The Timing is Right.

[Patrick H.]

For all those who followed my "Can't Time This" saga, I'd like you to know that I have fixed the car. By myself, in the garage, with no special diagnostic equipment other than my timing light. My tach/dwell meter was there, but didn't add much.

I though about now giving a $10 reward to whomever would guess correctly what was wrong. But, as I don't think anyone guessed correctly in the first or second posts, I decided not to.

I actually had the correct answer as my second guess. The problem is, I checked my first, then third, fourth, fifth, etc options as I didn't want to do the second one. My first guess was the coil. It was the only ignition part that hadn't been replaced or rebuilt.

The correct answer? Spark plugs. When I first had the timing problem crop up, I took them all out and cleaned them. It didn't help, so I moved on. Eventually I replaced them, and the car runs as smooth as can be. The timing light is firing well as a result and I easily set the timing and idle. I reinstalled the rest of the parts and am havig no problems.

I had replaced the spark plugs when the motor was rebuilt a few years ago. The car hasn't run on the road since then, only for periods of time here and there as I finish the restoration. So I had still considred them "new." So much for that idea.

Thanks to everyone for their help and suggestions!

Patrick

[Duke W.]

Re: The Timing is Right.

Patrick - Are you sayilng that the spark plugs were defective, or were they fouled.

BTW, what was the brand and number. Did you check if they were correct for the application?

Duke

[Patrick H.]

Re: The Timing is Right.

Duke,

Who knows what they were. As I noted, I totally cleaned them when the problem first occurred, and it didn't help. I would assume (?) that wire wheeling and degreasing would clean them, and they didn't look bad to start with only a few hours (tops) running time and maybe 1/4 mile total road time.

So maybe defective. They were AC45's, and at least worked early on. I've now got Champions.

Patrick

[Roy Braatz]

Re: The Timing is Right.

for about $25.00 you can get a spart plug blaster fron your local parts house that will keep your plugs lasting years. I have the same original plugs in my 55 for 15 years and many miles of driveing 65000.

[Christopher R.]

Re: The Timing is Right.

I've had the same situation. Change the plugs and the car runs badly. Check the plugs-look OK-reinstall-car still runs badly-so it must be something else-try everything else twice-still no solution. Install new plugs out of frustration and the car runs smooth.

Look closely at the old plugs. The porcelain on one is cracked. That can happen sometimes even if you're super careful with them. The socket got cocked on the plug and put too much stress on the top. Have you got that foam rubber thingy in your plug socket?

[Bill Braun 33186]

Wierd...

I had the EXACT same thing happen in my '57 F**d with Champions.

Bill

[Larry Sherman]

Re: Wierd...

Yeah. Plugs was my guess. Yeah, I was gonna say the plugs. Larry

[Patrick H.]

Re: The Timing is Right.

Yeah, I've got the foam thingy in the plug socket.

What I can't figure out is why the car ran fine for a while, then this hit all of a sudden. Who knows.

The plugs were trashed. Not worth looking at again, as I didn't see anything 2 weeks ago when I inspected them.

Patrick

allkindsofweirdthingshappenwitholdcars

[Craig S.]

Re: The Timing is Right.

Patrick - been there and done that. Personally, I have one of those plug bead blasters I picked up used and cheap, but have always been leary of beads retained deep in the plug between insulator and barrel. So I just change the plugs. I remeber years ago when I was into dirt bikes in the 70's, those blasted 2 cycles would ruin plugs easily. And they would look like new when you clean them, but no spark, end of story. Hey, are you sure it is a foam thingy and not a foam watchamabob or whatchmacallit? You need the correct technical terms....Craig