63 chevy...not getting fire

[nathan5830]

i bot a 63 chevy with a 230 strait six, and originally with a 3 on the tree, but wen i bot it, it has a 3 in the floor...vin says its a 72 saginaw

any way.... its gettin fuel, we replaced the coil, dist, cap, rotor, wires, plugs, and put the firing order right(the original owner had a ford coil, ford cap, and dist, and had it in the wrong firing order)

with all the new stuff, she still dont spark....

wat do yall think is wrong with it

[poorboy]

Does it have points or hei?

[nathan5830]

points...im used to sbc's....i havnt messed with old strait sixes at all.... timing one sounds funny to me,but i did wat i had read online about it


im thinkin now that its not timed right...cuz wat i read online about timing one seemed a lil sketchy...but i went ahead and followed wat it said


i got one wire off with an old plug just to c if we get fire when we crank it and its not getting fire at all

[greg64]

Hi Nathan,
Have you tried connecting an old plug to the wire coming directly off the coil? (thus bypassing the distributor). Have you got 12V on the + side of the coil while in the crank position (and it'll be more like 8V when you're in the Run position due to the ballast resistor). Are the points actually opening and closing as the cam rotates? Is the distributor body (and breaker plate) making a good ground? Is the short wire from the points to the - of the coil in good shape? (not shorted to ground somewhere or just an open circuit).

Let us know what you find, I'm sure we'll be able to help you get it running!

[nathan5830]

i havnt tried a plug in the wire from the coil, but i did put a old plug on an unplugged wire, and it no had spark

the whole truck is pretty much red kneck rigged....it has no wiring, so i get my camaro run jumper cables to the ground on the truck, and use the positive cable, to jump the starter, mean while i have a ground wire from the coil to the negetive jumper cable, and the pos side of the coil is a wire from my baterry

so in theory, everything has power

[greg64]

Wait, did you say that you have a ground wire going to the negative side of the coil? If so, that's the problem. Negative coil goes to points.

Hope this helps.

[nathan5830]

i thot the coil wire goes to the points?

[Ham-er]

+ marked coil wire(small one) to starter terminal most likely thru the ballast resistor!

- marked coil wire(small one) to points under the dist cap!

Large High tension(voltage) wire to center of distributor cap!


If the small + and - lead on the coil are reversed it might still fire but not very well!!

[nathan5830]

well my frnd had hooked up a ignition module after we couldnt get it to spark with points

so last night i took that out, put the points back in... eyeballed about a .016 gap, timed it to the number one cylinder, and boom, she fired right up



first time running in about 4 yrs or more.... and at 4am in the middle of the parking lot too


now that i got it running, im sure yall know more about how to get the ol straight 6's runnin better after sittin a while... she runs good and solid, but she still needs a lil work... wat do yall suggest?

oh yea, and are the ol straight 6's sposda sound kinda like a diesel?

[Ham-er]

Nathan

Congrats on getting it running! Now about that point gap.

Depending on the age/wear of the distributor the gap in inches may not be correct. why? After a while the humps on the little "cam" which operates the points gets worn down. When this happens the dwell(amount of time that the points are open) is incorrect even if the point GAP is set by the book. So you really should use a dwell meter. I learned this the hard way one time, and I even had feeler guages when i set the points.

So, get the dwell and timing and carb set right, change oil often and let the hydraulic lifters get freed up (un gunked).

[nathan5830]

alright, sounds good


next question, i drove it around the block today, and o my god i miss power steering...




do they make a powersteering kit to swap out the factory gear box?
and how much does a dwell meter run?

[joe231]

power steering kit

[nathan5830]

sweet



except it says the steering shaft has to be cut, u cant just swap out a powersteering box with one that has the spots for powersteering hoses, and use the brackets to mount a power steering pump?

[joe231]

there isn't, as far as I know, a kit other than the original power assist, that will work without modifying the original column. You can swap in a newer column if you don't want to cut yours

[TimE]

Break out the sawzall, grinder, torch, hacksaw, or anything else that will cut that column. That's what mine has in store for it!

[joe231]

i got another idea how i'm gonna do the column splice, will still involve cutting and welding, but........more info to come later

[greg64]

About the dwell meter, here's a whack of used ones:
http://motors.shop.ebay.com/items/__...ZdwellQ20meter

Seems to me the one I have ran about $30 or so.

You might want to also get a carb rebuild kit. They're cheap and it'll give you a chance to clean out any crud that's gotten into the carb over the years.

[nathan5830]

Originally Posted by greg64

About the dwell meter, here's a whack of used ones:
http://motors.shop.ebay.com/items/__...ZdwellQ20meter

Seems to me the one I have ran about $30 or so.

You might want to also get a carb rebuild kit. They're cheap and it'll give you a chance to clean out any crud that's gotten into the carb over the years.

yea, my buddy's rebuildin it now...and thats pretty cheap

[nathan5830]

but there is some bad news that we discovered tonight, while giving it a good sanddown for primer...


the cab, and front clip is covered in cancer.... the panel under the driver, and pass. door, is completly ate thru, and gone...there is a chunk about the size of a cantelope in the front fender.... floor board is shot on the driver side... rust all in surrounding body around the engine bay...and much more


pretty much, i know how do fix the rust, but being in college, i aint got the money or the facility to make those kinda repairs....so im considering selling it...



advise?

[jonzcustomshop]

just put some temp patches on the floor so you don't get wet, maybe go after the existing rust with a rust converter, or sealer to sloe it down for now.
you can buy brand new repro fenders for it at some point .
Drive it , use it . and when you have the money and time start fixing it up.
Maybe a few weekend trips to some wrecking yards might produce some good parts (and maybe an entire cab!) I remember there being a wrecking yard between you and dallas, and there are a couple huge ones in denton.

[nathan5830]

yea, i thot about doin that too

cuz the motor and trans is solid, and rust is cosmetic