Club Cobra Gas-N Exhaust  

Go Back   Club Cobra > Engine Building, Tuning, and Induction > Ignition

Keith Craft Racing
Nevada Classics
MMG Superformance
Main Menu
Module Jump:
Nevada Classics
Nevada Classics
MMG Superformance
MMG Superformance
Advertise at CC
Banner Ad Rates
MMG Superformance
MMG Superformance
March 2024
S M T W T F S
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31            

Kirkham Motorsports

Like Tree2Likes
  • 1 Post By davids2toys
  • 1 Post By Dirty Harry

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 09-11-2020, 06:49 PM
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Cobra Make, Engine: Backdraft #360
Posts: 77
Not Ranked     
Default Does this MSD Rotor/Cap/Pickup look okay?

Hey guys. I have another thread going in the Holley tuning section, as I thought my problem was the carb, which it still might be. But I’ve been having some weird symptoms where I think the distributor might be to blame. Let me know your thoughts on these.
Reply With Quote
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 09-11-2020, 06:59 PM
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Cobra Make, Engine: Backdraft #360
Posts: 77
Not Ranked     
Default

First pics
Attached Images
  
Reply With Quote
  #3 (permalink)  
Old 09-11-2020, 07:05 PM
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Cobra Make, Engine: Backdraft #360
Posts: 77
Not Ranked     
Default

second set
Attached Images
   
Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)  
Old 09-11-2020, 07:07 PM
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Cobra Make, Engine: Backdraft #360
Posts: 77
Not Ranked     
Default

3rd set, last one. Rusty pick up? Is that okay?
Attached Images
 
Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)  
Old 09-11-2020, 09:02 PM
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: SF, Bay Area, CA
Cobra Make, Engine: SPF832, 466cid
Posts: 495
Not Ranked     
Default

Without any symptoms, conditions stated all I can comment on are your springs. With a light car your advance rate should be pretty fast. This means at least two light blue springs to begin with. If you can get away with it meaning, you have stable timing at idle, you can try one light blue and one light silver.
Reply With Quote
  #6 (permalink)  
Old 09-11-2020, 09:04 PM
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: SF, Bay Area, CA
Cobra Make, Engine: SPF832, 466cid
Posts: 495
Not Ranked     
Default

The best carb tune up is ignition.
Reply With Quote
  #7 (permalink)  
Old 09-12-2020, 07:59 AM
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Cobra Make, Engine: Backdraft #360
Posts: 77
Not Ranked     
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by NROTOXIN View Post
Without any symptoms, conditions stated all I can comment on are your springs. With a light car your advance rate should be pretty fast. This means at least two light blue springs to begin with. If you can get away with it meaning, you have stable timing at idle, you can try one light blue and one light silver.
Here is what I posted last (Holley 770 Questions) in my post that seems to start to narrow down something with the ignition. So I figured the best would be for someone that knows way more than me to look at the rotor/cap/pickup/etc to make sure everything seemed in line.

"So I thought I had it all worked out. 1st ride after some WD-40, the problem was gone and it drove as it should. 2nd ride, it was doing what it was doing before and bogging bad. I took the air cleaner off and repositioned it a bit because its always hit the top of the distrib (working on getting a small riser to get it off of there) as well as opened the cap and closed it and the car ran great on the 3rd run. But any ride after has been where the RPMs climb.

Say I buy lube and not just use WD-40, put the air cleaner on a riser... Is there something I'm missing here?

EDIT: Just got back from a quick ride and the RPM's are not falling or fall slowly. I've tested all throttle linkage while in the garage and everything seems free. While on the ride, I used my big toe and the one next to it to grab the side of the pedal and it seemed to make the RPMs come down like they should.

*The weird thing is that on the past 5 trips when it was running good or bad I noticed one thing. If I felt it was good and the RPMs fell quickly, the car would run really well and responsive with minimal low RPM bog. If I felt it was running not so well and the RPMs would hang, there would be quite a bit more bog at the lower 2k range when I floor it. The engine would run a little more rough it feels and is noticeable in the car. Also, the start up would be almost instant if it was going to run well, and it would take some cycles for it to fire up if it was going to have not a good of a run.*"
Reply With Quote
  #8 (permalink)  
Old 09-12-2020, 08:07 AM
davids2toys's Avatar
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Southbury, ct
Cobra Make, Engine: ERA, 428, 4 speed Toploader, Jag rear, Red with White stripes
Posts: 922
Not Ranked     
Default

mine was twice as rusty and ran fine. MSD said it was nothing to worry about. I ordered a new one and finally put it in 2 years later when it failed to start. had fuel but no spark and thru troubleshooting the Magnetic pickup was the culprit. Replaced it with the new one and it ran perfectly.
from my notes: Part # was MSD -84661 and the reluctor gap was .026.
Hope this helps
Mattsvtcobra likes this.
__________________
ERA#698 428, 4 speed Toploader, 3:31 Jag rear
Reply With Quote
  #9 (permalink)  
Old 09-12-2020, 08:35 AM
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: May 2020
Cobra Make, Engine:
Posts: 78
Not Ranked     
Default

I would suggest that you treat mag pickups as a maintenance item, no different than you would have done with an old set of points. I've learned the hard way that mag pickups can and will fail at the most inopportune moments. I even keep a spare in the tool bag now but anytime the plugs, cap and rotor get changed, so does the mag pick-up. Cheap insurance (edit: also make sure that your tool bag has the right extended Allen wrench to R&R it as well).
Reply With Quote
  #10 (permalink)  
Old 09-12-2020, 01:01 PM
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Cobra Make, Engine: Backdraft #360
Posts: 77
Not Ranked     
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by S1965C View Post
I would suggest that you treat mag pickups as a maintenance item, no different than you would have done with an old set of points. I've learned the hard way that mag pickups can and will fail at the most inopportune moments. I even keep a spare in the tool bag now but anytime the plugs, cap and rotor get changed, so does the mag pick-up. Cheap insurance (edit: also make sure that your tool bag has the right extended Allen wrench to R&R it as well).
Okay, thank you! I'll order one, but as far as the cap and rotor, do they look good? The middle post and everything else?
Reply With Quote
  #11 (permalink)  
Old 09-12-2020, 03:00 PM
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: May 2020
Cobra Make, Engine:
Posts: 78
Not Ranked     
Default

The brass on the cap could benefit from a cleanup with emery cloth or a Dremel tool (using a small drum sander) on a low rpm setting. That will extend its life a little. I would perform the same on the rotor end (the thick end that lights off each cylinder). Any misfiring and you’ll know they need replacing. I’ve seen worse caps and rotors that still managed to work okay.

Last edited by S1965C; 09-12-2020 at 03:49 PM..
Reply With Quote
  #12 (permalink)  
Old 09-12-2020, 04:25 PM
Jerry Clayton's Avatar
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Bartlett, Ill
Cobra Make, Engine: Everett-Morrison LS1
Posts: 2,448
Not Ranked     
Default

This type dist ( early GM HEI type) uses a shaft that must have the dist drive gear removed to separate the internal/external shafts------WD40 is NOT an adequte lube to properly lube the internal shaft of the advance mechanism-----This ws common symtogh back in the 60-70s on all the GM products--------timing would either resist happening and/or would not retard as RPM went up or down-----
Reply With Quote
  #13 (permalink)  
Old 12-11-2020, 03:44 AM
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Cobra Make, Engine: Backdraft #360
Posts: 77
Not Ranked     
Default

I posted an over all update in Holley 770 Questions but it wasn't until I took off the springs and weights that allowed me to find some rust on the weight posts and in the little bushings. Cleaned up and back in action.
Reply With Quote
  #14 (permalink)  
Old 12-11-2020, 07:38 AM
Average Guy
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Rushville, IN
Cobra Make, Engine: red Shell Valley, white stripes
Posts: 577
Not Ranked     
Default

I had a misfire problem that I was struggling to diagnose. As it turns out, the metal base on my big oval air cleaner had rubbed on one of the wire boots on the distributor cap to the degree that that wire was shorting to ground. The underside of the air cleaner base had a burn mark from where the spark had arced. That's not something you might normally think of, so I pass this on to, hopefully, save someone the difficult diagnostic path I had to take.
mln385 likes this.
__________________
When I said I wanted to be somebody, I probably should have been more specific...
Reply With Quote
  #15 (permalink)  
Old 12-11-2020, 02:59 PM
Gaz64's Avatar
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Brisbane, QLD
Cobra Make, Engine:
Posts: 2,773
Not Ranked     
Default

The rust on the pickup is the microscopic wear dust at the weight pivots. You can see it sprays out inside the bottom of the rotor.
There is a magnet as part of the magnetic pickup, hence the name. Guess where the dust ends up.
Clean it up as you feel, but LUBRICATE the weights with lithium, or a medium weight high melting point grease.
Your cap looks fine, clean it up with a wd40 soaked cloth. Sanding etc only creates larger air gaps.
MSD believes no lubrication other than their dry film is necessary. The rust does not occur if the weights are lubricated in the normal manner.
The same phenomenon occurs at a dry door hinge.
__________________
Gary

Gold Certified Holden Technician
Reply With Quote
  #16 (permalink)  
Old 12-11-2020, 07:37 PM
FredG's Avatar
CC Member
Visit my Photo Gallery

 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Howell, NJ
Cobra Make, Engine: Backdraft Car #1209 Roush 427R
Posts: 604
Not Ranked     
Default

Speaking from experience, the two incidents where my car ran very poorly along with stalling which had all the symptoms of a carb/fuel issue were both caused by MSD ignition issues. One was a bad MSD Blaster coil and the other was a bad magnetic pickup. They drove me crazy. Especially the pickup.

Fred
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:57 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.6.0
The representations expressed are the representations and opinions of the clubcobra.com forum members and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and viewpoints of the site owners, moderators, Shelby American, any other replica manufacturer, Ford Motor Company. This website has been planned and developed by clubcobra.com and its forum members and should not be construed as being endorsed by Ford Motor Company, or Shelby American or any other manufacturer unless expressly noted by that entity. "Cobra" and the Cobra logo are registered trademarks for Ford Motor Co., Inc. clubcobra.com forum members agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyrighted material is owned by you. Although we do not and cannot review the messages posted and are not responsible for the content of any of these messages, we reserve the right to delete any message for any reason whatsoever. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold us harmless with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s). Thank you for visiting clubcobra.com. For full policy documentation refer to the following link: CC Policy
Links monetized by VigLink