Hi Jerry,
My Atomic 4 is vintage 1969 and I doubt that the distributor has been rotated in twenty years (if ever) which is probably why it is stuck. Checking timing using a timing light does yields the correct specified advance (17-18 degrees) although I realize that their may be some subtle difference at full power. I checked the advance weights and they are not frozen and seem to be operating normally. What bothers me the most is the apparent super rich condition at WOT (fuel puddling in carb throat).
As usual, access to the distributor to force it to rotate is not available. I thought maybe someone has had to deal with this problem and may have a magic bullet.
I just realized that I did not report on the "engine stalling problem" in my original post (also neglected to mention it in the post yesterday). This was the solution (maybe a dual solution):
1. The coil that was installed on the engine was one that required an external ballast and it was drawing a lot of current because their was NO external ballast in the system. I purchased a NAPA coil, as recommecnd in this forum, which did NOT required external ballast. As a result primary current levels went way down and so probably I have a much cooler running coil.
2. At the same time as replacing the coil, (1 above), I also cleaned all the contacts in the primary circuit.
After doing the two steps above I have not had ANY engine shutdown problems with about 15 hours on the engine, HORRAY!
Bruce
My Atomic 4 is vintage 1969 and I doubt that the distributor has been rotated in twenty years (if ever) which is probably why it is stuck. Checking timing using a timing light does yields the correct specified advance (17-18 degrees) although I realize that their may be some subtle difference at full power. I checked the advance weights and they are not frozen and seem to be operating normally. What bothers me the most is the apparent super rich condition at WOT (fuel puddling in carb throat).
As usual, access to the distributor to force it to rotate is not available. I thought maybe someone has had to deal with this problem and may have a magic bullet.
I just realized that I did not report on the "engine stalling problem" in my original post (also neglected to mention it in the post yesterday). This was the solution (maybe a dual solution):
1. The coil that was installed on the engine was one that required an external ballast and it was drawing a lot of current because their was NO external ballast in the system. I purchased a NAPA coil, as recommecnd in this forum, which did NOT required external ballast. As a result primary current levels went way down and so probably I have a much cooler running coil.
2. At the same time as replacing the coil, (1 above), I also cleaned all the contacts in the primary circuit.
After doing the two steps above I have not had ANY engine shutdown problems with about 15 hours on the engine, HORRAY!
Bruce
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