as I was really looking forward to experiencing a genuine overdrive transmission. I have no details on why, when and by whom this was done.

 

Wrapping up, the car came with a parts haul of unknown quality and usefulness. I know with these old cars that parts are hard to come by so I didn't look Mr Ed in the chops. It completely grenaded my tenuous garage organisation. My poor Datsun copped the raw end of the stick and has been outside for a month while I sort out this mess.

 

 

Next steps:

 

• Change the oil & filter. Remove as much sludge from the sump as I can.
• Clean/repair the fuel tank, electric pump and lines.
• Rebuild the carburetor (if needed).
• Confirm the electrical system is 12V. Where do I start with this?
• Check points gap or if electronic ignition.
• Change spark plugs (if needed).
• Connect a battery.
• Pour petrol down the carb.
• Hit the starter and hope for the best.

 

A quick note on posting frequency. I often go months between posts and it doesn't mean I've vanished. I'm anticipating this car will keep me busy for a few years so I'm taking my time and will update when I've made progress or run into problems. That said, I usually check in most weeks and reply.

 

Thanks for following along.

Edited January 1 by Lachlan

[andyd]

Lachlan.......couple of things........yep the rear axle is not stock.....whats there is a Salisbury style, not the Mopar Hotchkiss style that have a "lift" out centre pumpkin....yours has a steel cover that unbolts to remove the ring gear etc.......take a hubcap off the rear wheel and see if there is a large centre nut on the brake drum.....probably not, its possible going by the rear end appearence that the whole rear axle is from a Ford Falcon.........the Valiant gearbox instal is interesting.....if so then at least you have a full syncromesh gearbox, the use of the large floor change has me intrigued....also whereabouts is your cars handbrake?.......the original was attached to the end of the original gearbox.......Falcons have cables going to each drum brake backing plate........also the rear axle "U" bolts do not appear to be original which helps to confirm the swap idea.......as for the use of the Holden carby....thats fine, rebuild kits were/still are much easier in Oz to obtain........the use of an Alternator would tend to confirm 12v Negative earth......easy way to tell would be to check any light globe as they normally have either 6 or 12 stamped into the side of the base......also one last thing.......those tailights are original AND very sort after by hotrodders........guard them well.......lol........email your phone number to me at scaleautomobilia@yahoo.com  and best time to call & I can ring you.......regards, Andyd      

[Sam Buchanan]

The most expensive part of a "refresh" is already done.....paint, interior and complete exterior trim. The mechanicals can be readily addressed, you have a great project car!

[chrysleritis]

Just adding on some thoughts:
The original transmission, if it had an overdrive unit in it, would have been a real pain in the butt to repair, as 1938 would have been in there for the very first years of the Borg-Warner overdrive units in Mopars, and the early years had unique, one-year only parts that became impossible to find. The standard units are the B-W R10 and R11, but there were units of R7 which are truly difficult to work on. If anything in the trans or overdrive had needed a rebuild or replacement, it would have been a sensible choice to dump that and fit a much later year Mopar transmission to it, hence the reliable Valiant unit. But then that raises the issue of how the handbrake got handled -- does it still have a brake drum at the transmission output/propeller shaft, or have the rear brake backing plates been modified to have a cable pull for the shoes? And perhaps the choice was made in order to avoid having to make up a custom length propeller shaft? It's always a bit of a puzzle to have a car that's been significantly modified by the previous restorations. It helps to try to understand the choices or mistakes the previous owners made. You could prioritize getting the engine running and getting the brakes workable, and you can deal with the rusty trunk floor and rocker panels later, given that you now have it in covered storage. You could also imagine pulling the engine, and doing a proper exterior paint and body job, but then you'd have to really negotiate with the Ministry of Finance. It looks like a good candidate for just some elbow grease and polishing compound to bring the exterior back to looking much better than it does at the moment. Good luck! 

[Lachlan]

9 hours ago, andyd said:

yep the rear axle is not stock.....whats there is a Salisbury style, not the Mopar Hotchkiss style that have a "lift" out centre pumpkin....yours has a steel cover that unbolts to remove the ring gear etc

 

Here's another angle if it helps.

 

 

9 hours ago, andyd said:

its possible going by the rear end appearence that the whole rear axle is from a Ford Falcon.........the Valiant gearbox instal is interesting.....if so then at least you have a full syncromesh gearbox, the use of the large floor change has me intrigued....also whereabouts is your cars handbrake?.......the original was attached to the end of the original gearbox.......Falcons have cables going to each drum brake backing plate........also the rear axle "U" bolts do not appear to be original which helps to confirm the swap idea

 

Great info. I'd have been guessing for a long time how and from where this all came from. Next time I'm under the car, I'll try and work out how the handbrake was connected. It had rego up until a decade or so ago so it had to work at some point after the transmission swap. No idea about the diff, I'll try and get more info.

 

9 hours ago, andyd said:

the use of an Alternator would tend to confirm 12v Negative earth......easy way to tell would be to check any light globe as they normally have either 6 or 12 stamped into the side of the base

 

Great tip! I'll see if I can access one and see what it shows.

 

9 hours ago, andyd said:

those tailights are original AND very sort after by hotrodders........guard them well.......lol........email your phone number to me at scaleautomobilia@yahoo.com  and best time to call & I can ring you

 

Haha, I had no idea. I wonder why? I'll email you now.

[Lachlan]

3 hours ago, chrysleritis said:

The original transmission, if it had an overdrive unit in it, would have been a real pain in the butt to repair, as 1938 would have been in there for the very first years of the Borg-Warner overdrive units in Mopars, and the early years had unique, one-year only parts that became impossible to find.

...

If anything in the trans or overdrive had needed a rebuild or replacement, it would have been a sensible choice to dump that and fit a much later year Mopar transmission to it, hence the reliable Valiant unit.

 

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for giving some valuable background and history.

 

3 hours ago, chrysleritis said:

But then that raises the issue of how the handbrake got handled -- does it still have a brake drum at the transmission output/propeller shaft, or have the rear brake backing plates been modified to have a cable pull for the shoes? And perhaps the choice was made in order to avoid having to make up a custom length propeller shaft?

 

I'm wondering the same thing. I'll poke around the rear brakes to see if I can figure out how it was previously connected after the transmission was swapped. It had to have worked previously because the car was being driven a bit over a decade ago.

 

3 hours ago, chrysleritis said:

It's always a bit of a puzzle to have a car that's been significantly modified by the previous restorations. It helps to try to understand the choices or mistakes the previous owners made.

 

I like this pragmatic perspective. Context is everything. I know the previous owner loved this car and was heavily involved with clubs and rallies so any decisions would have been carefully considered.

 

3 hours ago, chrysleritis said:

You could prioritize getting the engine running and getting the brakes workable, and you can deal with the rusty trunk floor and rocker panels later, given that you now have it in covered storage. You could also imagine pulling the engine, and doing a proper exterior paint and body job, but then you'd have to really negotiate with the Ministry of Finance. It looks like a good candidate for just some elbow grease and polishing compound to bring the exterior back to looking much better than it does at the moment. Good luck!

 

Yeah, that first sentence was my entire plan so far. Get it running, make it stop then do what's required for registration. I've discovered that once it's driving it's abundantly clear what the car needs, rather than what I think it needs.

 

As for an extensive restoration, this scares me. I've heard many horror stories about cars being disassembled and abandoned. I also don't have heaps of space as I'm living in suburbia. My whole philosophy is 'keep it moving' and it's worked so far. That said, if the engine requires rebuilding the out it comes. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

 

Thanks for your thoughts!

[Roger Blagborne]

   Drive it and enjoy....you are all ready miles ahead of most of us when we first get a project....no body, who matters, really cares if it is not perfect, original, whatever....the fact someone has picked it up to bring it back, ticks all my boxes.

Cheers

[andyd]

Lachlan.........have a question re the engine..........my info agrees with your capacity statement, ie, 242(241.5) cubic inches, however your "23" engine length has me curious for the following reason.......the John Lee book "Standard Catalog of Chrysler 1924-1990" for the 1938 Chrysler Royal states that the capacity is 241.5 cubic inches with a bore of 3.375" & stroke of 4.5"......this bore & stroke is as far as I am aware not ever used in the 23" engine but is a variation of the Chrysler/DeSoto 25" long engine........am not trying to be pedantic, its just that the two engines, ie, the 23" and 25" whilst appearing to be similar if not the same have very few interchangable parts and you need to know with some positiveness exactly which engine you have.........if it is indeed a 23" engine then examining the engine number stamping on the engine block "boss" behind the alternator at the block cylinder head junction may confirm the parentage, ie, if its the original engine the engine number should commence with C18.............., if it does and its still indicated to be a 23" long engine then that would indicate an Oz variation that the T J Richards factory in Sth Australia would be the source of........but if the engine number does not start with C18 but maybe P(Plymouth),D(Dodge) or S(DeSoto) then these other brands maybe the source and indicate an engine swap at some stage ........on the other hand if its C18 then I'd also definately recheck the actual engine length as if being the 25" engine it should be the 242 cubic inch engine........

...................as far as I am aware the only engine parts that swap are the water pump, possibly the starter, fuel pump, not sure about the oil pump, engine/bellhousing mounts, thermostat housing  & welch& spark plugs..........nothing that runs along the engine length will swap, ie, intake/exhaust manifolds, cyliner head, crank,cam, pistons,rings, distributor,  I think main & big end bearings are different but not sure......anyway...........all this is hopefully info thats not needed.........lol.........apologies if I've confused you............lol...........andyd      

[andyd]

Lachlan.........another thing that may help to confuse the issue even more........lol.......your cars engine has been painted blue........I recall that in the late 1970's the Chrysler Restorers club arranged to purchase the last remaining stock of what I vaguely remember to be 25" ex API-AP3 1957-1962 Chrysler Royal brand new engines from Chrysler Australia.........these were as stated Brand New long engines, ie, from sump to cylinder head rear crank flange to front pully and if memory serves painted blue...........my memory states that I think there were about 12-15 complete long engines purchased at a very good price & resold at a still good price to the Chrysler Club members........John Rowling was a member back then and while I think they were the 25" engine its possible there may have been a 23" engine in the mix.......anyway the engine number should help to sort out this question..........also to check the stroke there is a small, "pipe" plug, arround 1/2" or 9/16th in size above the piston location of # 6 piston on the top of the cylinder head........unscrew this plug and insert a 12-15" long straight piece of stiff welding wire which will rest on the top of the # 6 piston and SLOWLY turn the engine over taking note of the length that the wire rises and falls.........this is the stroke and will allow you to compare that measurement against the various known strokes to determine the actual engine size........it maybe helpful to remove all the  spark plugs when doing this which should allow you to turn the engine over SLOWLY by hand.......hopefully.............lol.........and good to speak yeasterday.......regards, andyd.     

[Lachlan]

On 1/2/2026 at 11:29 AM, Roger Blagborne said:

Drive it and enjoy....you are all ready miles ahead of most of us when we first get a project....no body, who matters, really cares if it is not perfect, original, whatever....the fact someone has picked it up to bring it back, ticks all my boxes.

 

Thanks Roger. That's exactly what I needed to hear.

 

22 hours ago, andyd said:

if it is indeed a 23" engine then examining the engine number stamping on the engine block "boss" behind the alternator at the block cylinder head junction may confirm the parentage, ie, if its the original engine the engine number should commence with C18.............., if it does and its still indicated to be a 23" long engine then that would indicate an Oz variation that the T J Richards factory in Sth Australia would be the source of........but if the engine number does not start with C18 but maybe P(Plymouth),D(Dodge) or S(DeSoto) then these other brands maybe the source and indicate an engine swap at some stage ........on the other hand if its C18 then I'd also definately recheck the actual engine length as if being the 25" engine it should be the 242 cubic inch engine........

 

Andy, I had to scrape away all the blue paint over the engine number but here it is.

 

C18 - 4324

 

I could not see any other markings on the plate.

 

2 hours ago, andyd said:

also to check the stroke there is a small, "pipe" plug, arround 1/2" or 9/16th in size above the piston location of # 6 piston on the top of the cylinder head........unscrew this plug and insert a 12-15" long straight piece of stiff welding wire which will rest on the top of the # 6 piston and SLOWLY turn the engine over taking note of the length that the wire rises and falls.........this is the stroke and will allow you to compare that measurement against the various known strokes to determine the actual engine size........it maybe helpful to remove all the  spark plugs when doing this which should allow you to turn the engine over SLOWLY by hand.......hopefully.............lol.........and good to speak yeasterday

 

I'll confirm the stroke when I have another moment. Great chatting yesterday.

 

[andyd]

Ah Ha!!.........the plot thickens........or maybe not....lol.......C18, yep that would seem to confirm its originality......and methinks a very low engine number.........and as Roger advises.....use & drive it......andyd 

[Lachlan]

@andyd The stroke is 117mm or 4.6". Does that sound about right?

[andyd]

Close enough to the stroke of 4.5 of the listed size of the 25" engine.......I'd also recheck your tape measure to confirm the head length.........lol..........all good......andyd 

[Lachlan]

Wow - this place is popular. I had to scroll back four pages to find my thread. Good to see there's life in forums still.

 

In the time since my last post, I've done the following:

 

- Made my peace with the car and all its changes.

- Cleaned the remains of rodents and their nest from the front cabin and gave the bench seat a good clean.

- Replaced the engine oil with 10W-40 diesel oil and a Ryco R4P filter.

- Removed the ancient rusted 'Lucas' (aka rebranded NGK for the Australian market) plugs for new Autolite 295s

- Spent hours combing over the electrical system to determine whether it was positive or negative ground. Got it wrong on the first attempt but figured it out.

- Tested much of the electrical system and found it in fairly good working order. Only a few light bulbs to replace and getting the brake / reverse light switches to work.

- Tested the starter motor and it turned the engine.

 

I attempted a first start this evening.

 

I had a freshly charged 12V marine battery lying around so I connected that with jumper cables to the car's battery leads. Being a bigger battery, it physically didn't fit under the seat. With the old plugs still in, I spun the engine for a bit to build oil pressure after sitting for so long. The gauges aren't working so I couldn't tell if this worked. I disconnected the fuel hose from the fuel tank outlet and placed it in a container of fresh fuel and ran the electric pump for a few seconds to fill the lines to the carb. Then I poured some fuel down the carb throat to prime it. Lastly, I changed the old plugs out for the new ones and cleaned up the connectors on the leads with sandpaper.

 

I said a short prayer (mainly to not burn the house down) and hit the starter. No dice.

 

The starter sounds like it's turning slower than I'd expect, but I'm used to 1970s and later cars. I read in another thread that because these cars could be hand cranked, they never spun that fast to begin with. I asked my experienced neighbour for his opinion and he thought it was turning slower too. We checked for spark by disconnecting a lead from a plug and holding it close to the plug to see if there was a spark. Nothing. I know the generally accepted way is to pull the plug and lay it on the head while connected to the lead, then crank it over.

 

I gave the points a cursory clean with sandpaper (I know, I know, but I didn't have a points file) and wiped over the rotor arm and cap contacts. Didn't help. I haven't checked the timing, so that's probably the next step.

 

My neighbour thought it was worth checking the battery, so I pulled out the multimeter and put the test leads on the terminals. 12.4V at rest after all that cranking. When actually cranking, it dropped down to the mid-10s or so. I think this is within the OK range.

 

Currently I'm thinking it's a spark problem. If it were fuel, it would be one of too much given I poured a small amount directly in the carb and had the choke partially closed. Also, in an earlier post I mentioned a strong fuel smell in the oil, so maybe the needle and seat are worn. I bought a carb rebuild kit so I'll install that shortly.

 

The distributor is unlikely to be original to the car (my neighbour thinks it's from a Holden) so once I work out what it is, I'll grab some replacement points and a condensor, time it correctly and go from there.

 

Let me know what I'm doing wrong or what to look at next.

 

Question: What battery specs should I be looking for? From what I gathered, I need the following:

 

- 270mm (H) x 190mm (W) x 195mm (H) max dimensions

- 700 cold cranking amps

- Positive left

- Anything else?

 

I won't mention brands as we've got different ones here to North America.

 

And finally, to answer a question from earlier:

 

On 1/2/2026 at 5:59 AM, chrysleritis said:

But then that raises the issue of how the handbrake got handled -- does it still have a brake drum at the transmission output/propeller shaft, or have the rear brake backing plates been modified to have a cable pull for the shoes?

 

I was under there having a good look one day and saw cables running to both sides of the rear brakes, so it appears to have a handbrake built into the replacement diff.

[chrysleritis]

Check the coil. No spark at all means no coil, or else totally deteriorated high voltage wires or else utterly bad rotor or broken distributor shaft(unlikely!). With battery connected, turn on the ignition switch, but don't activate the starter, and see that the coil draws a couple of amps from the battery. With the coil disconnected, check the resistance (with your multimeter) of the primary and secondary in the coil. You should see something like 1.5 ohms of resistance from the ignition switch terminal to ground (the primary), and going from the ignition switch terminal to the high-voltage output you should see something like 7000 to 10000 ohms. If you measure more than about 2 ohms of resistance in the primary, it's toast, and if you measure more than that 10000 ohms in the secondary -- like if you see many mega-ohms, again, it's probably toast. New coils are pretty cheap. If the car is wired up to be 12 volts at this point, just get a boring coil. Can't see the coil in your under-hood photo. 

[andyd]

Lachlan........your engine size & colour inrigue me........the more I think about it this scenario comes into being...........John Rowling was VERY involved in the Crysler Restorers Club and that bulk purchase of New engines from Chrysler "may" have included both 23" and 25"engines AND the more I think about the more that I think all these engines did NOT have engine numbers so it maybe that your cars original engine number was stamped onto this new engine.......the blue colour also makes me think that it could have been one of these NOS(New,Old Stock) engines as I seem to recall that was the colour of them......and I do know of a couple of Chrysler Club cars that had Falcon rear axles installed as an easy way to get both better brakes and a more highway friendly rear axle ratio.......John Rowling was a good friend of Russell Cope who had a restored 1934 Dodge 7 Passenger DR sedan which also had a Falcon rear axle........anyway thats definately not the original rear axle which would indicate the Falcon brakes....Falcons had the same bolt pattern as mopars so were a common "hotrodder" replacement........as for the dissy being from a Holden........that would surprise me but possible I suppose........does the dissy have any numbers ?.........andyd  

[Lachlan]

On 2/3/2026 at 11:25 AM, chrysleritis said:

Check the coil.

 

Thanks for all the info on what to check. The primary measures 3.5 ohms and the secondary measures 8200 ohms. I couldn't see a ballast resistor in the circuit so maybe the primary resistance value is appropriate. I'll try doing an amp test tomorrow (not done one before).

 

I found this guide to help diagnose the cause: https://classicmotorsports.com/articles/when-fire-goes-out-9-easy-steps-diagnosing-ignitio/

 

- Confirmed 'no spark' situation as my lovely wife watched some plugs grounded on the head while I cranked the engine. Nothing.

- Disconnected the coil wire and tried that near the head. Nothing.

- Checked power to the coil. Measured 12.6V on the positive side.

- Checked the switching mechanism. Measured 12.6V on the negative side that dropped to 7 when cranking. I don't have a test light so couldn't see if it flashed while cranking.

- Cleaned all the grounds I could see in the engine bay.

- Cleaned the connection on the distributor body coming from the negative post of the coil as it was coated in grease.

 

Tried again. Nothing.

 

This time I pulled out the distributor and had a closer look.

 

 

 

 

I think those points might be the cause of my issues. They look like an old battery thats leaked out. A good clean with a file should hopefully make them work.

 

11 hours ago, andyd said:

as for the dissy being from a Holden........that would surprise me but possible I suppose........does the dissy have any numbers ?

 

Turns out it is a Chrysler distributor after all. From the numbers above, what is the actual model? Can you still get points and condensers for them?

[Lachlan]

11 hours ago, andyd said:

the blue colour also makes me think that it could have been one of these NOS(New,Old Stock) engines as I seem to recall that was the colour of them......and I do know of a couple of Chrysler Club cars that had Falcon rear axles installed as an easy way to get both better brakes and a more highway friendly rear axle ratio

 

Good info. Thanks Andy! I'm sure the answer will become clear in time.

[chrysleritis]

Your distributor is the IAD-4039-1, an autolite/prestolite unit, which is quite standard Mopar stuff. This set of points _might_ fit -- I defer to better points/distributor experts on that. 

https://brillman.com/product/autoliteprestolite-distributor-contact-points/

There are lots of points sets out there to try if you want to replace. 

 

But your points look good enough (although rubbing block looks a bit worn) that a simple cleaning and re-gapping of the points should help a lot. It may be that the crusty points aren't conducting at all. You can use your multimeter to see if there is conduction across the crusty points when they are closed -- should be zero ohms from clean metal on one side of the points to the other, and open circuit (infinite resistance) when you open the points by hand. If it's got resistance when closed because crustiness, then you have found your problem. 

If you remove the points and clean it up with some sandpaper and/or points file, and then re-install and adjust the gap as necessary, you might get better spark and a start (assuming the timing has not been disturbed since the last time it ran, and if you get the distributor back in the engine in the same spot!).

The coil sounds like it is good -- probably has an "internal resistor" as a 12 V coil to be compatible with the 12 V system. 12 V divided by 3.5 ohms means it will draw 3.4 amps when the points are closed, which is just fine. It may not be a great coil any more (i.e. it may poop out when hot), but it should get you a start and idle. 

 

See if points cleanup doesn't get you spark. If you turn the engine by hand, with the distributor cap off, do the points open and close approximately as they should? 

 

 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 06:33 PM by chrysleritis

[chrysleritis]

Oh, also condensers are available, but you may have to get creative on getting one to fit inside the distributor. If your multimeter has a capacitance function, you can check the condenser by putting one meter lead on ground and one meter lead on the contact where the condenser lead is connected inside the distributor. A bad condenser won't prevent you from starting, but should be replaced before you operate the car for long periods of time, since a bad condenser causes the points to pit and can foul up your timing after only hours of operation. 

[Lachlan]

16 hours ago, chrysleritis said:

It may be that the crusty points aren't conducting at all. You can use your multimeter to see if there is conduction across the crusty points when they are closed -- should be zero ohms from clean metal on one side of the points to the other, and open circuit (infinite resistance) when you open the points by hand. If it's got resistance when closed because crustiness, then you have found your problem.

 

You nailed it! Before cleaning I measured 2 megaohms across the points when closed. No bueno.

 

After giving them a really good clean with 400 grit, some contact cleaner and some paper, it measured a more hopeful 3 ohms. Given the probes measure that, I'm calling it zero ohms!

 

16 hours ago, chrysleritis said:

If your multimeter has a capacitance function, you can check the condenser by putting one meter lead on ground and one meter lead on the contact where the condenser lead is connected inside the distributor.

 

I measured the condenser on the bench as best I could and got a pretty high capacitance reading. Not sure what that means, but I'm going to go with it's fine.

 

I haven't tested again for spark as it's after 10pm here but I'll try again tomorrow. Thanks @chrysleritis.

Edited yesterday at 11:09 AM by Lachlan