If this is a powered timing light, the timing light power leads can be hooked up to a 12 volt battery and the spark plug lead to the #1 spark plug. This will not harm the electrical system of the 6 volt car. Hooking the power leads of a 12 volt timing light to the 6 volt battery will not work. My dad purchased a 1954 Buick in 1955 that had a 12 volt system. Only GM cars had the 12 volt systems at that time. His mechanic would time the ignition, but would connect the power leads of the timing light to a 6 volt battery as his timing light was set up for the common 6 volt electrical systems.
My boss had a 51 Jeepster Wagon that we used to make small deliveries that didn’t need th F-600 box truck.
We were going 50 m[h when the f-head 4 cylinder died. We coasted into a rural gas station ( remember when that term meant they worked on cars).
The engine started easily but any attempt to rev the engine made it stall.
Several hours of head scratching later, we discovered that a bakelite insulator around the inside of the distributor had a semi-circular piece had broken off the bottom and the advance weights were shorting out against the case.
Thanks again guys, I agree it is time to pull the distributor, and I appreciate the suggestions about getting it back in correctly. I have an early 70s vintage timing light, and it is in the outbuilding but I’m pretty sure it is 6V/12V. At any rate, it has flashed with this vehicle before, athough the engine was running. I like oldtimer11’s last comment about the bakelite insulator. I was also thinking it might be something along those lines. I’ll get back to it tomorrow!
I pulled the distributor and everything looked good. There is a tang, which is offset, so it can’t be put in wrong. I don’t know why the rotor is 1 position off from that shown in the manual, maybe the timing marks on the gears are off. Everything looked good with the weights and insulation in the distributor. I cleaned up all the grounding connections. The car starts and runs roughly for about 10 seconds then dies, and still does worse on subsequent starts. I’ll get my wife to push the starter (foot operated) on the weekend and manipulate the choke while I aim the timing light (it is a Sears ‘6 and 12 volt’!) at the mark. I also opened the points gap (dwell) a bit, they were at about .012" instead of the specified .020".
Maybe the rotor is not on correctly. As stated previously point gap and timing go hand in hand. I wuld not leap to the conclusion the timing marks are off, I would rather leap to the conclusion the timing chain has skipped a link.Dwell is measured in an angle, points are measured in a gap, I wonder about your understanding of a dwell meter. Point gap can be set correctly but not function correctly due to pitting and improperly aligned surfaces etc., that is why a dwell meter that measures dwell angle is better.
Grab the top of the carburetor and attempt to wiggle it…
It is finally fixed! Someone suggested an old-time mechanic, he figured it out. The rotor didn’t fit right in the distributor cap. The metal conductor was too short. Maybe it started initially when cold then stalled when hot because the cap expanded a little. Anyway, he did a few other things and it starts better than ever before. Just in time for a Jeepster club meet, but I missed two Macungie car shows. I also wasted a lot of money!
Glad all is well, thanks for the followup. Man if we could have saved the wasted money and time oh well.
I’m glad I skipped to page 5. At least you got a new fuel pump, carb cleaned good, and learned a lot. When I was a kid I changed points on my VW bug and it wouldn’t start. Couldn’t figure it out. In desperation called a mechanic friend of my dads who came over to the house and looked at it. I had an insulated washer installed in the wrong sequence on the wire for the points.