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Engine setup advise
davrus - 3/6/07 at 09:09 PM

Hi , struggling to set the old girl up.
She coughs and splutters like a pig.
Problem i have is the car only takes a few mins to run up to 3/4 temp and for the fan to cut in. Normal driving temp is about 1/4 so when i set the timing up with the timing lamp the engine is hotter than normal running temp (is it an issue)?
What would you recommend setting the timing to in order to take into account the wear and tear and also it has a pancake air filer.
Also i believe it may have a week spark every now and then as i have to keep sanding the points contactors in order to get a nice spark again. (any ideas why that could be as they are new points and condensor)?
Lastly how many turns out would you think would get the c.o about right.

All advise welcome as it is really P***ING me off now.

Mant thaks guys

Dave

balidey - 3/6/07 at 09:15 PM

I know this is nothing to do with the problem, but I think I saw you on saturday in Spalding. About 4pm ish sat at the traffic lights on the twin bridges near Geest? If it wasn't you then its a car very similar to yours.

davrus - 3/6/07 at 09:18 PM

Yep that would have been me.

paulf - 3/6/07 at 09:22 PM

If the points and condensor are new I would make sure that you are using a 12volt coil and not one designed for a ballast resistor set up, unless you have 1 in your ignition circuit, check to see if the coil is getting hot.
Paul.

davrus - 3/6/07 at 09:24 PM

the coil does get fairly hot. what type would you recomend

Dusty - 3/6/07 at 10:29 PM

Avoid electronic ignition coil as they kill points and use a 12v points coil.

britishtrident - 4/6/07 at 06:31 AM

Something wrong, temperature should be in the normal range when driving as the thermostat should control the temperature.

A pancake filter particularly one sticking up into the (cold) air flow will weaken the mixture quite a lot.

As other have said you need either to wire up a ballast ressistor (and a by-pass circuit) or swap to a 12v coil.

[Edited on 4/6/07 by britishtrident]

02GF74 - 4/6/07 at 01:43 PM

quote:
Originally posted by davrus
the coil does get fairly hot. what type would you recomend


coil will get hot - if you do the sums to work out the power dissipated by it, it is close to 40 W - trying holding a 40 W light bulb in your hand.

point burning could be due to duff condenser - easiest to fit a new one.

also check you have the right coil - a 12 V sould be 3 ohm primary, one for efi is 1.5 ohm.

rusty nuts - 4/6/07 at 04:58 PM

Using a ballast resistor type coil without a ballast resistor will cause the condensor to fail fairly quickly which in turn causes problems with the points

davrus - 4/6/07 at 10:32 PM

How do i know what coil i have already got on my car ie normal/ballest.
Also how can i work out wheather i need a ballest or normal

Does that make any sense.

It is a 1976 ford crossflow

Cheers

rusty nuts - 5/6/07 at 04:58 PM

For a crossflow its worth converting to the Valencia distributor from a Fiesta, you need the distributor, wiring to coil and the matching coil . Only three wires to fit , starts and runs better and stays in tune. Might have a distributor if thats any help although it was a spare and is a bit tatty.