1.7 Ignition Problems

[LarsonJL7]

I have a '73 1.7 with a dual carb swap that is having ignition problems.
About a month ago the car died after a big backfire then wouldn't start back up. Found I wasn't getting any spark to the plugs and changed out the distributed with a 009 and it ran fine for about two weeks.
Now I get spark randomly to the plugs and the car won't stay running. If I pull a plug and turn the engine over with the ignition on it will misfire every 5-6 seconds while I crank the engine over.

I bought new plugs, wires, a petronix svda 034 distributer with vac advance and petronix 3 ohm coil. Installed everything and now with the 034 distributer I get no spark at all. I put back in the 009 distributer and I get the same problems as before.

I have a good 12v to the coil, everything appears to be set right, 12 degrees on distributer alignment at TDC, points over #1 tower, 1-4-3-2 CW firing order, etc.

I went through the tech articles and the Hayes manual suggestions with no luck.

Any suggestions??? I'm at my wits end here....

[porschetub]

Have you checked each piston @ TDC in relation to distributer firing order?,are the valve clearances ok?
My understanding is the 034 Pertronics must run a low resistance coil,was that in the kit?,very good set-up by the way
My setup came with a Lucas low resistance coil sorry I don't have it nearby the check the value.
Report back.

Edit sorry didn't read post properly you have the right coil,cheers.

[bare 1]

You don't say anything about your distributor cap and rotor. What condition are they in?

[larrym]

multiple problems

your 034 is probably not wired correctly - else it would act same as the 009 - or you fried the Pertronix in the wiring process - go out to the Pertronix site and get the pdf troubleshooting files - they tell you how to test it - or just google pertronix & you will find a couple dozen links

i recently put an 034 in my Manx & it work s like a charm


now - as for the 009 or the oem dizzy acting the same with intermittent running - your problem is somewhere else - not in the dizzy -

most likely you have a loose wire or bad ground or bad switch or similar that reacts to being bounced & jounced

the easiest way to troubleshoot this is to direct wire from the battery to the coil (via a temp switch so you don't fry the coil !!!)

if it runs OK direct wired you can then hunt backwards thru the oem wires & switch for the culprit

if it still acts up when direct wired - it is either the coil (oops - not coil cuz you put in a new one) or something loose in the dizzy like maybe that little wire from the points to the wiring block grounding on the housing (but since 2 dizzies act that way, not too likely)

.

[LarsonJL7]

porschetub - I have the coil that goes with the dizzy from petronix and checked that I am at TDC.

bare 1 - everything is new including the dizzy, coil, cap, rotor, wires, plugs, etc.

larrym - the 034 is wired per the manual(only a hot and ground pretty straight forward). I'll check for the troubleshooting guide, I thunk I might have got a dud.
The grounds all test good and I get full voltage to the coil but I will try the direct power source the next go around.

Thanks for the suggestions hopefully I can get this thing figured out.

[LarsonJL7]

Turned out to be a bad dizzy from Pertronix. I talked to a tech and went through their tests and found it to be defective.
Had to pay to ship it back to them to get it fixed and it took about 3 weeks to receive it back. No apology, no refund for shipping, etc.....
Put it in yesterday and it started up.
Thanks for all the help.