After a two year restoration, today was going to be the Big Day- hearing the rebuilt 1275 come to life for the first time since I've had the car. It took some time and effort to get the oil pressure up before we tried to do a real start, but when we finally did, it just wouldn't show any life. Ultimately we found there was no spark-none. It has a new cap, points, condenser, rotor, and plugs. The coil was checked, and there's current to the distributor, but still no spark. Tried a different coil, cap, points, condenser, and rotor with the same results. Two mechanics checked the dizzy and nothing seems to be amiss. Any thoughts or experience with this type of frustrating problem will be most appreciated. Back at it tomorrow morning!

 

Points assembled correctly, not grounding out?

 

[quote=BRGPA;2782068] The coil was checked, and there's current to the distributor, but still no spark. Tried a different coil, cap, points, condenser, and rotor with the same results. Two mechanics checked the dizzy and nothing seems to be amiss. [quote]

When I was a code cutter this hung in my office:

When you are SURE everything is right,

and the program still doesn't work,

something you are SURE of

is wrong.

Does juice come out of the coil?

No? problem solved
Yes? if you hold a plug wire with connector exposed over the block do sparks jump when you turn it over?

No - problem is in the dizzy, or at least past the coil....
Yes - problem ain't the ignition spark.

What are the symptoms you have? Sounds like it cranks but won't start and you guess no spark. Is your timing WAY WAY off .... like you are sparking on the wrong stroke? Things were not at TDC when assembly of the system began???? I'd think you'd get some bucking here but if you are totally out of sync I dunno ....

I presume that after a lot of test cranks you do smell gas at the exhaust .... iow there IS fuel in the system right?

 

You need to define if the problem is in the primary or secondary ignition circuit.

As there is no spark, the points may not be working correctly? Make sure that they are wired properly and not grounding out on the mounting plate via the post. The power line goes to the top of the post but powers the spring arm and is isolated from the post. The plastic insulator holds the connector away from the post.

If the ignition key is on, do you have an arc at the points when they open?

Is your rotor correct for your cap? There are different ones of different lengths.

 

BTW, pitch the points & condenser and buy a Pertronix ignition kit & coil. You'll never go through this again. You won't get stuck on the side of the road.

 

Today we started at square one again, read the manual carefully, and discovered that the black points/condenser wire inside the distributor was bent and grounding against the side of the distributor. We thought we had it licked, but upon further cranking found no spark again with a test plug against the block. A different but similarly old coil was substituted and there was a spark, but it was very weak. I'm thinking a new coil is needed and plan to order tomorrow. I'm hoping it will provide a robust spark and the ordeal will be over. Any thoughts? I really appreciate the responses I've had so far as other perspectives are always helpful.