Hey Rod;   What is really great about your find is that you admited it, and did not try to bland someone else, we all appreciate your honesty and williness to accept help.   Keep-on keepin'on!!   You are doing Great!!   God Bless     Eddie

Eddie

Lake Forest, Ca. 92630

Rod:

Welcome to the world of trouble shooting.  Spend days, weeks, months, years trying to find the problem, and when you find it it only takes a few minutes to fix it.  Glad you got it running well.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Well figured it out... A stupid 2 cent washer is all it took.  Apparently when I took the distributor apart last week the paper insulator mush have fallen apart so when I put everything back together I did not see it, so when I tightened everything down, I grounded the condenser wire to the connecting wire to the coil...  Found a hard plastic washer just the right size, put it on and OLD IRON fired right up.  Never seemed to run better.

Actually was able to take it to my first car show at a local Baptist church (man they throw good car shows) and was the only bird there (other than a 62) with over 450 cars in attendance.

After cleaning up the points plate and adjusting it slightly so it did not seed in the ruts, it did not seem to be a problem.  I think I will still pull the dist. over the winter and have ti redone just so it is finished.

Thank you all very much for pointing me int he right direction.  I really appreciate you each taking time to write.

Rod

1957 Thunderbird

312

The AZ one does not have the 2" mechanical tach.  Wonder why they did not indicate that on the spec sheet... Me bad!

So I have the wire that connects to the coil from the distributor does touch the inside of the distributor.  I will put some sort of rubber spacer in there to keep the condenser wire from touching.

Thank you for your help.  Will try it again...

1957 Thunderbird

312

The small wire from the coil to the distrubutor, and ultimately to the points, may be grounded.  When checking the voltage out of the resistor, turn the engine slowly, and when the points open you should read 11+ volts, when they close, 5+ volts.  If the voltage stays at 5+, either the wire is grounded or the points don't open.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

If it's for the T-bird, Autozone won't have the correct one. Will the lack of a tach drive make it 2" shorter?


Lawrenceville, GA

You may have the wrong distibutor. I've seen a number of the Autozone units and they work pretty good. What numbers are on the side of your distributor housing? 

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Well failure of the distributor. LOUSY AUTOZONE. Why say it will fit when it won't. 2" too short.



I put everything back together and could not get it to start. I checked and have 11.93 volts going to the coil resistor and 5.3v coming out of the resistor to the coil. I pulled the wire from the coil to the dist and turned the motor over. No spark.



Thoughts?

1957 Thunderbird

312

I agree, it should not have any movement.  Both screws were tight on the points, the cam lobes are solid and not worn.  The plate itself was tight.

I did pull the plate, cleaned it up and found points where the inside cover would hit "divots" where it would catch.  Perhaps this is what could be causing the problem.  I just am not sure.

We will see after cleaning it up, if I need to replace the whole thing.  We will know tonight.

1957 Thunderbird

312

If all of the screws are tight it should not move. Is the points cam moving around??


Lawrenceville, GA