Need help with a Studebaker (no spark issue)
 

Alright guys,
My brother and I are trying to get my father's old '63 Studebaker Hawk running and have run into a puzzling problem. We need your help so please let the suggestions fly.

This should be a classic ignition troubleshoot problem but I am kind of stumped right now.

We get cranking and we get fuel but no spark to the plugs. I checked for spark at the coil and got nothing.

We guessed the coil was bad and swapped it for a new unit. ...still nothing. So, we checked for twelve volts to the positive cable and "I think" we're getting voltage. I used a known ground for the opposite cable to the coil so I know we have a solid ground connection.

So, apparantly, we are not getting sufficient voltage into the coil for reasons unknown. With my voltmeter, I am getting 12v from the positive lead with the key in the "on" position but it flutters around while cranking and it's hard for me to figure out what we're getting under cranking conditions because of the voltmeter display. So, does anyone have any ideas what could be the likely culprit in this scenario?

Another thing... The new coil has "external resistor required" stamped on the coil body. This also throws another question into the mix... do ignition coils need an inline resistor leading to the positive terminal? Could the old one have failed? The old positive lead wire has something that looks like it may be an inline resistor covered with plastic where it attaches to the ignition coil. The reason I ask is that I am contemplating finding another switched power source to use as the hot wire to the coil. Just to see if this is truely our problem.
I love my father but he really did quite the "backyard" number on the wiring on this car. It was his first car and by the looks of much of the wiring you can tell the work was done in his "JB Weld" days.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lee

Any pics? The Studebaker Golden Hawk is one of my favorite cars of all time!

Probably the points inside the distributor. Try new points, rotor and cap. Standard point gap is .034 if I remember correctly. A match book cover was handy in emergencies.

The Studes, (and many other cars) had stepdown resistors in line with the coil that knocked the voltage down to 6 V for normal running. The starter switch had a 12V line to the coil that was only hot while the starter was cranking, and when the key returned to normal, the circuit using the resistor was hot. The symptoms if the resistor was burned out was that it would run as long as the starter was engaged, but then die in Normal. The resistor is usually mounted on the firewall behind the distributor, and is a 4 in ceramic piece. (at least on the 59 and older).

Hope this helps.

Jack

should have a wire coming from the distributor to the coil (-) - if I read correctly you have the coil permanently grounded.

Points inside the distributor are to supply ground when coil is between firing, opening the points causes ground point to be shifted to plugs - voltage is raised thru AC switching then boom. voltage at (+) should be less than 12V - it's stepped down with either a ceramic resistor or resistance wire.

So, change the (-) back to distributor trigger wire.

rjp

Thanks for the great advice fellas. The problem turned out to be the points. A bit of sandpaper and we were off to the races.

Now it appears the thermostat may be stuck as it apparantly wants to over heat. Also, as long as my father has owned this car he complained of vaporlock and other hot running problems.
So, this is now my quest to resolve these problems. The Hawk is a beast with a 289 and a 4:10 rear end. As you all can probably guess I'm pretty new to older cars as I've never owned one that utilized points.
So, it's going to take some time to figure everything out.
I'll post some pictures soon for those that are interested.

That Hawk is a great car!!!! Can't wait to see it.......

Points are a little goofy if you have not dealt with them before, but wonderful once you get used to them. At least, troubleshooting is a snap. You've got points, condenser and coil. If they work and are connected, you get spark.

Yep...and a set of points & condensor in the glove box take up hardly any room. Lee, beware of the sandpaper trip...it can leave unwanted grit in the distributor. An old timer wrench told me to use clean paper, folded...

Make sure that you do have a thermostat of some kind in it, as the motor won't cool evenly without it. The water won't be distributed evenly to both sides of the block. Also, your timing will have a great effect on how hot they run, so be sure it is close to spec.

And double check that points gap...maybe the owner's manual will tell you, if you have one? In the old days, most USA cars were 16 thousandths, or as mentioned earlier, about the width of a paper folding matchbook cover.

Depending on the distributor, the dwell is either easy or a pain in the a$$. Some studebakers had a Delco type distributor with a window in the side of the cap so that the dwell can be set with an allen wrench while running. The prestolite distributor was another story, where you have to set the gap, then see what the dwell is, and then open or close the gap as necessary. And then there is the dual point version of the Prestolite, for those that really like tearing their hair out...