Things I Don't Know (or maybe don't remember) Again

[Yardpilot]

351C 4v Pull off the rotor and the hollow in the distributor shaft under it appears packed with felt. Does it get oiled? I seem to recall an old Chevy truck that had something like that.

[squirrel]

Yeah, that's for the mechanical advance mechanism to stay lubed. Just a drop or two of oil should do it.

[JeffMcKC]

Make sure its not frozen up already

[Beagle]

^^

Light machine oil like sewing machine oil or 3-1?

[Yardpilot]

I gave it one if the old-school high-tech tests. I stuck my finger in it. It came out (thank goodness!) oily. I have to pick up a vacuum tester of some sort to test the advance, but if I twist the rotor a bit, it moves enough to show everything is free. Still hung up on the "which port to use" for vacuum thing. Two tubes to the advance. One comes off the ported side one the unported side of the carb. Does it really make a difference? Can I just tee one port to both? Which one? I also have a manifold port free that could be used.

[squirrel]

try the ported one, see how it runs.

for a vacuum tester....just use a piece of vacuum hose, put it on the advance unit, suck on the end, if you keep sucking in air it's bad. If it holds vacuum it's good. Or move the advance unit by hand, put your finger over the hose fitting, see if it stays or springs back.

[JeffMcKC]

Man you want to start a WAR on Dist advance talk huh? It never ends well.

I will stick my neck out, I like to use a late model single hose ( There is a allen wrench in the hole to adjust the spring tension) and off ported vacuum, when I set one up. I prefer locked out timing best. You can also leave the other stuff on for show and have it not work when locked out. The use of the car and what your doing may help with the set up also.

[squirrel]

there are lots of ways to do it....do whatever works.

if you put a lot of miles on it and you want to help your mileage a little, vac advance is a good way to go. also might help keep engine temps down a little. It can affect idle drivability too.

Experimentation is the name of the game here...

[DanStokes]

Gentle with the oil! Especially if you still have points. The oil can get splashed on the points and burn 'em up pretty well. The old GM unitized point sets came with a little capsule of grease that was to be sparingly applied to the plastic wiper that rode on the distributor cam and I changed many a set that were either over lubed or lubed in the wrong place.

Dan

[Deaf Bob]

Helped a guy change points many moons ago.. (seasons?)
Had the car running.. Job well done..
He asks," What's this for?". Meaning the little "pill" of grease...
Me, "Oh that's to lube the points"...
As I'm leaving a couple beers later.. He runs to me frantically waving his arms. (remember yelling "Bob" does me no good)
He says, " car don't run no more"
Me, " why?"
He, " I lubed the points like you said"
I take the cap off... A glob of grease greets me on the points contact area, not the rubbing block...

[Yardpilot]

Shoot. Fiddling today 'cause I had a bit of time between hauling wood, splitting and stacking it for the winter. Something isn't right with the little beastie. Battery in place. Turn key. No engine bump. Two red lights on dash. No other lights front or back. Juice to solenoid. Nothing out. Swap tomorrow. Considering ripping out all wiring and starting anew. There really isn't that much, it would appear. Pulled dipstick. Oil is exactly full and looks like it was just poured in. In fact, it is thirty years old. Throttle linkage stuck tight. Choke, too. A rebuild is in order. Further delayed on projects by being the "First National Bank of Dad." So it goes.

[squirrel]

make sure it's getting power to the S terminal on the solenoid, when you turn the key. Is there a neutral safety switch? or clutch switch?

[DanStokes]

On a Ford you can jump past the solenoid by taking the heavy wire that runs to the starter and touching it to the heavy wire that runs from the battery (the other side of the solenoid). Diagnose from there. First you might try jumping from the small terminal (I always forget which one but you can try them both) to the heavy wire from the battery to the solenoid. This bypasses the neutral safety, etc. and will tell you if the starter works. If so, forget my first suggestion and go looking for Jim's suggestions (neutral safety switch, etc.).

Dan

[Yardpilot]

Durn it. Screwed up. That was about the 64 e100. Four on the column, no safety switches to deal with. More on that later. On the 73 351c 4v C6, I changed the points, rotor, condenser and cap. Set points and went to town. She seemed to be running fine. Coming back up the hill, about 3,000 feet in ten miles or so, the power was WAY down. Check the timing? Could it be that far off because the old points were worn down so much?

[squirrel]

are you running a gas can, or the gas tank? if it has bad gas in the tank, and you're trying to use that, it will screw up the valves (the bad gas varnish makes the stems stick in the guides). Hopefully you're using a gas can. Could be an ignition issue, or something else...lots of things can go wrong