Leaving it should be fine, your only doing it for testing purposes, dont try to drive the car like that or leave it running too long. Just see if it fires, then move on to finding where the power is getting lost.

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"if it aint broke, fix it till it is"
78 Plymouth Volare Super Six wagon
89 Volkswagen Golf GTI 16v
92 Chevrolet K1500 5.7
98 Ford Escort ZX2 zetech

Ok so should grounding the test light and placing probe inside the coil wire port cause it to flash when starting? Also to repeat earlier question...do i just connect gator clamp to neg post and touch probe to positive post while cranking to see if test lignt flashes?

Dont use the test light for the coil wire, that thing will put out waay to much juice for a test light. You need a spark tester for the coil or ignition wires...

For the cranking test, hook the gator clip to any ground location. If you can, use the distributor body or something real close since thats what the points are grounding to anyway. Then touch the light to the coil (+) terminal and crank the engine. It wont blink (might flicker a little from voltage variations), but it should stay lit just like in the "ON" position.

Dont worry about the switching function right now. You know the points are gapped, and you know that they are opening and closing because you were getting a weak spark from the plug for a while. All you want to verify now is that there is power to the coil in the "START" position.

_________________
"if it aint broke, fix it till it is"
78 Plymouth Volare Super Six wagon
89 Volkswagen Golf GTI 16v
92 Chevrolet K1500 5.7
98 Ford Escort ZX2 zetech

To test if the coil is firing during starting, unplug one plug wire from a spark plug, push the rubber boot back to expose the crimed on metal terminal that snaps onto the spark plug, and hold the crimped on terminal within 1/4 inch of a grounded surface while cranking (valve cover, inner fender support, etc…) While the engine is crnaking you should see a spark jump between the terminal and the grounded surface.

Alternatively, pull a plug, leave the plug wire attached to the plug, and put the plug electrode in contact with a grounded surface. You should see a spark jump the gap in the plug when the engine is cranking.

The test light should only be used to test if you are getting power to the coil.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

so I ran a hot wire to the coil and got a better spark off of the ground on the valve cover. put everything back together and it turned over and i sprayed some starter fluid in the bowl vent tube and it turned over again and then gave one big "poof" at the end of the turn over. what is that part?

......that is an indicater that you are not timed correctly.

For every degree of dwell you are off ....the crank timing is off 2 degrees.

So if your engine was perfectly timed and you changed points without getting the dwell right ....your timing will be changed.

Get your dwell under control ....do your base timing ....and it will start.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

well, i had some poof now i don't. when i line up the timing mark with 0 on the tab, that is tdc. it says that it should be timed at 2.5 bdc, so does that mean that i need to move the rotor between the 0 and th 5 on the tab?

Yes, but the motor will run with the timing at TDC.

Try this- first verify your dwell like Sandy recommends. Second, loosen the hold-down bolt on the distributor slightly. Ony loosen it to the point where you can turn the distributor but the distributor will stay where it is once you stop turning it. Then have someone crank the engine (or use a remote starter switch) while you SLOWLY turn the distributor counter clockwise. Once the motor starts to run, stop turning the distributor, let the engine warm up, and set your base timing.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

well.............she fired up finaly, don't knoe what i did differnetly...BUTTTTTT..........she runs at the highest freaking RPM possible. i had to yank the coil wire to shut her off. she will start up, but she runs so freakin high

stay tuned......

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

huh

Sounds like your fast idle speed screw is turned too far in on the carb. Or the fat idle speed screw is sitting on too high of a step on the fast idle cam, indicating your fast idle linkage is out of adjustment. Or your curb idle speed screw is turned in too far.

Can you post a picture of the throttle linkage side of the carb with a good view of the two screws?

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Is the throttle retun spring hookahed up?

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

I really agree with this... Pics would be real nice! Help us help you alot giving us visuals instead of just descriptions....

_________________
"if it aint broke, fix it till it is"
78 Plymouth Volare Super Six wagon
89 Volkswagen Golf GTI 16v
92 Chevrolet K1500 5.7
98 Ford Escort ZX2 zetech

Time to go back to square one and get EVERYTHING back in spec.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.