254 Ignition Gremlin

kamzack

Have freshly rebuilt 254 Having trouble bringing it to life. I'd had it fired up on 12 volts after having removed power to the car and foolishly ran it longer than I was supposed to, so excite to hear it run. Was supposed to run it about a minute than shut down and retorque head. I ran about 3 minutes and got a bit hot.  Bought new 6 volt battery and coil. I rolled #1 over to TDC and time marks lined up. turned key on, removed coil wire from distributor, locked down hold down bolt midway in slot and moved dist back and forth had no spark at a ground. bought another 6 volt coil, Spark was very weak and not enough to get fire to plugs. No arc there. Tried original coil, same, bought new coil, same results. So I have 2 new coils. I'd taken distributor before this and put fresh NOS points and condenser in. All my spare points are and condensers are NOS. Points are set .017. Gas isn't an issue. Don't know where to hotter spark. Have even compression 1 to 8 about 120.  Short block was built by the Master of all things Hudson and puts his heart and soul into every build and I'm afraid I've messed up his work.  Anxious to ride after its' having set for 3 years. Help.

   Kim

Jon B

Just a minor question on your re-timing:  You say you rolled #1 to TDC so the timing marks lined up.   Is the #1 piston now at the start of the combustion stroke, ready to fire?  (Not at the start of the intake stroke.)  Because, of course, the pointer has to point to TDC every other revolution.  I'm sure you must have done this correctly but before we proceed, I thought I'd verify this point.

Also, the concept of running an engine 1 minute and then re-torquing the head, doesn't seem right?  Isn't one supposed to run these for a longer period? Even over several days?  I thought the idea was to get the head to expand, contract, expand, contract and so forth, until the head got a bit "loose"; THEN re-torque.  (But, what do I know...?) 

2manyprojects

just wondering who is Master of all things hudson?

kamzack

Jon,

I didn't have rad in it that point. I'll recheck time but with getting faint spark, figure I was there. I still need to know how to get better spark. What have I missed?

2MP, Doug Wildrick. That isn't what this thread is about. I need help to get my engine going, please. Don't want to keep buggin him, he has all he can say grace over. So I'm asking Hudson family to help.

   Kim

 

Jon B

Random questions:

1. You said you actually had this engine running, before encountering the problems. Did it have the same distributor in it then, that it does now?  If it isn't the same distributor that "worked" then, it might have an internal problem that explains your weak spark now.   For instance, where the wire passes through the wall of the dist., there is a rubber grommet to insulate the wire.  Sometimes the wire insulation wears away at this point and the wire actually grounds on the distributor.

2. Do you have a good ground from the engine to the pos. terminal on the battery?

3. After you replaced the points and condenser, and didn't get a good spark, did you try a different (new) condenser?  I have heard that the quality of modern condensers is not what it was in the past.  You would probably do well to buy a spare or two, just to carry around.  So why not do that and then try installing one of both of them in the distributor, just to make sure.

charles4d

I would check the wires sound like it could be the problem

kamzack

Jon,

  Thanks for your response. Had engine running on 12 volts but disconnected power to car by removing second wire from solenoid. ran a jumper from battery to coil. Has Same distributor in it as when I got it started. It was NOS bout 7-8k miles back. There's one wire that comes from + side of coil to distributor, no grommet to pass through. I have fire at the points in that I can stick screw driver at the points and get an arc. I changed condenser this afternoon which is NOS. no difference. That doesn't make it good but that's what I have and that was last one.

 2.Have OEM type ground wire from positive side of new battery to chassis and to motor mount bolt.

 3. I've always carried fuses, points, condenser, distributor, water pump, fuel pump , few tools and flashlight in my road box. The 3 years I had it on the road, I put 33k miles on it. I drive it and love every minute of it. When kids and I made a trip, Hudson is what we took. I've owned it since 2004. It's been down for 3 years and an electrical glitch keeping me from being in it again. Again thanks

   Kim