1959 Ford 881 SOS

I have a 881 SOS that my father bought new and switched over to 12 volt many years ago with no problems. It has been sitting in doors for years not running. I got it running last year no problem!!! This year I keep having to replace the points on a regular basis! Today I replace both the points and coil and have no spark!!!! I have power to the coil but nothing after that. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks

Ignition contact points are not what they once were.

Buy a quality set of points, e.g., Standard Ignition Blue Streak, Echlin premium or Sorensen premium.

Never use a point file.

Dean

59 fords have a voltage dropping ignition wire (pink I think) that reduces the original voltage to about 4 or so when running the engine. The starter relay has a bypass circuit that feeds the coil battery voltage when cranking to allow good starting. If this resistor wire has been replaced with real copper wire, the coil will receive full 12 volts. If not, the coil will still look like it has 12 volts to it until the points close. At that time the load on the (pink)wire increases and the real voltage to the coil might be less than needed.

With that info in mind, do the following:
Disconnect the wire from the small terminal going to the distributor.
Turn on the key and measure voltage on both sides of the coil. (should be 12+ volts both places, if the coil is bad, there might be no voltage on the disconnected side). with a jumper, ground the terminal on the coil that is not connected (from step 1). (no more than one minute)
Now read the voltages on both sides of the coil.
If there is 12v+ on the Key side, and nothing on the grounded side all is Kinda good. If there is less than 12v on the key side (more like 6 or 7) there is a resistor in that wire as alluded to above. If the coil now on the truck is a 12volt for use with a external resistor, all might still be OK. Disconnect the ground wire from the coil as used above. and shut off the key.
If the coil is marked 12v no resistor required, the coil is incorrect (assuming you found less than 12v in the previous step). That coil needs no resistor, and the Pink wire is a resistor.
No resistor and a coil that needs one will burn points very quickly.
Next use a test light hooked from the battery non grounded post, to the wire disconnected from the coil. The light will probably light up. It should if the points are closed.
Remove the cap and use a plastic knife handle (because it is an insulator) to open the points just a little. The light should now go out. If it does not, the connection inside the distributor to the points is shorted to ground, or the point that moves id accidentally grounded.
If you now crank the engine with the coil main high voltage wire grounded, the light should flash as the points open and close. If not check the point setting again, it must be set with the rubbing block at the high point of the distributor cam. If the light does flash, the points are working. Reconnect the wire to the dist. from the coil, reconnect the high voltage wire to the cap, put the rotor and cap back on, and try it. These are the steps I would take to analyze the issue. Let us know. Jim

6 volt coil and ballast resister or a 12 volt coil?? Do you get a spark when you open the points by hand?? No spark at point if you open them by hand then you have dirty points some come coated and need cleaned or you have a short which is common when installing new point

Remove the points and clean them on your motor driven wire brush to get the film off so they will spark again.

I'm sitting here trying to figure out why 2 posters would tell you to clean the points.

If you can read power to the coil (way it should be) and can not read power past the coil (way it should be if points are closed; clean; and working properly) then I do not see any thing wrong.

Now if you come back and tell me the points are open and you can not read power past the coil then I would suggest you check the wire that runs from the coil to the points. It is most likely grounding out where it passes threw the distributor housing.

So before you go to grinding on a new set of points tell us......
Are the points open or closed when you are doing your power test?

We can address replacing points on regular basis once we get it running.

Could be there is a problem with the distributor bushings. If the point gap is varying while it's running the points can burn or arc, causing short life.

Have you considered converting to electronic?

Now days many new points have a protective coating on them so they do not corrode sitting on a shelve and that need to be removed or they will not work

OK but lets look at what he said.....

If the points are closed "can" we agree that the so called protective coating is not hampering anything because he is reading no power past the coil?

If the points are open "can" we agree that the points are out of the picture and he is shorting to ground somewhere else because he is reading no power past the coil?

So if we "can" agree on both the above points tell me how cleaning the points; protective cover or not; is going to do anything.