Author Topic: New Distributor / Coil/ ignition wires car won't fire - Help  (Read 1657 times)

Offline 74 challenge

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So the back story is I changed my distributor to a Summit racing mopar replacement part. I also changed the ignition coil to a new Accel Super Stock coil (i was previously running this coil but the previous owner sheared off both screws so I got a new one) I did notice the snout is a bit longer on this coil though and this might matter...

So i get to the car i put a small amount of gas into the carb after checking all the wires are in the right order. Turned the ingition, I shot some fuel and smoke out of the carb so I retarded the timing and got nothing. I put a small amount of gas in again and got a backfire in the exhaust so again I adjusted the timing in between those two spots and I get nothing. Flooding of the engine is not an issue.

My coil while all of this is going on is heating up, not alot but heating up. If the coil is not discharging would that cause it to heat up? Meaning my issue is that I do not have a good connection between my coil and the coil wire? It seems to want to back off the snout and i can't seem to guarantee that there is a good connection there.

Some other things that I did that might matter:

1. Engine was at TDC (or very close) when the distributor was put it
2. I marked up where the vaccum canister was on the intake with the old distributor in and matched that up when i put this distributor in
3. Rotor was on top of Cly.1 when the distributor was put into the motor.
4. Brand new champion spark plugs i bought off a suggestion of another topic on this forum
5. Brand new taylor wires
6. Dielectric grease was used between all connections

Ideas? am i correct?

This is my first distributor swap and my first time really having to deal with timing. I do have a timing light.
1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2




Offline Bullitt-

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Re: New Distributor / Coil/ ignition wires car won't fire - Help
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2013 - 12:26:43 PM »
Did you check to see the #1 cylinder was on it's compression stroke? If not you may be 180-degrees off.  DAMHIK  :pullinghair:
Wade  73 Rallye 340..'77 Millennium Falcon...13 R/T Classic   Huntsville, AL
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Offline 74 challenge

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Re: New Distributor / Coil/ ignition wires car won't fire - Help
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2013 - 12:46:44 PM »
Did you check to see the #1 cylinder was on it's compression stroke? If not you may be 180-degrees off.  DAMHIK  :pullinghair:

I made sure last year that the timing was at TDC meaning when the strobe light went off it was at 0 degrees.

When I put the engine to TDC to do the distributor swap i made sure the 0 on the damper was inline with the 0 on the block. Could it still be 180 degrees off?
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Offline Bullitt-

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Re: New Distributor / Coil/ ignition wires car won't fire - Help
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2013 - 12:53:03 PM »
Yep the crank turns twice to top dead center and the timing mark is at the same place.  one is compression stroke where the spark should fire, the other is the exhaust stroke where the valve is open.
Wade  73 Rallye 340..'77 Millennium Falcon...13 R/T Classic   Huntsville, AL
Screwed by Photobucket!

Offline 74 challenge

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Re: New Distributor / Coil/ ignition wires car won't fire - Help
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2013 - 01:32:45 PM »
Yep the crank turns twice to top dead center and the timing mark is at the same place.  one is compression stroke where the spark should fire, the other is the exhaust stroke where the valve is open.

you know what? I have been working on cars for 10+ years and I just learnt today that the crank goes around twice for every one rotation of the distributor.

To fix this since I want the distributor to be in the correct spot (it is right now) How do i fix this? I don;t really want to take the valve covers off again.

What a rookie mistake haha.
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Offline Bullitt-

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Re: New Distributor / Coil/ ignition wires car won't fire - Help
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2013 - 01:52:43 PM »
Well on a Mopar it's very simple, remove the distributor & turn the rotor button 180-degrees & stick it back in.  The drive is like a flat blade screwdriver.
     Don't assume this is the problem. Get it to the top of a compression stroke & see where the rotor button is pointing. 
Wade  73 Rallye 340..'77 Millennium Falcon...13 R/T Classic   Huntsville, AL
Screwed by Photobucket!

Offline 74 challenge

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Re: New Distributor / Coil/ ignition wires car won't fire - Help
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2013 - 02:10:13 PM »
Well on a Mopar it's very simple, remove the distributor & turn the rotor button 180-degrees & stick it back in.  The drive is like a flat blade screwdriver.
     Don't assume this is the problem. Get it to the top of a compression stroke & see where the rotor button is pointing.

This makes sense though I swapped back to the old coil wire and getting power is not a problem anymore. And the difference between shooting a flame out the exhaust and shooting the flame out the carb is about a 3 mm turn on the distributor difference. Clearly i am on the wrong stroke. If i were on a compression stroke i would be able to get the engine running it seems. All the how too videos seems to make it look like you can turn the distributor several degrees with the engine running. I think this is absolutely my issue.

I was so excited to get my car running and take it to a local car show.
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Offline Bullitt-

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Re: New Distributor / Coil/ ignition wires car won't fire - Help
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2013 - 02:33:11 PM »
Sounds like the problem, the backfire tells you that there is spark, fuel & air.    You know how to set your timing to 36-degrees total for best performance?

forwarding you a message with a redneck how to. 
Wade  73 Rallye 340..'77 Millennium Falcon...13 R/T Classic   Huntsville, AL
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Offline 74 challenge

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Re: New Distributor / Coil/ ignition wires car won't fire - Help
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2013 - 03:13:11 PM »
Sounds like the problem, the backfire tells you that there is spark, fuel & air.    You know how to set your timing to 36-degrees total for best performance?

forwarding you a message with a redneck how to.

Sweet thanks I really have no idea, I was going to set initial advance and kinda look the other way about total advance.

I decided to have a beer and give it another go tomorrow.
1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2