I'll continue here with what I started in the "Intros" sub forum:
So about 4 days ago, I went to change the oil in my 1966 A4. She has about 40 hours since I acquired her and knowing the oil change time to be 50, I figured it would be a good exercise (and who knows when it might have been changed before I bought her). I started the motor to warm up the oil and it puttered out rather quickly. I didn't think much of it given the age of the engine and that this had happened every once in a while before. Usually I just re start and there are no further problems. This time however, in a blinding flash of mechanical inspiration, I decided to go ahead and clean the carb (original Zenith) just in case that aided the issue..... This story could go on for pages so I am going to summarize what I have done until now where the real mystery starts.
-1 I removed and cleaned the carb and reintstalled with a new gasket. I did not make note of the position of the idle jet screw prior to removal so it is installed fairly wide open now, to be adjusted once I get her running. (More on that later)
-2 I installed new sparkplugs. The old ones were really not all that dirty but sparkplugs are cheap and at this point I was having fun.
-3 I opened and cleaned the old brass fuel filter and replaced the fuel line from the tank to it. When re assembling I filled with with fuel and a dash of Seafoam.
At this point I decided to start it up again. Filled with hope and excitement in anticipation of hearing the mighty purr of my now cleaner engine I pressed the start button and... NADA. Starter motor turned over plenty, but she didnt catch.
4- So I cleaned the spark wire ends and rotor in the distributor. I should note that my lack of mechanical knowledge prior to all this was so vast I didnt really know what a "distributor" was...
Still no luck though. A friend with a voltmeter determined that the 12 v across the coil was intermittent and I discovered the negative lead wire was nearly fallen out. New end, replaced, problem solved. 12v loud and clear.
So what now?
I had spark. I had compression. I assumed I had fuel.
That's where I was wrong. Apparently I had closed the idle jet completely during assembly of the carb (I didnt even know what it was). So I opened 'er up and now I had fuel.
I try again. She starts, turns for a few seconds, and dies. This scenario repeats itself a few times.
-5 I find that the ignition points are not spaced right and are dirty and stuck. If I seperate them by hand, they will spark for a bit, then stick again. Hence, the short run time. I head off to NAPA where I'm told there is a boat guru and he showed me how to file and reset the point. (Great guys over at NAPA on Little Creek Rd. Norfolk)
-6 I head back to my trusty vessel filled with new found confidence. As I cram myself into the floor of the cockpit and hunch over the "engine room" (Im 6' 5") I decided that adjusting the points would be a whole lot easier if I just removed the whole distributor.
7- I removed the whole distributor and as soon as I saw the gear coming out, I knew I had made a mistake. This is an excellent example of how little I understood engines... I didnt realize that doing this would mess up the timing. Oh well, now I get to learn how to do that too! Hooray..... I cleaned and set the points (do you know how hard it is to find a matchbook these days???).
-8 I re installed the distributor with the engine at TDC. I never progressed with the timing from there because I found I STILL was getting no spark at the points. Turns out, somehow, I had crossed a wire and fried my coil. So I bought a new coil (this oil change is getting expensive).
9- Here is where the mystery starts folks. I have a brand new 12v coil (internal resistance) installed. It is an exact copy of the old coil and installed exactly the same way. No wires have been changed and all connections are secure and clean(ish). But there is nothing. No 12v across the coil. No spark from any end, neither from the cental wire out of the coil nor at the breaker points.
Has anyone else ever experienced this? Any leads, hints, checklists? This all happened over four days. I have searched the forum and google but perhaps I missed something.
Anyone in Norfolk that wants to tutor in exchange for... soda? (Bargaining is tough when you aren't old enough to buy alcohol)
Any help you all can offer will be greatly appreciated. I was going to sail to Yorktown tomorrow but it looks like that will have to wait!
Cheers,
Cody
So about 4 days ago, I went to change the oil in my 1966 A4. She has about 40 hours since I acquired her and knowing the oil change time to be 50, I figured it would be a good exercise (and who knows when it might have been changed before I bought her). I started the motor to warm up the oil and it puttered out rather quickly. I didn't think much of it given the age of the engine and that this had happened every once in a while before. Usually I just re start and there are no further problems. This time however, in a blinding flash of mechanical inspiration, I decided to go ahead and clean the carb (original Zenith) just in case that aided the issue..... This story could go on for pages so I am going to summarize what I have done until now where the real mystery starts.
-1 I removed and cleaned the carb and reintstalled with a new gasket. I did not make note of the position of the idle jet screw prior to removal so it is installed fairly wide open now, to be adjusted once I get her running. (More on that later)
-2 I installed new sparkplugs. The old ones were really not all that dirty but sparkplugs are cheap and at this point I was having fun.
-3 I opened and cleaned the old brass fuel filter and replaced the fuel line from the tank to it. When re assembling I filled with with fuel and a dash of Seafoam.
At this point I decided to start it up again. Filled with hope and excitement in anticipation of hearing the mighty purr of my now cleaner engine I pressed the start button and... NADA. Starter motor turned over plenty, but she didnt catch.
4- So I cleaned the spark wire ends and rotor in the distributor. I should note that my lack of mechanical knowledge prior to all this was so vast I didnt really know what a "distributor" was...
Still no luck though. A friend with a voltmeter determined that the 12 v across the coil was intermittent and I discovered the negative lead wire was nearly fallen out. New end, replaced, problem solved. 12v loud and clear.
So what now?
I had spark. I had compression. I assumed I had fuel.
That's where I was wrong. Apparently I had closed the idle jet completely during assembly of the carb (I didnt even know what it was). So I opened 'er up and now I had fuel.
I try again. She starts, turns for a few seconds, and dies. This scenario repeats itself a few times.
-5 I find that the ignition points are not spaced right and are dirty and stuck. If I seperate them by hand, they will spark for a bit, then stick again. Hence, the short run time. I head off to NAPA where I'm told there is a boat guru and he showed me how to file and reset the point. (Great guys over at NAPA on Little Creek Rd. Norfolk)
-6 I head back to my trusty vessel filled with new found confidence. As I cram myself into the floor of the cockpit and hunch over the "engine room" (Im 6' 5") I decided that adjusting the points would be a whole lot easier if I just removed the whole distributor.
7- I removed the whole distributor and as soon as I saw the gear coming out, I knew I had made a mistake. This is an excellent example of how little I understood engines... I didnt realize that doing this would mess up the timing. Oh well, now I get to learn how to do that too! Hooray..... I cleaned and set the points (do you know how hard it is to find a matchbook these days???).
-8 I re installed the distributor with the engine at TDC. I never progressed with the timing from there because I found I STILL was getting no spark at the points. Turns out, somehow, I had crossed a wire and fried my coil. So I bought a new coil (this oil change is getting expensive).
9- Here is where the mystery starts folks. I have a brand new 12v coil (internal resistance) installed. It is an exact copy of the old coil and installed exactly the same way. No wires have been changed and all connections are secure and clean(ish). But there is nothing. No 12v across the coil. No spark from any end, neither from the cental wire out of the coil nor at the breaker points.
Has anyone else ever experienced this? Any leads, hints, checklists? This all happened over four days. I have searched the forum and google but perhaps I missed something.
Anyone in Norfolk that wants to tutor in exchange for... soda? (Bargaining is tough when you aren't old enough to buy alcohol)
Any help you all can offer will be greatly appreciated. I was going to sail to Yorktown tomorrow but it looks like that will have to wait!
Cheers,
Cody
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