what was the original problem for you to change the starter and the dist was the problem before or after this I use the kiss rule  it works for me stay ,with the basic,s  34 years as a mech.learned the hard way don,t fix it if it aint broke !!!!!   shakey Pete

didnt change the dizzy completely, just changed points to ignitor.  I burnt out the starter trying to get it to run in the first place.  The problem is exactly what I have right now.  It will start once in a blue moon and only for as long as i keep my foot on the gas and it pops (backfires) and runs like crap until i let off the gas and then it dies.  Then it will not start back up.  I am trying to keep it simple, that is why I am just dealing with the dizzy right now.  I just cant figure it out but I think that I will take the dizzy out and make sure it is all set up perfect this weekend and go from there.  Will let you all know what happens.

Thanks a ton

Cbass

1958 F100 292

"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs."

"Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice."

-Henry Ford

cbass:

Just got to thinking about Thunderboy and his problem with the distributor cam.  I'm wondering about the mounting of the ignitor.  Is it possible that the manetic pickup that triggers the spark is doing so when the rotor is NOT pointing to a spark plug wire tower?  That's what was happening with Thunderboy's distributor because the cam was not indexed properly with the rotor.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

John how would I check for this?

1958 F100 292

"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs."

"Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice."

-Henry Ford

From what you are saying about how the engine runs, it is certainly not timed right. If it is popping as you say, that is more likely to be because the engine is too retarded and it will definitely do everything you say. If it is too advanced you will hear that by the way the engine cranks over. If it is real hard to crank over and kicks back on the starter it is probably too far advanced.

Either way it sounds like you did get the tooth wrong when you replaced the distributor.

Regards

Rick - West Australia
Do Y Blocks Downunder run upside down? Gravity Sucks!!

cbass:

I don't know what your ignitor looks like, but it has to have some kind of trigger and a magnetic pickup or a light source and a slotted "wheel" for a light beam.  Either way, turn the engine by hand until the "bump" is adjacent to the middle of the magnetic pickup, or the slot in the wheel is aligned with the light source, and put a mark on the outside of the distributor housing where the rotor is pointing.  Put the cap back on and see if one of the spark plug wire towers is aligned with the mark.  If it isn't, the magnetic pickcup is not positioned correctly on the point plate.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Thunderboy:

The spark has to be in phase with the rotor, whether it is caused by points or an electronic device.  The magnetic pickup has to be in the same position as the rubbing block on the points relative to the point mounting plate.

Did you get your carb back from Casco after testing?   What did they tell you?

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Ignitor trigger did not correspond to point/cam lobe in my case (installed with distributor in car), and engine required re-timing to start/run right. You would think they'd mention that in the instructions.

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Guys used to cut a hole in a sacrificial dizzy "test" cap, so they could see the rotor tip as it passed number 1 plug wire. Then they would hook up a timing light to number one and watch the rotor tip in the dark using the strobe light to isolate what they were watching.

I have watched this done on a GM engine but not done the set-up. Keep your fingers out of the monkey works!!!!

As the engine accelerates through the mechanical advance you can see the position of the rotor tip versus the cap post change. 

Sometimes called "phasing" a distributor cap - racers would move the cap (or trigger) to a more advantageous position. 

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Ok, I double checked all of the timing and the dizzy.  got it TDC on 1 to make sure the dizzy was set correctly, I made sure the plugs were all right and still wont start.  I am thinking that I am not getting spark at all.  Like maybe the coil is bad or something.  Is there a easy way to test this.  I thought that if you remove the wire going from the coil to the dizzy and hold it close to the block and crank it it would spark but I did this and nothing happened.  What can i do from here?

The worst part is that I had all of this on, the dizzy with ignitor, the flamethrower and wires and it did start up but just ran bad and then stalled.  Have not been able to get it running again since.  Let me know what you guys think, I really want to get this girl running again this weekend.

Thanks

1958 F100 292

"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs."

"Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice."

-Henry Ford