No joy to report...

[2ndgen]

My son flew in Saturday night and Sunday morning we tried to fire the new engine in the 69...

Lots of good signs, but in the end no spark...

On the positive side cranking pressure was right where I wanted it, the mini starter works like a champ, the oil system primed without totally smoking my drill, and the distributor dropped in with little effort...

On the not so good side I have one and possible two electrical problems. Oh yeah, and I had to fly out last night so I can't try again until Friday and it is killing me!

This is a total restoration and so everything is suspect (although much is brand new it is still suspect). The wiring harnesses are installed but little is hooked up other than the engine, lower dash and charging system - no upper dash in the car.

The problems: First the engine will not crank over using the key; however a remote starter switch wired to the solenoid works fine. I believe the possibilities here are (in order of likelihood): neutral safety switch, bad connection, broken wire, or bad starter switch. Any others? Tips other than to just trace back with the volt/ohm meter?

Second (and most frustrating) no spark... new distributor, coil, wires, sparkplugs, and pertronix II. With the key in the "run" position there is 12 volts to the positive side of the coil. If I understand the circuit correctly the voltage drop caused by the starter cranking is supposed to be compensated for by the 12 volt feed from the ignition side of the solenoid. When I use my remote starter switch I think the I terminal of the solenoid should be getting 12 volts even though I have a problem in the starter circuit... but I suppose that side of the solenoid could be bad.

Here Is what I am planning on doing... but tips and comments are appreciated!

1) Test to see voltage on I side of solenoid when remote starter activated
2) Measure voltage at positive side of coil while cranking
3) Use a test light on the negative side of the coil while cranking - it should blink
4) Pull the center coil wire from the distributor and see if it sparks to the block while cranking

Could the two problems be related?

Thanks in advance,
-Rory

 

[Midlife]

You're on the right track. Timing can be way off not allowing the engine to catch while cranking.

 

[2ndgen]

Thanks...

While I was checking cranking pressure (all plugs removed) I inserted one plug into the the wire for cylinder 1 and rested it on the block. Normally I set the timing with a timing light this way prior to first start (although cranking speed fluctuates a bit this usually gives a fairly accurate initial timing). I noticed that the timing light would not trigger and verified no spark at the plug... I am fairly confident that there is no spark to the plugs at all - and since I can't trigger the timing light the timing is not really set yet (other than eyeball of where the rotor was pointing).

-Rory

 

[MarkStang]

The things you are planning on doing are the right things to check. I have never used a remote starter. I thought they worked by turning the key on and the rest the remote did. That way the coil gets juice instead of just the starter. Like I said though I am clueless about remotes . I am thinking your issues revolve around the solenoid and remote and that one little thing is the difference between silence and VROOM.

 

[stangg]

This is a total restoration and so everything is suspect (although much is brand new it is still suspect). The wiring harnesses are installed but little is hooked up other than the engine, lower dash and charging system - no upper dash in the car.

I don't know if this applies... but when my buddy was trying to fire up his 428 powered 67 it didn't have power to the coil while cranking... I beleive we ran a jumper wire from the battery to coil to fire it up. Later we installed the guage panel, and I think we also had to connect the pink wire to the guages .... I'm not really sure as this was a while ago.

 

[RyanG85]

I don't know if this applies... but when my buddy was trying to fire up his 428 powered 67 it didn't have power to the coil while cranking... I beleive we ran a jumper wire from the battery to coil to fire it up. Later we installed the guage panel, and I think we also had to connect the pink wire to the guages .... I'm not really sure as this was a while ago.

I've read similar to want Stangg said. Does the car have a tack dash? Just from what I've read, if its a tach car, an open in the tach circuit would result in no spark.... So if the cluster is out there could be a possibility to check out there...

 

[2ndgen]

Well according to the Ford 999 report the car did not originally have a tach dash, and the instrument cluster in the car when I got it did not have a tach. That said, I have learned the hard way not to underestimate the amount of changes these cars were subjected to over 40 years of ownership.

According to my wiring diagrams it looks like the ignition wire does go through the instrument cluster if it is a tach dash - and I suppose it is possible that the main wiring harness could be non-original. One more thing to check!

I have heard of the trick of wiring the positive side of the coil directly to the battery to bypass the ignition circuit completely... depending on how my troubleshooting goes next Friday I may have to resort to that. I am dying to hear how this engine sounds! Having never built a stroker before the cam looks aggressive; that is why I was happy to see the cranking pressure I observed. I know duration is all relative when dealing with large displacement - however I am walking a fine line hoping for an aggressive idle without being totally overcammed.

-Rory

 

[gwstang]

That's a real bummer when you have all this great expectation built up and pshhhttt...all the air just runs out of your balloon.... Good luck with getting it fired up. It's always the simple things that cause the problems.