Hey guys, I am new here. I have a vintage Clark lift truck with a Continental F244 6 cylinder engine with issues. Ever since I can rmember you had to run it half choked or it would quit. As you accelerate it has always sounded as if it is missing, lacking power. Certainly not smooth powerful acceleration. I took the Zenith carb completely apart (model 163285 / 13340A), found lots of rust and sediment, now all clean and all ports\passageways are clear. The carb bowl fills fine with the inline fuel pump installed. Interesting note on the fuel pump, and it has always been this way, it never ever stops running, but I see no bypass line to the tank. Following the carb cleaning I could run the engine with the choke completely open for the first time without it quitting, even at idle. ok...so some progress.
Next I thought it best to replace the spark plugs and set the gap. I noticed there were three different number spark plugs installed out of six, wow. So they are all the same, tried it, still acts like missing and lacks power when accelerating. There is only one adjustable jet on the carb, it makes no difference to this symptom.
So I pulled the distributor cap, filthy. I cleaned all (7) contacts (each wire and the center for the rotor connection) and filed and gapped the points. no change to symptom.
I then decided to do something I probably should not have. I did a lot of digging online and came up with a replacement distributor for the original Delco Remy model 1110060, a new coil, and new plug wires. These parts are all Pertronix brand. I very carefully marked my plug wires at both ends and swapped them out. I found very burned connections at terminals 3 and 5 on the distributor, the spark plug wires have been arcing big time. I paint-marked then removed the distributor only to discover I need an extension shaft to make the Pertronix replacement distributor fit. I reinsalled the distributor with the tang aligned so the rotor was in the same position it was in originally. I did not replace the coil, only the wires, and cleaned the cap, rotor and points (gapped). Now the engine will not stsart. Go figure, dummy. I have everything back to my marks, all the wires are proper, and I have good coil spark and spark at all 6 plugs. I started second-guessing myself and verified the carb bowl is filling with good new clean gas. I wonder if the new wires are having an effect on this, also, when cleaning the center contact inside the distributor cap I may have actually damaged it. I do have spark at all 6 plugs, but perhaps it is poor spark now.
So I am waiting on the extension shaft (per the Pertronix instructions) and plan to replace the coil and new elctronic distributor. I am afraid it will not start but hopefully I am borrowing trouble.
After this small novel I have a few questions, because I work on machine tools for a living not engines, but love learning this stuff. On this engine, is cylinder number one at the water pump\fan end? Need to know so I can time this engine. I also noticed a 1.5 ohm power resistor in the original coil primary circuit, the Pertronix instructions say this resistor is not needed. I also see the original coil is supposedly 20k volts and this new Pertronix is 40k volts, will this be an issue or just make a hotter spark?
Bottom line, what is cylinder number one on an f244 engine? Will I need the 1.5ohm resistor with the new coil? Is a 40k volt coil going to cause issues?
Thank you for your time.
Next I thought it best to replace the spark plugs and set the gap. I noticed there were three different number spark plugs installed out of six, wow. So they are all the same, tried it, still acts like missing and lacks power when accelerating. There is only one adjustable jet on the carb, it makes no difference to this symptom.
So I pulled the distributor cap, filthy. I cleaned all (7) contacts (each wire and the center for the rotor connection) and filed and gapped the points. no change to symptom.
I then decided to do something I probably should not have. I did a lot of digging online and came up with a replacement distributor for the original Delco Remy model 1110060, a new coil, and new plug wires. These parts are all Pertronix brand. I very carefully marked my plug wires at both ends and swapped them out. I found very burned connections at terminals 3 and 5 on the distributor, the spark plug wires have been arcing big time. I paint-marked then removed the distributor only to discover I need an extension shaft to make the Pertronix replacement distributor fit. I reinsalled the distributor with the tang aligned so the rotor was in the same position it was in originally. I did not replace the coil, only the wires, and cleaned the cap, rotor and points (gapped). Now the engine will not stsart. Go figure, dummy. I have everything back to my marks, all the wires are proper, and I have good coil spark and spark at all 6 plugs. I started second-guessing myself and verified the carb bowl is filling with good new clean gas. I wonder if the new wires are having an effect on this, also, when cleaning the center contact inside the distributor cap I may have actually damaged it. I do have spark at all 6 plugs, but perhaps it is poor spark now.
So I am waiting on the extension shaft (per the Pertronix instructions) and plan to replace the coil and new elctronic distributor. I am afraid it will not start but hopefully I am borrowing trouble.
After this small novel I have a few questions, because I work on machine tools for a living not engines, but love learning this stuff. On this engine, is cylinder number one at the water pump\fan end? Need to know so I can time this engine. I also noticed a 1.5 ohm power resistor in the original coil primary circuit, the Pertronix instructions say this resistor is not needed. I also see the original coil is supposedly 20k volts and this new Pertronix is 40k volts, will this be an issue or just make a hotter spark?
Bottom line, what is cylinder number one on an f244 engine? Will I need the 1.5ohm resistor with the new coil? Is a 40k volt coil going to cause issues?
Thank you for your time.