WTF, No Spark

SLOroadster · Post by **SLOroadster** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:35 am

Sid,
That is a good point on the jackshaft, but the cam timing is still spot on. If the jackshaft were to break, wouldn't it throw the cam off as well? The upper chain is on the inside, so for the thing to break only on the outside gear would not allow anything to work. This thought did cross my mind as I was building it.

Will

oilleak · Post by **oilleak** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:30 pm

did you re-use the same distributor cap every time? Sounds like classic bad cap symptoms.

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toolsnob · Post by **toolsnob** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 6:02 pm

Good point stickerman. As SLoroadster stated he did not have any problems until he removed the dist to replace the o-ring. This would make me focus all my efforts on all wiring or dist problems that could have been caused in the removal. The wiring in these things are 35 years old and can be brital, it doesn't take much to break a wire.

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SLOroadster · Post by **SLOroadster** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 9:34 am

What are the symptoms of a bad balast restor? Does it get hot really fast? Does it cause the spark to fluctuate, and then die? this happened yesterday while I had it running (not attached to anything, I just had the dizzy turned till it was showin 20 degrees at 900 rpm). I do need to move the gear and reset everything. I removed the MSD and havent tried it with it yet.

Will

oilleak · Post by **oilleak** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 11:28 am

Unless you pulled the pedestal, the dist. drive gear can not "jump a tooth". If the coil is a balster 2, you don't need the ballast resistor - it's a 12v coil. If it's a different coil and does need the resistor, you can bypass it for a short time anyway with no ill effects.

SLOroadster · Post by **SLOroadster** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 12:11 am

Ok, I am so far beyond livid with this car its not funny. I got it to run, I even left the driveway. I replaced the balast resistor, and got everything timed, but now I have intermittant spark from the coil. I was able to drive around for all of 20 minutes before it coughed sputtered and wouldn't restart. I clipped the timing light onto the coil lead to verify that I had no spark to the dizzy, and it was true. No spark from the coil

The coil is 1 month old, and is a MSD Blaster 2 (but it doesn't have the internal resistor) The balast resistor gets really hot as does the coil. Do I have a wire in the wrong spot? I unplugged the old one and plugged in the new one one lead at a time. I can't see any other way to set it up. Electrical things are not my strong point, and I am nearly ready to light the whole nine yards on fire....

Should I call a priest and have the car exorcised? I didn't have a sigle electrical issue when the engine came out, and after sitting untouched for 3 months, I have one that suddenly appears out of no where.

Will

Post by **itsa68** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 6:39 am

Will:
I was adjusting my carbs last month and accidentally loosened one of the electrical plugs coming out of the firewall beside the brake cyl.
It looked as if it was together, but was giving me an intermitten connection to my ignition until I located it and snapped the connector back together.
If you were working in that area of the engine compartment ,give the connectors a quick check .

Ray B.

SLOroadster · Post by **SLOroadster** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 9:40 am

It has something to do with making both my coil really hot and my balast resistor. When both are cold, it is fine. As I said, I was able to drive it around for about 15 minutes before it acted like it was running out of gas, and stopped. Upon checking for spark comming out of the coil, I didn't have any.
I almost think I'd rather have the old engine back, it atleast didnt have me chasing ghosts.

Will

oilleak · Post by **oilleak** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 12:01 pm

As far as I know, the Blaster 2 should not use an external resistor. It also needs to be mounted upright so that the internals are submerged in the oil. If it's mounted horozontally like a stock roadster coil, it could be overheating.

SLOroadster · Post by **SLOroadster** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 6:51 pm

It does not have an internal resistor, I ran it for a month or 2 with no issues. There are 2 versions of the blaster 2, mine is the standard one.
I am way beyond sick of screwing with electrical issues. I havn't had a car for 3 months, I get the engine built and now I still can't drive it. (no it has nothing to do with the engine for all you "I told you so" engine swapers.) I'm out of ideas, out of patience and don't want to work on it anymore unless i know what is wrong with it so I can fix it.

Will

toolsnob · Post by **toolsnob** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 7:54 pm

Why don't you stop emailing on every problem and just take the car to a shop that works on older foriegn cars? Probably for 1-2 hours labor they could diagnose the problem and you would be on your way to driving rest of the fall!

TR · Post by TR » Wed Sep 01, 2004 9:46 pm

Try a cheap coil and see if it runs more than 20mins.

If it does, call MSD and ask for help...TR

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WTF, No Spark

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