My '49 out for a run

Hudsonrules

:)Took my '49 out for a ride to Reno and return today. That is the furthest that I have driven it in the six years that I have owned it. It done pretty well, but there is a miss and slows me down a lot on hills. It has new points etc so I thinkong perhaps a bad set of points. Almost seems to be running on 5 cylinders instead of 5. I also got the overdrive working and that makes a difference at hiway speeds. There is a minor problem however, the overdrive knb that engages OD does not want to pull back out to disengage the OD, Any Ieas? I put about 85 miles on the car today and it began raining on the way back home, the wipers work but the blades need help. Used the lights and they work fine except the license light, new bulb and the wire is connected but seems to work when I open the trunk lid and goes out when I close it. Ideas? Thanks, Arnie in Nevada

Geoff

Arnie, you can only disengage overdrive below the cut-in speed, or after you have kicked down to direct drive. What sort of ignition leads do you have? May to check for continuity if you have resistor leads. is it a regular miss, or just occasional? It could be any number of factors causing a miss - dirty plugs, bad leads, bad condensor, faulty coil, too wide a plug gap, wrong point settings, coil reversed. Sounds to me like you have the license lamp wire connected to a trunk light circuit instead of the proper one. Good luck, and enjoy your Hudsoning.

hudsontech

License plate light connected to de "rear junction block", rear junction block connected to the "T" terminal on the light switch,

Now hear de word of de Lord!!!!

(Just had to put it that way - couldn't resist!!!)



Can scan and email you a 1948-1949 wiring diagram if you so desire.

Drop me an email @ NEChudsontech09@yahoo.com (Drop the NEC)



Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

[Deleted User]

Hudsonrules wrote:

:)Took my '49 out for a ride to Reno and return today. That is the furthest that I have driven it in the six years that I have owned it. It done pretty well, but there is a miss and slows me down a lot on hills. It has new points etc so I thinkong perhaps a bad set of points. Almost seems to be running on 5 cylinders instead of 5. I also got the overdrive working and that makes a difference at hiway speeds. There is a minor problem however, the overdrive knb that engages OD does not want to pull back out to disengage the OD, Any Ieas? I put about 85 miles on the car today and it began raining on the way back home, the wipers work but the blades need help. Used the lights and they work fine except the license light, new bulb and the wire is connected but seems to work when I open the trunk lid and goes out when I close it. Ideas? Thanks, Arnie in Nevada

Make sure you are not locked in all the time on the overdrive. Check the lever on the transmission that it's not locked so as not to move forwards when you try to pull it out. Try grounding the trunk lid. Sounds to me that you may have a bad plug wire. Test them for continuity. Plugs should be Champion H-10 and set at 0.032. Walt.

Jon B

As to the "miss", you might try another condenser. Even shiny new ones will go bad (I found that out the hard way a couple weeks ago!). It's a lot easier to check the "easy" things before you delve deeper for the problem.



As to inability to pull out knob: check under the car where the cable attaches to the lever on the side of the OD. The cable itself slides within the sheathing and when you pull the knob, the cable has to slide back into the sheathing. If not enough of the cable is sticking out of the sheathing when knob is "in", then when you pull the knob, the cable won't be able to go all the way in. At that point, the lever (on the side of the OD) hits the cable sheathing before the lever has reached its limit. And, the OD will not lock out.



Get under the car and eyeball the lever while someone pulls the knob on the dash. If the lever (on the OD) "bottoms out" on the cable sheathing, then it's mis-adjusted. It should be able to move all the way, and still have a wee bit of cable left. A simple adjustment at the clamp that holds the control cable (to the OD) is all that's needed, if that's the cause.

RL Chilton

Arnie-

About the "miss": First do as Walt said, and check for continuity in your plug wire. If that checks out, you can pick up an "in-line spark tester" that plugs onto your spark plug and then plugs into your wire and has a light that lights up when the current goes through it. Easy way to check for spark while it's running. Also, check your plug. Keep in mind that modern day plugs do not have the "glazing" that plugs used to have on them (see quality control complaint below), meaning that once you have a cylinder that is not firing, the end of the plug will become gas-saturated and will no longer fire. I've got this spark plug mini-blaster that cleans them up pretty good for a while, but best to replace plugs that have become overly saturated.

Bad points will make the whole engine run poorly or not at all, not make one cylinder inept. Jon's suggestion to change the condenser is a good one as well, inexpensive and easy to change. All our points and plugs now are made in Mexico and China and quality control is not what it should be, IMO. I often find bad condensers/points, which used to be a "once in a blue moon" affair, but no longer is that the case.

J Spencer

Another thing to check, make sure the main lead wire to the points inside the distributor has not lost it's insulation. It may be 'grounding'- touching the breaker plate as it moves back and forth. Happened to my Pacemaker years ago



Jim Spencer

Unknown

Hi,



I often find running the engine at night in the dark you can see plug leads arcing out too ground, shows up bad insulation.



Just a thought:)

Hudsonrules

:)Thanks for the information causing the miss. Changed the plugs, and found a couple that were not real snug as I was removing the plugs. Theynwwere not old and only had a couple hundred miles on them. They looked like they had a few thousand miles instead. Theyn were Autolite plugs, possibly to cold as yhey appaeared fouled. I put in Champion h10c and they made a big difference. They are hard to find, but somewhere I read or heard that they can be found where lawn mower plugs are sold. I once worked in auto parts for a number of years and due rto age, parts people and becomung scarce like mechanics. Now days it is clerks who may be somewhat computor literate and the mechanics are R&R. Times change. Have a great day. Arnie in Nevada