Does not want to start

[ARowe84]

I have a 69 1600. Has East Coast Roadster’s electronic ignition which is about a half a year old. Car always would start right away. After running i would barely have to turn the key and it would start. The problem is after a drive on Easter I noticed it was taking excessive cranking to start once run. Whereas before it’d start right away. Only thing I’ve recently changed is the spark plugs to ngks. I tapped them to spec. When it does start after lots of cranking it runs smoothly and the engine sounds great. When it cranks it doesn’t sputter or anything. Any advice on how to troubleshoot? Thanks!

[jrusso07]

Put old plugs back in if you have them and see if the easy start returns. I always have had good luck with the NGK plugs. I did have a similar problem when I put new Champion plugs in. Switch back to NGK. I Have a car with e-dizzy an it starts on the slightest movement of the crank when warm. I wish it cranked a few turns first to get oil flowing

[Toptech360]

I second jrussos advise, that's a good start point. Which specific ngk plugs did you use? Your symptoms seem coincidental but also a little odd for just spark bolts lol.

[ARowe84]

I agree that would have been a good starting point. I got the ngk bpr6es-11. Hoping that would help allow the am radio to play with less interference. Unfortunately the spark plugs from before got tossed.

[Gregs672000]

Just a thought, but make sure you didn't cross a plug wire...

[ARowe84]

By cross a plug wire do you mean from the distributor to the wrong cylinder? I was careful to make sure they are correct. When it does decide to run it is smooth. Could the problem be with the floats in the carburetor? When I was getting the car running originally I never took the bowls apart because I didn’t have new gaskets and didn’t want it to leak. I’m wondering if the floats could be the problem but just guessing.

[C.Costine]

By cross a plug wire do you mean from the distributor to the wrong cylinder? I was careful to make sure they are correct. When it does decide to run it is smooth. Could the problem be with the floats in the carburetor? When I was getting the car running originally I never took the bowls apart because I didn’t have new gaskets and didn’t want it to leak. I’m wondering if the floats could be the problem but just guessing.

A float problem would show up in taking a spark plug reading. If a float on one carb was not working correctly the plugs on the corresponding cylinders would be dry or wetter compared to the other two plugs.

[notoptoy]

The beauty of the EI distributor is that it typically either works, or it doesn't, from an electrical standpoint. (Mechanical advance, and mechanical failure not included in that statement). So if it is firing at all, it is likely NOT the EI or matchbox on the EI.
Therefore I would look at plugs, plug wires - did a terminal on the wire become dislodged, or is one loose, are the wires in good shape etc., the cap itself, and possibly the coil, then move on to fuel. A good thing to do is to run the car in "total darkness" and look for arcing or random sparking around the ignition components - I have seen coils arcing, bad wires, cracked caps etc., this way.
When there is a change in the way the car runs, always look at what you most recently changed first as a cause - then move to other systems.

[redroadster]

Sparking with a plug ayong on the VC and grounded ?. Or with a spark tester?
Did it flood before or after? Easy to pull them and crank over coil wire out

[SLOroadster]

Check your chokes. You may have one that is stuck. Reach under each of the carbs and push/pull up on the choke nozzle and see if either one moves.

Will

[ARowe84]

I noticed the fuel filter didn’t have much fuel in it so I replaced it. After some cranking it filled up and sure enough started to run. Thought it was fixed. Then Ran for awhile and died. Now the new filter appears to have hardly any fuel in it even after cranking. Is this normal? Should the level of fuel in the filter fluctuate. Maybe the pump needs to be replaced/rebuilt.

[spags1986]

Same exact issue with my 1600. The mechanical fuel pump was bad so I replaced it with an electric one and haven't had the issue since.

[ARowe84]

Plan on keeping mine mechanical. Does anybody know if the aftermarket $59 pump dean sells are any good? I can’t imagine paying $240 for the oem one. May try just rebuilding it.

[fj20spl311]

I noticed the fuel filter didn’t have much fuel in it so I replaced it. After some cranking it filled up and sure enough started to run. Thought it was fixed. Then Ran for awhile and died. Now the new filter appears to have hardly any fuel in it even after cranking. Is this normal? Should the level of fuel in the filter fluctuate. Maybe the pump needs to be replaced/rebuilt.

If the filter is clean, it will not have very much fuel in the bowl. As the paper get dirty, the level raises to the clean part of the filter.
Once its full, it needs to be replaced.

[Gregs672000]

It is sounding more and more like a fuel delivery problem IF you have confirmed firing order. Consider having another fuel source handy, like some starter fluid that you can lightly spray at the carbs to either see if it will fire on that or to keep it running if it starts dying while your testing things. If it will "run" on starter fluid you know it's getting spark and it's likely a fuel issue. You could also run your fuel pump output line to a gas can, crank the motor and see what volume it puts out.

Re plug wire crossing, firing order is 1,3,4,2 counter clockwise on dizzy. You can be off and run the engine, but it won't want to start easily and has the symptoms you report. My car would do 80mph with crossed plug wires. Since the last thing you did was with spark and plug wires, start there.