[67mustangconvert]

I'm approaching the three year anniversary of my 67 conv. restoration... and am getting close to the end. Mine was an oringal six cylinder car that I did the complete hub, rearend, brake and engine swap. I had my body shop pull the six, paint the engine compartment and install the 289.

My pony came back to me December of 07. I drove it off the trailer (with straight headers) put in garage, and haven't beem able to run it since. I tried several days after getting it home to start it and pull it out of the garage to admire my new paint, and I had a nice flame shoot out my hood scoop. I wasn't real concerned due to me having so much reassembly to do on the body, but now I'm close to being done... and want to show my pony. The shop said it was probably out of gas, cause I had no guages hooked up, and they didn't put much in. I put more in and now have all guages assembled... and reading.

Saturday, I cleaned to fuel filter, put a new positive cable (other one was melting while trying to start), put a new silynoid on, hooked up my electric choke (shop never hooked it up), pulled my plugs (all were wet except on), and had it really wanting to start, but nothing of consistancy. It was only sputtering.

I rotated my distributer slightly, thinking it may be out of time.. still nothing. I pulled to main plug wire from distriputer slightly and didn't see fire. I then tested both my positive and ground for the coil, and they are testing okay. I was hoping it was the coil, but have tested this and it's in spec.

Any ideas? I have a 289, edelbrock intake, edelbrock 600 (electric choke), with a rebuilt C4.

[Katen]

prime the oil. that will prolly make it start.

[zers]

You check there's no goo in the carb? If it was off for a significant amount of time, the slight amount of gas left in the carb can goo up and make a mess of things. Also seems like one of the main things you haven't checked.

[67mustangconvert]

prime the oil? Are you just meaning in all the plug ports for compression?

I suspected the carb first, but didn't actually take it off, just shot some carb cleaner in it and did a physical inspection. It's only had fuel in it for a few days when the problem showed up. I'm still humble enough to run through it again though.

I'll again mention, I don't believe it's getting fire...?

[460brevill]

If a flame came out your hood,you do have fire.it sounds like a wet dist.cap or fireing out of time.

[67mustangconvert]

I worked on it again tonight, and one last time... I don't believe I have fire! I may be tracing down several problems, but should I not have a spark at the main plug if pulled off and rotate the engine???

[tnknepp]

Not to be presumptuous, but make sure you are testing the spark correctly. When you pull a plug or wire to test the spark the plug or wire will only spark to ground (I just lay the plug on bare metal then turn the key to test my, then again I don't have a fancy paint job like you do...yet). The plug will not arc over a very long distance, so make sure it is close enough to ground otherwise you will get a false negative. If you get spark, then sounds like it is probably a carb problem (try spraying starting fluid into the carb). If you get no spark from the plug then trace it back to the coil to make sure you don't just have a bad wire. Also, make sure all of your electrical connections are very clean, especially all of the grounds. Other than that, I think this may be a good place to start.

[67mustangconvert]

Thanks tnknepp, this is what I'm looking for. I knew the plugs had to be grounded, but thought the plug would ark enough to I may very well be testing this wrong. I'll try this and post what I find.

[460brevill]

you can get a spark tester for 5.00 .put it on the wire ,spin it over and if it lights up you have spark,if it dosent you dont have spark.

[BUGMAN]

I am assuming that you put fresh gas in it before trying to start it? It does sound like a timing issue but was it running before you parked it for this period of time?

Priming the oil will not make a car start or not but it will save you a lot of trouble. If you have spun the car over enough times to make the starter cable melt I would bet that your oil is primed just fine.

Do you have a ground wire going from the block somewhere to the frame with good/clean connections? Melting a the starter wire is not a good thing.

[BUGMAN]

Originally Posted by 460brevill you can get a spark tester for 5.00 .put it on the wire ,spin it over and if it lights up you have spark, if it don't you don't have spark.

I think I got my last few @ Big Lots for $2.99 each. Awesome tool for people with little knowledge of auto's and for ones that don't care to pull plugs just to check fire.

[MustangOne]

Keep it simple,

Timing
Fuel
Fire

Witch 1 is missing it needs all 3
Im guessing your missing Fire, Distributor is were id look first.

Good Luck.

[67mustangconvert]

My pony was dieing as I drove into the garage in some cold arss weather, got new gas three days later and it still wouldn't start (which is when the flame came out with backfire). I've been working with it off and on for 4 months now, and now only have my top, exhaust and windshield before I'm ready for the road.

The wire that melted was my main wire going from solenoid to battery... nothing going to starter directly. Changed solenoid and cable and this problem was corrected and no longer generates heat in this cable while trying to start.

I pulled the plugs again last night and tested a few with them grounded... no spark. For $5 bucks, I'll quadruple check for fire.

I believe, I'm dealing with a few problems that are typical after an engine swap, and the problem I have to get solved first is NO FIRE TO DISTRIBUTER!!!

Would a flakey neutral switch allow me to turn over, but never fire?

[tnknepp]

If your neutral switch isn't engaging then the engine shouldn't even turn (at least it doesn't on mine). You said earlier that the coil was good and was giving the correct voltage out the output? If that is true then you should be able to disconnect the cable connecting the coil to the distributor, on the distributor end, and hold it next to the frame while turning the key and get a spark (I said earlier that the plugs need to be grounded in order to spark, I know what I meant to say, but said it incorrectly, the plugs will only spark TO ground, if they are in fact in contact with ground then you should have not spark). If no spark comes off that cable then you may have a bad cable, or may not be getting good contact between the cable and the coil. Otherwise, I'd take the distributor apart or get a new one to test out.

[67mustangconvert]

Bought a plug tester and am going to test for spark again. Am going to rework my groung and hot cable to coil. Then I'm going to order the Pertronix system to eliminate the condensor and points. Hopefully by then, I can at least have a week spark and set timing.

[67mustangconvert]

Pertronix swap did it. Purs like a kitten... a very bad arss kitten!

[69fastback]

Great to hear you got it fixed

[tommyviv]

when your lawn mower wont start whats the first thing u do? open the gas cap right? well pull off the hose at the carb crank the engine and fuel will pump out if its gettin gas (please note any safety precautions are optional)
secondly on that same mower you pull the plug and ground it out, then crank it again. if it sparks then you are good if not you gotta look for the reason. This is knowledge that you should have aquired after your parents took away your plastic keys and before you got real metal keys! Just because it shoots fire outa the carb dont take anything for granted . It could have intermittent spark. Chances are you have dirty or corroded points. Follow a logical procedure in your chiltons manual or what ever book you may have and it will run! good luck