" It has the 6 volt coil yet."
Putting 12v into a 6v coil never ends well.
Technology & materials being what they were in the 30's, that square coil would melt if it ran on much more than 4 amps for any length of time. (see tip # 38 for an example). In order to get a hot spark at the same time the starter was drawing max current from the battery, a ballast resistor was added in the ignition circuit. What that did was add about .3 ohms of resistance in the circuit, added to the 1.5 ohms of the coil. That got you 3.5 amps or so at start up. As the voltage increased when the engine was running to about 7.5 volts, the resistor heated up, adding more resistance in the circuit. 1.0 ohms hot, plus 1.5 ohms of the coil got you down to 3 amps or so to keep from melting the coil. The same rule (actually, Ohm's Law) applies to a 12v circuit. I= E/R. Current equals voltage divided by resistance.
If you have a 6v coil, you must have the OEM ballast resistor AND at least one more resistor to keep from burning up the coil.
Check that first.
Then, move on to Frontmount Distributor Troubleshooting 101.
Assuming that the bushings & advance weights are ok, & that you have correct voltage to the coil, (do you? What is it?) the most common electrical failure (no spark, weak spark) points on the frontmount are:
1. The insulator under the brass concave head screw.
2. The insulator at the end of the points where the copper strip attaches.
3. The copper strip is broken or grounded to the plate.
4. The condenser wire grounding.
5. The pigtail/tab not making contact.
6. Incorrect positioning of the spring clip on the plate causing the pigtail to ground.
7. Incorrect seating of the coil on the distributor due to a loose bail or no gasket; the coil must not move at all.
8. Water/moisture inside the cap due to gasket failure or the absence of a gasket.
9. Dirty/corroded/incorrectly gapped points
10. Burned rotor, cracked/carbon tracked cap.
Pull the distributor & do a continuity check.
First, make sure your meter/light works (don't ask....)
Next, dress the points by running a piece of card stock or brown paper bag through them. New points sometimes have an anti-corrosive dielectric coating on them & old points can corrode or pick up grease from a dirty feeler gauge or excessive cam lubricant. Then, check the gap at .015 on all 4 lobes.
Now, follow these steps:
1. Coil off, cap off, points open. One probe on the brass screw & the other on both sides of the open points. On the side closest to the cam, you should have continuity. Not on the other side! If you do, you will also have continuity everywhere because the points are grounded.
2. Coil off, cap off, points open. One probe on the brass screw & the other anywhere on the body of the distributor. You should have no continuity! Now, rotate the tang on the distributor....as the points open & close, you have continuity (closed) and lose it when they open.
3. Coil on, cap off, points open. One probe on the lead on the top of the coil, the other on the cam side of the open points. You should have continuity!
4. Coil on, cap off, points open. One probe on the lead on the top of the coil, the other anywhere on the body of the distributor. You should have no continuity!
At this point, I just put the distributor, coil & cap all back on the tractor as a unit. The reason I do this is because it is real easy to get the cap or coil mis-aligned trying to put it back together one piece at a time & the result is something gets broken or you get a ‘no spark’ problem.
Post back w/ results & any other questions.
50 Tips
