JeremyMorris
New User
I hope the community here can help me solve a problem which has stumped me.
A month ago I bought a 1952 8N with a side mount distributor. It was running when I initially looked at it but it was running rough. We did some on-site adjustments of the distributor cap and fixed it just before it ran out of gas.
I haven't been able to get it to start since then.
The original owner had tried a partial 12V conversion. He had a 12 V battery and resistor. Nothing else was changed. The coil was still 6V and it has the generator and not alternator. I removed the resistor, corrected the wiring, and replaced the battery with a 6V. All connections were cleaned to be tight and bright. I replaced the spark plugs with new Autolight 437s and gapped them at 0.025. The condensor and points have been replaced. The points have been gapped at 0.025 and cleaned using Dell's dollar bill trick. The rotor has been replaced twice. We realized yesterday the cap was not the correct design so it was replaced with a new one. Voltage has been verified through the coil and we have excellent spark for all plugs. I tested using Dell's spark test.
We rotated the flywheel to the 4 degree mark and adjusted the distributor as necessary. The contact points were turned to just barely opening and then rotated back clockwise a few degrees. The plug wires were aligned with the position of the rotor. The plug wires are in the correct order - 1,2,4,3. We opened up the valve covers to verify the valves were both in the closed position at 4 degrees. We haven't done an official compression test but everything seems good when checking with our fingers.
We can't get it to start. All it does is backfire occasionally out the tailpipe. We tried jump starting it and still couldn't get it to fire up. We've added starting fluid directly into all four cylinders and it still won't fire. Just quickly backfires out of the tailpipe. At one point while doing the jump start it was back firing out of the carburetor. We have rotated the distributor shaft a few times to try and correct the timing.
The carburetor is relatively new. We pulled it and did a quick look. It looks relatively clean.
We're completely lost on what is going on, especially since we witnessed it running before paying for it.
Any thoughts?
Just to let you know, I'm a chemist and not a mechanic. I can tell you all about the chemistry of gasoline but I know virtually nothing about engines, ignitions, and timing other than what I have picked up over the past month. So, please don't assume I know even the most basic things. Thank you in advance.
Jeremy
A month ago I bought a 1952 8N with a side mount distributor. It was running when I initially looked at it but it was running rough. We did some on-site adjustments of the distributor cap and fixed it just before it ran out of gas.
I haven't been able to get it to start since then.
The original owner had tried a partial 12V conversion. He had a 12 V battery and resistor. Nothing else was changed. The coil was still 6V and it has the generator and not alternator. I removed the resistor, corrected the wiring, and replaced the battery with a 6V. All connections were cleaned to be tight and bright. I replaced the spark plugs with new Autolight 437s and gapped them at 0.025. The condensor and points have been replaced. The points have been gapped at 0.025 and cleaned using Dell's dollar bill trick. The rotor has been replaced twice. We realized yesterday the cap was not the correct design so it was replaced with a new one. Voltage has been verified through the coil and we have excellent spark for all plugs. I tested using Dell's spark test.
We rotated the flywheel to the 4 degree mark and adjusted the distributor as necessary. The contact points were turned to just barely opening and then rotated back clockwise a few degrees. The plug wires were aligned with the position of the rotor. The plug wires are in the correct order - 1,2,4,3. We opened up the valve covers to verify the valves were both in the closed position at 4 degrees. We haven't done an official compression test but everything seems good when checking with our fingers.
We can't get it to start. All it does is backfire occasionally out the tailpipe. We tried jump starting it and still couldn't get it to fire up. We've added starting fluid directly into all four cylinders and it still won't fire. Just quickly backfires out of the tailpipe. At one point while doing the jump start it was back firing out of the carburetor. We have rotated the distributor shaft a few times to try and correct the timing.
The carburetor is relatively new. We pulled it and did a quick look. It looks relatively clean.
We're completely lost on what is going on, especially since we witnessed it running before paying for it.
Any thoughts?
Just to let you know, I'm a chemist and not a mechanic. I can tell you all about the chemistry of gasoline but I know virtually nothing about engines, ignitions, and timing other than what I have picked up over the past month. So, please don't assume I know even the most basic things. Thank you in advance.
Jeremy