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Messages - Chuck

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FE Technical Forum / Re: Duraspark, need a resistor or not?
« on: July 19, 2023, 02:13:24 AM »
The duraspark 1 came out in the early seventies and was short lived. No resistance wire to the coil. The spark box would turn off coil power if the distributor wasn't turning or you weren't cranking so it wouldn't burn it up with the key on. Duraspark II does use a resistor wire for run that is bypassed for cranking. Power to the box itself is key on battery voltage. It is always a good idea to run a good supply through a relay rather than through the key switch and of course make sure it is also powered while cranking.

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FE Technical Forum / Re: Turn Signal Conundrum
« on: June 18, 2023, 12:02:50 AM »
I'm glad it was an easy fix Jay and you got more familiar with the circuit. I went over it and the wire from the headlight switch is horn power that also goes to the brake light switch. If it were the horn and brake lights out there is a 15amp breaker in the headlight switch that can go bad from a short. There is another one in there, 18 amps for the headlights. After installing halogens in Louisvilles that traveled long distances, I found the lights would open the breaker after a while causing them to go out. After it cools they go back on but the older the switch the heavier the load, the more it opens, and the more it opens, the more it wants to open. The 18amp breaker opens at nine amps and you learn to replace the switch once and for all by using it to power relays you wire in to handle the load. X and Y. Circuit breakers have a line and load side and are marked at the base of the studs. Flashers were that way too at one time, having a resistor inside that did something to make it that way. They can work or work like a check valve and with solid state stuff there is a in door and an out door, you learn to test items as used just so you don't blow them up and let the smoke out.
  You knew the flasher worked because you put it in the emergency socket and it flashed. Testing it where you were putting the voltage on it in the turn signal socket got you the answer to your issue. Ford used all kinds of wiring codes for these switches which during replacement causes problems. Horns that blink and signals that don't. Brake light indicators on the dash and up front where the signals were.
 If you can do a maze you can follow a circuit if you know what you're working with. Signal and light problems are simple to work on because you can visually detect what's going on or not. It would be great if you could see the ac output of your duraspark or MSD pickup, but if you don't get intimidated and start with what you understand, before long you'll know how to measure it and why it needs to work. 

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FE Technical Forum / Re: Turn Signal Conundrum
« on: June 17, 2023, 09:54:55 AM »
Let's assume the old switch had dirty or bad contacts and that's why they stopped working. With the new switch they light up but don't flash. The emergency flashers work proving out the bulb circuits, so no need to go there. The emergency flasher needs power to work with the car off. The turn signals only work with the car on so that flasher gets key on power. Flashers are automatic resetting circuit breakers. That's why they flash faster when you have a bulb out. Less heat is generated causing it to reset faster. LED's don't draw the power of incandescents and need a different flasher or load added. Power for the turn signals comes from the key on fuse to the flasher and into the switch. Activating the switch connects the power from the flasher through contacts to the front signals and dash indicators along with another set of contacts for the rear signals. The brake light switch energizes the same filaments so that is part of it too, the signal when activated needs to blink when the brake is on.
 The first thing I would do is put the switch in a turn position. Car off no lights car on turn signal requested on steady, remove the turn signal flasher. The light should go out with no flasher. If the lights go out test the flasher, apply power to its power terminal and connect both filaments of an 1157 to the other. When you ground the bulb the flasher should open and close causing it to flash. If you remove the flasher and the turn signals stay on when requested, then the load isn't going through it and power is coming from somewhere else. Check your brake light switch input to the signal switch, it should only be on when you hit the brakes. I believe the horn contact provides a ground to activate the horn but I'd have to look that up. Pull fuses one at a time until the signals don't light to find the source of power if they light without the flasher. Replace the flasher if it doesn't blink as tested. Do you have proper horn activation & brake lights? With the emergency flashers on, what lights do what with your foot on the brakes?

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Non-FE Discussion Forum / Re: 351c weird timing problem
« on: April 23, 2022, 11:46:55 AM »
Everybody should have a cap with a hole drilled at number one for "times" like these. Some though, can't be phased. When things don't seem right, I like to start there.

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FE Technical Forum / Re: To Sleeve , or NOT to sleeve , the age old question.
« on: August 03, 2020, 11:27:25 AM »
On the topic of dry sleeves, which need to run tight for heat transfer...
What year did they start putting o-rings on 6-71 sleeves?

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FE Technical Forum / Re: Duraspark Vacuum Advance
« on: May 26, 2020, 01:41:50 PM »
Drill a hole in an old distributor cap at number one. When it's running, I think you'll find the spark is too far away when it's not running correctly. The vac advance moves that relationship around and that's why it may run differently at times. That's how it works and I doubt anything is wrong there. Try switching the polarity of the pickup. I tried roll pin holes, curve slots, and I don't remember what else one day with a setup like that. Once I switched the wires, the spark was right on and problem solved. It was out of phase. As far as the grease, clean that out so you get a good connection. NYK corrosion compound works well for me in its place.

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