I have rebuilt my distributors and tested them on the machine, all was good. On the car, there appears to be an intermittent loss of ground on the whole bank. The car's missing coincides with the strobe light skipping beats. I have a decent jumper grounding the distributor, but still. Is the distributor grounded via the three hold downs? Any ideas what's going on? Thanks.
john
Ignition Grounding
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- Posts: 1906
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- Location: San Francisco Area
Ignition Grounding
PF Coupe
Re: Ignition Grounding
John: The three studs on the distributor drive are the ground path. Make sure the nuts are tight, otherwise, you have a internal problem in a distributor.
Re: Ignition Grounding
Hi John,
It may not be the ground, but the ignition wires may be grounding out. Check to make sure the spade connector for the points are not too close to the body of the distributor. I've seen these arc to ground instead of through the points. I bend them out a little to make sure there is enough space between the wires and the ground path. Also make sure the plastic insulator is properly centered in the body of the distributor.
Good luck.
Tom
It may not be the ground, but the ignition wires may be grounding out. Check to make sure the spade connector for the points are not too close to the body of the distributor. I've seen these arc to ground instead of through the points. I bend them out a little to make sure there is enough space between the wires and the ground path. Also make sure the plastic insulator is properly centered in the body of the distributor.
Good luck.
Tom
'63 330 America #5053
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- Posts: 1906
- Joined: Wed Sep 04, 2002 12:13 am
- Location: San Francisco Area
Re: Ignition Grounding
Since we're all learning here, I'd like to report on my ignition woes. I thought the distributors weren't grounding well, so I ran hefty jumpers from both distributors to a good ground source. Problem persisted. Then after a while I realized the problem was on one bank. I loosened the distributor cap screws of that bank and jiggled the cap and problem intermittently self corrected. Then I checked the insides of both caps; no evidence of fault. Then I came up with a brilliant idea that only an equally brilliant mind can conjure, I swapped rotors (left to right). The problem went to the other bank. Bingo! Close inspection of the rotor showed a hairline crack.
Tom, thanks for the tip about the points springs grounding. Having gone thru that pain already, I have insulated the springs with nylon cover; covered them with electrical wire shrink tubes.
john
Tom, thanks for the tip about the points springs grounding. Having gone thru that pain already, I have insulated the springs with nylon cover; covered them with electrical wire shrink tubes.
john
PF Coupe