help please- quick please- stranded

[bolmida]

My car is stranded.... I have a 351 windsor- stroked to 407. Last night two LOUD pops out the exhaust and it just died. No start. Engine turns over, checked spark ok, fuel ok- about 4 lbs pressure. Did not start for 2 hours. Im sure at that point I flooded it. Later that night it started and ran great.

Today started fine- ran great. Almost home, small hicup and then POW - Loud pop and no start.

Now car is stranded 3 blocks from home.

Any ideas

[mrmustang]

Where are you geographically located? Could your engine compartment be hot enough to cause vapor lock or a possible boil over of the fuel in your float bowls?

[trularin]

Could it be your MSD box? Did you ground it well?

I do not know the test for these boxes, but I gave up on one and have just a distributor and coil.

Bill has a good idea, is the fuel lines running next to the headers?

Just suggestions.

[RedBarchetta]

Bad ground on an MSD box shouldn't cause a pop. When the MSD box goes, or the ground goes, you lose all ignition and there's nothing to light off unless your plugs are glowing red.

What conditions did the pop/die situations occur? Acceleration? Cruising? Slowing down? Could be as simple as a misadjusted (too high) float level, or debris in the fuel line that is hanging up the metering rod in the float bowl.

-Dean

[bolmida]

Both cases cruising-- engine hot. Yesterday I was running it fairly hard.

With the MSD box would I have a spark at all?

Im in Ohio-- its about 70 F. really nice out. I have never had a vapor lock problem before.

Any suggestions about how to get it home before nightfall?

[Ron61]

Was the engine well cooled down last night when you got it to start again? I would think if the MSD box was bad you would have no spark. The small hiccup and the loud pow would sound like the engine stopped for a second and the pow was most llikely unburned fuel that ignited in the hot exhaust tubes. Also can you bypass your MSD and just run off a coil and the distributor? You could have a connector somewhere in there that has gotten loose and the heat is causing problems. If you think it is heat related get a bag of ice and put it on the carb and any other component that you want to cool down and wait a few seconds and try it and see if you notice any difference.

Ron

[bnewell]

here is a quick answer........hopefully you are a AAA member, call them and tell them that you need a rollback truck to transport the car to your home or to your local mechanic (hopefully he can met you at his shop to secure it indoors).

[bolmida]

ok, went back and it started and ran fine again. The carb throat looks black-- I think either the carb needs cleaned or a loose MSD connection as mentioned above-- other suggestions would be helpful. Now Im paranoid....
thanks much Peter

[Ron61]

Bnewell,

That is a good idea except for one minor thing that happened to a guy here. The roll back had such a steep angle and they weren't really paying attention that it scraped and broke the glass across the rear end. So be sure if using this method that as the car starts up on the bed you have a slight enough angle this won't happen to you. I believe you could get the front wheels on the bed and pull it as far as possible and then maybe use some boards to the back tires to start them up off the ground before the angle gets to steep. Or maybe the roll back will be able to adjust the angle of the bed.

Ron

[RedBarchetta]

Peter, I had a similar "engine dies" condition (and would start right back up after a very long cool down) and I eventually traced it back to a loose ground wire. Car started fine when cold, but once up to operating temp it just flat out died with not even a click at the starter. Check your wiring first and then move to the carb.

-Dean

[Power Surge]

I had a 69 Cougar with a 351 that did that same thing years ago. The distributor gear roll pin had sheared and the gear was randomly spinning and locking in different positions.

[bnewell]

Ron ~ I know what you mean. When the alternator went out on my SPF, I used a rollback and we had to back the car on with the use of ramps for added ground clearance. It was close but it worked.

[bolmida]

I thought it was a little strange-- the distributor rotor seems to have a lot of play-- about a quarter inch-- it feels like it has some spring tension that pulls it back. Is this normal?

[wtm442]

Originally Posted by bolmida

I thought it was a little strange-- the distributor rotor seems to have a lot of play-- about a quarter inch-- it feels like it has some spring tension that pulls it back. Is this normal?

Normal if you have vacuum or mechanical advance unit in the distributor.

I agree with people that said distributor is problem. Back when I was a kid, we used to turn off the ignition for a second and then turn it back on. KABLAM. One friend blew the muffler off his father's car. This was before the interlocking key.

[bolmida]

Weird it runs fine- perfect for an hour then wam! sounds like a shot gun-- then no start-- cools down runs fine again-- if it were the distributor would it run well for so long?

[Trueoo7]

WTM 442
That was me, I used to love to do that, until I blew the muffler off my mothers car. Needless to say I didn't do that no more.
Had a Triumph Spitfire that would just stop running when it got hot, not everytime but almost. Would have to sit on the side of the highway and let it cool down sometimes for a half hour or so. A real PIA because I couldn't rely on the car or being anywhere on time. Turns out it was an inherent problem with the LUCAS distributor. Replaced it with a brand new one and still had the problem. Third time was the charm but then I got rid of it.
Too bad, I liked that car.

[Rick Parker]

Ignition....somewhere. The loud pop and resultant backfire (causing the interior of carb to blacken) is the ignition coming back "on Line" and back firing. Check the heavy black and red wires from the MSD box, then check them again, then check the small red one that goes to a switched 12 volt source. Once those are deemed good do this:http://www.msdignition.com/1troub1.htm
You may want to check ignition switch too.
Fuel will normally cause it to nose over and if rectified, start again but not "POP".

[pgermond]

Most likely electrical - what type of choke?

[lovehamr]

Originally Posted by Rick Parker

Once those are deemed good do this:http://www.msdignition.com/1troub1.htm
You may want to check ignition switch too.

A side note to this is that because your situation seems to be dependant on the amount of time running and the resultant heat in components, you may want to be ready to test the MSD on the side of the road right after the car shuts down. I say this because if that is the problem and you wait a length of time afterwards then the box may very well test OK when in fact it does have a problem. My money's on the ignition, it's the only thing that I can think of that would cause those symptoms. I hope you find it soon.

Steve

[Excaliber]

It is normal to be able to rotate the distributor rotor and feel the spring tension and release and the rotor returns to it's normal relaxed position.

It's BAD when it DOESN'T return!