Help--Anybody Know a Good Mechanic in the Tacoma Area

[BruceSnyder]

I can't get my Cobra to Start. I've tried everything I can think of. It was running great. I was warming it up in the garage one day and it died and hasn't run since.

Every once in a while it will fire but dies. Its a 302, Holley Ultra Street Avenger 670cfm carb, Mallory Series 42 distributor, Mallory 6AL CD Ignition. B303 cam, GT40X 58cc heads, Edelbrock RPM Air Gap manifold.

I'm hoping somebody can recommend a good mechanic that would be willing to take this on and get this engine running well.

Bruce

[HighPlainsDrifter]

Hi,
Sounds like the CD ignition box is gone.
Good Luck,
Perry

[jwd]

Originally Posted by BruceSnyder

I can't get my Cobra to Start. I've tried everything I can think of. It was running great. I was warming it up in the garage one day and it died and hasn't run since.
Bruce

Very typical of electronic ignition failure.

Jim

[Silverback51]

It takes 3 things to make an engine run. Compression (ignore spelling, I'm drunk), spark and gas.

Generally you do not lose compression and regain it to sometimes run again. I think you can eliminate that.

Gas. That's an easy one to check. Are you getting gas to the carburator? You have a Holley so that's easy to check.

I'm tending to agree with Jim that it's in the ignition system. Pull a plug wire and hold it to your...... Never mind. We don't want to hurt you.

Stick a screw driver in the plug wire and put it within .10 inches of a grounded steel object. Have someone crank it over and see if you get an arc. If not, that is the problem. We can start to narrow it down from there.

Hell, if worse comes to worse, buy some beer, provide an address and I'm sure some of us can come over and help you out.

[BruceSnyder]

Pulled the coil wire. Getting a strong spark.
Pulled a plug wire. Getting a strong spark.
Getting gas to the the carb.
I replaced the ignition module in the dizzy.
Ran the test on the CD box and getting spark.
I bypassed the CD box and no change.
I've checked top dead center. The timing pointer is on zero when the rotor is facing #1 position.
Could it be a timing chain issue?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Silverback51

Hell, if worse comes to worse, buy some beer, provide an address and I'm sure some of us can come over and help you out.

Aww, for 'chrisake John, he ain't gonna be able to do this on his own. And what's more, he's likely fo fuk it up worse my monkeying with it. Spanaway is less than a 45 minute drive from Covington and the football season is over. So get off your ass and drive over there and help him.

[Silverback51]

Originally Posted by BruceSnyder

Pulled the coil wire. Getting a strong spark.
Pulled a plug wire. Getting a strong spark.
Getting gas to the the carb.
I replaced the ignition module in the dizzy.
Ran the test on the CD box and getting spark.
I bypassed the CD box and no change.
I've checked top dead center. The timing pointer is on zero when the rotor is facing #1 position.
Could it be a timing chain issue?

When it occasionally fires, how long does it run?

[BruceSnyder]

John,

It will run just for 2 or 3 seconds. Mostly it will crank with nothing.

[1blackbb66]

Since you seem to have confirmed everything is there, spark, fuel ect, my guess is it has jumped time for some reason. I have had a couple engines do this over the years and a couple teeth off, and they do exactly what your's is doing. Pull the number 1 plug and roll the motor over untill you know your at top dead on the compression stroke (it will try to blow your thumb off the plug hole) take a small wooden dowel that will fit in the spark plug hole, at least 8" long so you don't loose it into the cylinder, and with a socket on the damper bolt, bring the piston up to exactly top dead (the dowel will stop moving up and start back down) Check to see where your timing pointer is. My guess is it's going to be way off from 0 on the timing marks.
Now the question is.........WHY? I doubt your engine has very many hours on it.

Ray

[jwd]

To add to Ray's response, with the distributor cap off, grab the rotor and try to turn it. Fords are notorious for shearing the pin on the distributor drive gear (right Whitney?). That's more likely than the timing chain jumping.

Jim

[DonC]

Add my vote to the distributor gear either being gone or having sheared the pin. I've seen both on a couple of motors. The sheared pin examples gave the same kind of effects you mentioned.
Pull the distributor and look at the gear for signs of significant wear. If it looks o.k. hold the shaft with a padded set of pliers and try to turn the gear on the shaft to identify a sheared pin. Get the engine to TDC on the #1 cylinder compression stroke before you start just to make reassembly easier.
DonC

[BruceSnyder]

Thanks.

I pulled the distributor a couple days ago but never thought about a sheared pin. The gear on both the distributor and the cam are in good shape. I'll check it out. I'll also check for #1 piston TDC.

[1blackbb66]

Got to lookin this over again Bruce, and you did say that the dist rotor is pointing at #1 when the damper mark is at 0. So this throws everything about slipped gear/timing chain out the window. If anything has moved, it wouldn't be lined up. It would be nearly impossible for it to be exactly 180* out of time-that is it would be fireing on the exhaust-but I guess it could be. I think the thing you need to do at this point is pull the valve cover and watch the rockers as you roll the motor over by hand. At TDC on the compression stroke, both valves should be closed and the rotor should be pointing at #1. With the afore mentioned dowel in #1 hole, continue to roll the motor over and as you get to BDC, the exhaust valve should start to open. If all is well here, and you have spark and fuel, the only thing we can do is come over and perform an exorcism, cause you got some bad voodoo going on.
I'm pretty close, maybe I can roll over this weekend and we can figure this out.

Ray

[Silverback51]

Right now it looks like I could help out on Sunday. Saturday is a bad day for me.

I also have a borescope for setting TDC. No chance of breaking off a dowel rod that way.

Between Ray and myself I'm sure we can at least figure out the issue.

[BruceSnyder]

Hey Ray and John,

I did think about having an exorcism. Instead Bob Schaeffer offered up his Ford mechanic and I took him up on it. I hauled my possessed Cobra to Bob's last night so an expert can work on it. With work and things that needed attention around the house I was running short of time. Besides I have to get ready for the NASCAR races at Vegas. 9 rows up close to the finish line.

[1blackbb66]

let us know what he finds. this one is a head scratcher.

ray

[Silverback51]

Glad to hear someone was able to step up and help you out.

And like Ray stated, let us know what it was. Right now my bet is on the distributor gear.

[HighPlainsDrifter]

Hi,
I would think you should get a backfire through the carb if your dist is out of wack, I would try some gas right down the carb 1st as you are getting nothing.
Perry.

[Jake]

Bruce,

Any updates on the Cobra?

Jake

[BruceSnyder]

I hauled it down to Bob Schaefer's dealership. Bob hangs out at FFCars. He has a Ford mechanic that is going to work on it on the side. I haven't talked to him since it was dropped off. I'll be talking to Bob tomorrow. The more I think about it Ray and John may be spot on about the distributor gear. It sounds like Mallory distributors are known for sheared roll pins. I'm anxious to get it back, especially on a day like today.