Guest BudaHotRod Posted December 18, 2006 Report Share Posted December 18, 2006 Hello to all. This my first post. I know this web site says P15-D24, 46-48 but as the title says, mine is a 1950 P20. I figured you guys could help me get mine back on the road. I have had this car since March and it had been running like a top. It suddenly lost power one day driving home. To make a long story short...Blew the head gasket, changed same, put everything back to spec and now I can't get it to fire. Found condensor bad, changed that. Have good spark at the points but seems weak at the plugs. My manual is vague on the the position of the distributor as it relates to where #1 plug would be so my wires could be wrong but I would think it would still give a sign of fireing. Is a weak spark indicative of a bad coil ? I can spray starter fluid down the carb and it won't even attempt to light off. I need some tech help and guidance to get this baby back on the road. BudaHotRod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1947 Wrays Dodge Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 I have owned 2 1950 Plymouths and 1 1941 Plymouth. The same thing happened to me a couple of years ago with my 41 Plymouth. I changed EVERYTHING and it turned out to be the distributor. Take it out and see if it spins too freely. If you DON"T hear a clicking noise as you do this, or the sound isn’t continuous, than a spring(s) is broken. Before you do this, make sure that your coil is good (and your ballast resistor if you have one). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 The factory set up has the rotor pointing to 7 oclock for allignment with #1 cylinder. If your engine has been the victim of less than craftsman work over the years, this index may have been lost. As the distributor can only be in correctly or 180 degrees off, it is fairly simple to accomodate it. the diz is driven by the oil pump, and during a rebuild, oil pump service, it may have been reinstalled out of whack. So a basic static timing procedure should allow you to reestablish the proper firing sequence regardless of the oilpumps position (if it is wrong). Pull the spark plugs, and have an assistant bump the starter while you hold your thumb tight against the #1. When you begin to feel compression against your thumb, quit the starter and turn the engine over by hand till the timing pointer points to TDC in the crank pulley. This will put #1 at TDC of its compression stroke. Make wherever the rotor is pointing to #1 tower on the diz cap and restablish the wires for the proper firing order. If it is not at 7 oclock, it won't make any difference as long as the rotor is pointing to #1. Aslo at this point the points should be fully opened with the rubbing block on the peak of the point on the breaker cam. When I put my fresh rebuild in I had a similar problem. I had everything seemingly correct but no fire. On further investigation, I was one tower off with the spark plug wires. Once I corrected it it fired right off. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62rebelP23 Posted October 7, 2007 Report Share Posted October 7, 2007 forrest, you're a genius! you just described a problem i had with a Datsun 510 many years ago. they also have a dist that can only be installed correctly or 180 out. i acquired this car in non-running condition and fought with it for days before giving up, not realizing that the oil pump could have been replaced and the drive would then be out of phase completely. it just never occurred to me! damn shame, actually, the 510 was a great little car and tough as nails. if i EVER run into this situation again i'll know another avenue to check! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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