73 Challenger restomod

[dave73chally]

When the engine turned over heard the poof. What does that tell me? It sounded almost like a hose popped free. Then I noticed a small amount of smoke and by the time I opened the hood, couldn't trace its source.

I tested the msd wiring. In trunk, 12v between battery and before fusible link; 12v between battery and after fusible link. At msd box, 12v between red + and black -. 12v between Msd red and intake ground. Guess my msd didn't fry?

Would switching plug wires 4 and 6 at the heads cause smoke? Possibly a loose plug wire not snapped onto the spark plug?

[70chall440]

When the engine turned over heard the poof. What does that tell me? It sounded almost like a hose popped free. Then I noticed a small amount of smoke and by the time I opened the hood, couldn't trace its source.

I tested the msd wiring. In trunk, 12v between battery and before fusible link; 12v between battery and after fusible link. At msd box, 12v between red + and black -. 12v between Msd red and intake ground. Guess my msd didn't fry?

Would switching plug wires 4 and 6 at the heads cause smoke? Possibly a loose plug wire not snapped onto the spark plug?

Something popped like a fuse or a relay. Switching the plug wires would not have the effect you describe. Why was the hood down? Where you are in the process, the hood should be open and a fire extinguisher handy.

It sounds like you need to start tracing and checking all of the connections to determine what is getting power and what isn't. This is a fairly simple situation in terms of concept, however it can be frustrating at times figuring it out. There are a lot of work arounds to get power to where it needs to be but you need to start with the basics. Make sure that your distributor cap is wired correctly; understand the direction the rotor turns when it cranks over and then wire it accordingly (seems simple but I am quite sure many on here have wired a cap backwards at least once, I know I have). Also, check any/all ballast resistors in the system, when they blow they can make a "pop" and produce some smoke (other times they just stop working). Check the coil to ensure it is working; swap it out if unsure. Check all of your fuses to include the fusable link.

Generally, you need to be methodical about this and do not just look for the obvious, run each system down one at a time. Plugs and plug wires are usually not the problem for not starting (running rough for sure, but not starting).

Stay with it, trace everything, test your wires and eventually you will find it.

[soundcontrol]

When the engine turned over heard the poof. What does that tell me? It sounded almost like a hose popped free. Then I noticed a small amount of smoke and by the time I opened the hood, couldn't trace its source.

I tested the msd wiring. In trunk, 12v between battery and before fusible link; 12v between battery and after fusible link. At msd box, 12v between red + and black -. 12v between Msd red and intake ground. Guess my msd didn't fry?

Would switching plug wires 4 and 6 at the heads cause smoke? Possibly a loose plug wire not snapped onto the spark plug?

Sounds like you hooked it up correct, and switching 4 and 6 would probably not produce smoke, it will misfire, but it will still ignite on the rest. Like 70Chall440 says, probably something electrical blew up.

[dave73chally]

Something popped like a fuse or a relay. Switching the plug wires would not have the effect you describe. Why was the hood down? Where you are in the process, the hood should be open and a fire extinguisher handy.

It sounds like you need to start tracing and checking all of the connections to determine what is getting power and what isn't. This is a fairly simple situation in terms of concept, however it can be frustrating at times figuring it out. There are a lot of work arounds to get power to where it needs to be but you need to start with the basics. Make sure that your distributor cap is wired correctly; understand the direction the rotor turns when it cranks over and then wire it accordingly (seems simple but I am quite sure many on here have wired a cap backwards at least once, I know I have). Also, check any/all ballast resistors in the system, when they blow they can make a "pop" and produce some smoke (other times they just stop working). Check the coil to ensure it is working; swap it out if unsure. Check all of your fuses to include the fusable link.

Generally, you need to be methodical about this and do not just look for the obvious, run each system down one at a time. Plugs and plug wires are usually not the problem for not starting (running rough for sure, but not starting).

Stay with it, trace everything, test your wires and eventually you will find it.

Thanks for the detail. The hood was down because at this point, the motor had been running for almost 2hrs on and off without an issue. All I was doing was shortening the + and - off the msd box as they were way too long. In addition, I put the spark plug wires into looms and added heat boots. I then routed all the wiring into split sleeves to clean up the engine bay.

Thinking about it more, the only other wire I touched was the white wire coming off the msd box that isn't used. I shortened it and heat shrunk the end. I'm wondering if this potentially grounded somehow causing the short.

Confirmed the plug wires are in the correct order and rotatiion at the distributor, distributor to plug is correct. There is no ballast resistor in my system. I'm going to fully test the box and coil tonight. I know atleast the wiring between the battery and the msd box is correct, including all fusible links in tact.

Coil is new but doesn't mean it didn't go. When a coil goes, what happens? Does it smoke, pop etc?

[70chall440]

Got it (ref the hood down).

It is possible that the MSD wire you shortened shorted out, however if you heat shrunk over the end it seems unlikely.

good to go on the wires and wiring

I cannot say I have ever seen or heard a coil "pop" when going out, but I would also say it is possible.

So is the car running now? After reading back through your thread, it isn't apparent (or I missed it) whether it is or not. That said and after reading through the thread, is your battery under the hood? This really sounds like a battery terminal making contact which will do and sound exactly as you describe.

[dave73chally]

Got it (ref the hood down).

It is possible that the MSD wire you shortened shorted out, however if you heat shrunk over the end it seems unlikely.

good to go on the wires and wiring

I cannot say I have ever seen or heard a coil "pop" when going out, but I would also say it is possible.

So is the car running now? After reading back through your thread, it isn't apparent (or I missed it) whether it is or not. That said and after reading through the thread, is your battery under the hood? This really sounds like a battery terminal making contact which will do and sound exactly as you describe.

Car was running, is not currently due to this issue. Battery is in the trunk, wired through a ford solenoid. I tested everything in the trunk and all seems to be in working order. The msd positive is run to the trunk and always hot, has a fusible link. The wire shows voltage before and after the fusible link so it is intact. The msd ground runs from the box straight to the battery terminal.

Would a coil smoke if it blew?

I'm going to pull some of the wiring sleeves apart and see if the white wire exposed when I bundled everything. Other than that, I'm going to test the coil and box and go from there.

[dave73chally]

Update: it was the msd white wire grounding out. Heat shrink must of came off when I was tying everything together. Car starts now no problem and nothing in the ignition system fried. My passenger lower then signal is out though, bulb won't light at all. That must've been would blew. I'll take it for now 

[brads70]

Glad you found it. Hidden toggle switch= security feature?

[dave73chally]

Glad you found it. Hidden toggle switch= security feature?

Yea that's what I'm going to do now rather than just taping it off. It's used as the trigger wire if using points. When using magnetic pickup it does nothing. I'm going to wire it to a toggle and hide it somewhere for quick kill of the box. It'll crank but won't fire when the switch is open.

[70chall440]

Excellent, glad you figured it out.

[dave73chally]

Update on the air cleaner. The 3" element did not clear my hood, no way no how. I found a washable 2" element and everything clears now. Looks much better and yes I'll be rotating it so the black filter fold is towards the back  It's a slightly different shade of red from the msd box, distributor and spark boots so it kind of drives me nuts but I'll get over it



I need to clean this thing, it's filthyyyy

[70chall440]

Looks sinister.

Might want to put an overflow hose on the radiator... 

[brads70]

Looks good, that gap between the rad and shroud won't make the shroud very effective?

[70chall440]

Looks good, that gap between the rad and shroud won't make the shroud very effective?

 

[Mopar Mitch]

Dave -- hood clearance?... will you eventually get yourself a T/A hood?   Car looks great!