Hey, All

For the past couple days I've been fighting with some strange issue with my ignition, a couple days ago I ran into an issue with her where she would almost completely stall then catch herself at the last second, and then it started stalling out completely. There had been no hint of an issue until the whole thing had started. the things that I have check and done are...

1. took off the carb, cleaned out the bowl and set the float (Its a Holley 1920) but that didn't change anything so.

2. checked my points to see what the condition the contacts were in, and they were in awful shape, (only had for about a month and have put 50 to 75 miles on the engine over the course of there use.) so I bought a new point and condenser to try and fix it.

and after I put that condenser on things got strange, when the new condenser was put on, the car would not fire, no spark or anything, so I put the old one back on and it did work but still had the issue. After that I assumed I got a bad condenser and went and bought another one, this time made sure to get the exact same one just to try and get it to run, and still I have no spark, It can barely run with the old one and I don't know why the new ones haven't worked. If there is anything I have missed or should check please let me know I'm starting to run out of clues.

Sounds like you have got 2 examples of bad capasitors. Could be difficult to find qualily parts nowadays. If you have a multimeter with range for capasitor check you should check them both and the 3rd you will buy.

My personal opinion is to recommend to convert your ignition for electronic ignition. And then forget the whole issue for years.

_________________
1966 Dart. 170 cu.in. 200 rwhp. 101.6 MPH @ 1/4 mile.

I'd also go with a conversion. An HEI conversion or a decent Mopar type EI set up. Maybe a Petronix type conversion if you think your distributor is still in good shape. I have zero experience with points ignition on slants, but do know that good condensers were getting hard to get for other vehicles more than 10 years ago. Mostly motorcycles. Rock Auto only shows two brands for condensers, A Blue Streak tagged Standard, the China T series Standard and two from Airtex Wells. Is there any chance the coil could still be the original? If the points burned up in few miles it sure could be the condenser.

_________________
1982 Dodge D150 ( Ram)
225 with A833OD. 2bbl. Non power brakes

Do you still have a ballast resistor in the circuit?
If not, get it in there. It's supposed to drop the voltage to ~6-8 volts, for the coil's benefit. Without it, you can overheat the coil and burn it out, unless the coil is engineered for a full 12vdc. The excess points burning condition suggests this may be a cause.
It's also possible that you, unfortunately, got a bad condenser right out of the box.

Roger

Thanks,

I knew I should have listed off what I replaced, yes I have put a new ballast resistor on it to replace the old one. that and I've bought a new ignition coil but haven't gotten it on since I can't find the bolt for the bracket that holds in (I think I have but I cant get a wrench on it and its tucked behind its own separate condenser.) its putting 8 volts out though so I think Im good on that front.

I doubt you'd get two bad condensers...

One common problem is....when you connect the points and condenser, it is easy to let one of the terminals touch to ground. If that happens, you get no spark. Make sure you have the wires and terminals not touching any part of the distributor housing, advance plate, etc.

Well I just went a got another and now she runs, still a bit off but I believe that my ignition problem is solved.