I'm thinking I'm inviting Scott over for beers and Steaks when it's fianlly time to crank over my engine once it's together [sm=icon_rock.gif]

I could use some knowledgeable help

 

What all are you having done to your engine, Mark?

 

Hi Mark,
Heck, anything I can tell you can be learned through a book or the internet. Plus to be honest, my knowledge is pretty dated when it comes to muscle cars. I'm just geting back into this after a 20+ year hiatus, and have found there is a lot of new stuff out there. Although the basics are still the same when it comes to trouble shooting.
My favorite is the auto classes taught at the local Jr. College. Toyota sponsors a program through certain Jr. Colleges and I've met some exceptional instructors.
My first Autoshop class in High school started off by teaching us how to properly wash a car. It was a great program! I wish more schools would support a program like that. Most of my classmates went on to college and became proffesionals of some type, but they still know their way through a power brake booster.

So where is La Qunta? I'm just an hour south of Sacramento.

Well that got off topic (sorry).
So Allen have you found a multi-meter yet?

 

Scott, unfortunately the classes that were taught about automotive technology are very rapidly dwindling in our public schools. There seems to be a push for more academic subjects lately. Sad, but true.

 

UPDATE:

I went out to eat with a friend of mine tonight and I couldnt get my car started when I left the olive garden. It just cranked and cranked away like it does sometimes.

I wasnt getting any voltage from the coil. Touched the coil wire to ground and no spark. I messed around to see if It was the plug wires, no luck.

Where the condenser wire connects in the distributor was loose. Needless to say, I tightened it and now it fires well, and I dont seem have the same problem when I floor it.

I'm going to replace the plug wires tomorrow and get new points. Maybe I'll use some contact cleaner on it as well.

Any suggestions on what is going wrong?

 

Congratulations, Great observation!
That would certainly do it. Take a little emery cloth or a points file and lightly clean the points. They probably have a little arcing build up from the loose condensor. New points have a very slight convex head on each tip. As long as they don't have spikes growing on them and the block that rides against the lobe is not worn out, you can just clean and reset them. IIRC should be ~ 0.019"-.020" Then you want to check your timing. A vacuum gauge works well for this if you think your balancer has slipped. Otherwise somewhere between 8 and 12 should work depending on your compression and flavor of gas. BTW a little di-electric grease on the lobe will make your points last a lot longer.

Any reason you are changing plug wires? Again you can check them with a multi-meter. If they are coper-core should be <1 ohm. if they are resistor type should be ~ 25K ohms/foot give or take 2K ohms. When checking the sheild it should be above 2M ohms anywhere you touch the sheilding (really need a mega-meter for that). You can simply wipe the exterior of the plug wires down with a damp cloth. If they are greasy a damp cloth with some dish soap followed by a clean damp cloth. Let sit until completely dry. Fire the car up at night and look along the wires to see if there is any arcing. If there is arcing, invite all your freinds over and charge $ 5.00 a head to watch the show (helps pay for the new wire set). If there is no arcing and the resistance value is good, there is no need to change them...unless you want to match them to your girlfreinds nail polish.

Again Great job Allen. Lack of consistent spark caused by a loose condensor wire goes with all the conditions you stated. Hard starting (due to voltage drop), hesitation (due to lack of coil saturation) and the rich smell you get when it hesitates (no fire in the hole to light off the gas). Things do get loose sometimes. As long as none of the wiring is frayed and the wire tightened down well, I wouldn't get excited.

 

The reason I'm changing them is because I couldnt get continuity through the coil to dist cap wire. cut it apart and ended up ruining it, so I have to get a new one anyway.

 

Replaced the points and it completely fixed it.

Thanks guys.

I never realized how much power this thing had.

 

It's amazing how a tune-up will resolve problems on these old engines. Now, consider the $75 to get a Pertronix to replace the points.

 

I had the pertronix in mind. Maybe later this summer when I have a surplus of cash.