was running, now its not - a little help please

[fmarshall]

63 Avanti R2 (sorry about the length, but I wanted to be complete)

I had a puuuurfect idle. Dwell set right at 40, timing at 24 degrees a 1600 RPM - but it ran ratty above idle.

Compression good, vacuum 19, everyhting as it should.

New coil, new distributer. All is well.

So, I take the carb and rebuild it. Metering rods bent beyond belief. New ones. Secondary jets frozen in place. Drilled out, easy out. Replace with .092 instead of .089

All is well. Except I had the choke lin rod on imcorrectly.

Carb on car, starting fluid. Wham. Filres right off. It never ran so sweet. up and down the rmp range.

But, because of choke linkage, car wont go lower than 2500 RPM.

Turn it off. Starts fine, still too high. A couple more trys then - no more start.

I figure it may be flooded. Let her set for 2 hours. Nope. It sounds like no spark??

Spark from the coil And to the plugs - but weak yellow. New coil!!

I check the resistance primary to coil wire and secondary to coil wire 1200 Ohms. From primary to secondary infinity. Is that right?

I measure the condenser - same as a new condenser? I check the dwell - fine?

The ballast resistor shows continuity?? New magnacore wires, new cap and rotor.

Any ideas??

[Alan]

1,200 ohms sounds a little low. Checked a few good ones and they ran 6,000 to 30,000 ohms depending on oil filled or dry type.

[fmarshall]

Duh - 12000. It was 12 x the 1K scale. I'm still in analog here.

[gordr]

Could the wire going from the (+) terminal of the ignition coil to the "I" terminal on the solenoid be disconnected or broken? That bypasses the ballast resistor when cranking. If that bypass isn't functioning, you will get a weak spark while cranking because the starter draw pulls the voltage down.

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[fmarshall]

Gordr,

Thanks for the tip. I checked the voltage to there. I will try bypassing that wire, by cranking with a direct battery to coil jumper. That wire goes to the (-) terminal, right? The same terminal that the ballast resister connects to. The + term has the distributor wire.

It is possible that the starter relay is causing that to happen.

[StudeRich]

NO! sounds like it is backwards: the (+) term. on the coil goes to "IGN" solenoid AND Ign. Switch and resister, and the (-) coil term. goes to the Dist. to points to ground.

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA

[fmarshall]

StudeRich,

The coil is hooked up "backwards" as you say. And it had been running, though not that long. Could the coil be burning out from being installed incorrectly?

[gordr]

Shouldn't burn out the coil. But the spark may be weaker. Usual symptom is a high speed miss.

Sure you used the correct coil?

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[fmarshall]

I connect the coil correctly. And one attempt at firing, then nothing. I checked the spark at the coil wire. A brighter color of yellow than before.

Next I will try to bypass the green wire and starter switch.

As to the correct coil, I picked it up at a local auto parts store. They said it is correct for the application ...

[fmarshall]

Okay. It's not the coil. It's the choke.

It is full closed. If I open it manually, then it starts. But the choke wants to close fully, which will kill the engine.

I didn't do any choke adjustment with the rebuild, so I don't know what could have changed??

I had the choke stat to tight. I reset it. Now it opens as it is warming. But, after warming, it is too high RPM. So, I think it is either vacuum or ?? As the primaries are too open to let the idle circuit kick in.

[ROADRACELARK]

Make sure your accellerator linkage is adjusted correctly. That's covered in detail in the shop manual. Disconnect it from the side of the carb, then set the choke fast idle and the carb. curb idle speed and the idle mixture screws. Next move on to the linkage adjustments. Hope this helps.

Dan Miller
Atlanta, GA

[img=left]http://static.flickr.com/57/228744729_7aff5f0118_m.jpg[/img=left]
Road Racers turn left AND right.

[Bob Langer]

Check the throttle kicker.After the carb was rebuilt I could not get idle down.Found the plunger on kicker was out to far raising the idle speed.It was ok before I took it off ,dont know what changed.



Bob Langer
63 Avanti
Glenshaw,PA

[fmarshall]

Got it nailed down. Thanks for the tips!!

It wound up being a combination of the throttle kicker, linkage, and the accelerator pump adjustment. The one in the kit was shorter than the one in the car. I don't know which was correct; but I moved the rod to the hole giving a longer reach and that made the linkage reach where it needed to. I readjusted the rod and all is well. Installed the blower - no leaks. It's showtime!!

Thanks to all!!