Here's my 1970 country squire. 429-2v 10 passenger wagon. Shes been asleep for 10 years. First things first is to get the engine started. It spins freely with the starter, but no spark and won't fire on steering fluid. I will update soon. Also, if anyone has suggestions about bringing new life to this vinyl interior, please share. I've already popped a seam and really would like to not do that again.
The vinyl may be a losing battle. You might want to start finding replacement seat outer skins and invest in a pair of hog ring pliers. As for the engine problem, it's points, and they can be a headache. Start with a new points and condenser set, I and others can walk you through installing and setting them, setting dwell (that takes an automotive meter/analyzer), then checking/ setting timing. You can also see if you're actually getting spark by plugging an old spark plug, with the side electrode removed, in to the coil wire, setting it on a bare metal spot to ground it, then cra k the e gi e to see if it's actually generating spark. Have you pulled the cap, verified the dizzy rotor is turning? A broken ti.ing chain or stripped dizzy gear will prevent the engi e from doing anything.
Hey Andrew, Thanks for the reply, although I sure wish you had better news about the seats. As for the engine, I put a new condenser, rotor, and a new coil to cap wire. The rotor is spinning. I polished up and reset the old points to spec, but nothing yet. I have new plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and points already. I haven't had a second set of hands to crank the engine while I check for spark and make sure I have full 12v to the coil during cranking. I have verified that i'm getting 11.5v to the coil key on, not cranking or running. As for an analyzer, i have access to a nice sun machine. that should be able to tell me everything I need to know. As with most things, the real battle is finding time to work on it.
That's funny--I have all the time in the world, but I'm not there. 11.5V KOEO is within spec, and should not drop more than two volts during cranking. Do you have a 12 volt test light? Put it on the coil negative, and the ground post on the battery, then turn the key on. It should light up; if it doesn't, the coil primary is bad. Now, with the probe still touching the coil negative (you'll have to figure a way for the test light to stay propped up as you crank the engine), go ahead and crank it. If the points are at least opening enough to break the circuit, the test light will flash. But, if they're set wrong or shorted, the circuit won't break, therefore no spark. I've got my Motor manual on my desk, I'll look up the coil resistance specs so you can check to see if you might have an open winding.
No 12v test light. I do have a meter though. I've also had 5 days of rain. So, no real progress yet. I did wash, clay bar, then was one area of the hood. It came out pretty good! Can't wait to get the whole car done.
You don't need the 2nd set of hands. You just turn the key on and jump the solenoid under the hood. They make a button setup to do this or you can just use a screwdriver. Also, if you hook a timing light up and crank the engine, it will flash if it's sparking. You can also set the timing this way without the engine running. Bring #1 cyl around to TDC on the firing stroke. Manually line up the timing marks at the designated setting. Loosen the distributor and move it until the timing light just flashes. Tighten the distributor down.
Update, I have checked distributor timing. New plugs, wires, cap, rotor, condenser. Checked a known good coil. 12v at both small terminals on the coil. Still no spark. I'm going to replace the points tomorrow or tuesday.
Sounds like your making progress. Keep us posted on what you come up with. I'm looking forward to hearing more about you getting this one back on the road.
Update: IT STARTED! Even though I had cleaned and reset the stock points, they weren't making and breaking. New points and it fires right up. On starting fluid that is..
Now that I've heard it start, it's time to make it roll. The car has keystones on it. They looked like they were all the same wheels, but as I took them off to get new tires (current tires are dated 1954!) I noticed they are actually different. 2 have wheel spacers to clear the brakes! Plus, these weird alignment lugs. I haven't seen these before.
My wagon has the same type of elongated hole. It's for two different size bolt patterns. If all is in good shape they are good to go. You say you want to stay original and not install electronic ignition? Is this your first old car? It's already not original with those rims and it was only original when it came out of the factory. You don't even get docked points, at a concourse judging event, for electronic ignition. Think oaf electronic as the easy button, the ronco set it and forget it button. There are so many things that go wrong with and old car why add to it with points? But to each there own so I'm done LOL
I will more than likely change the wheels out. And I'm going to keep the points. Thank you for input though.
Pertronix makes an electronic ignition that sits under the stock distributor cap so nobody has to know, but to each his own.