1964 dies after it gets warm

Maughan

Member
I've got a 1964 Scout 80 that I've been restoring over the last three years..
I swamped in a 196 4cylinder for the 152... I rebuilt the motor completely.. New cam.. I've put in a pertronix ignition and matched the coil to the ignition..

So here's what's happening: it starts right up immediately without any struggle at all.. And runs perfect for a few minutes until it gets hot and then it starts to stumble and then finally it dies..

I thought at first I might be giving it too much fuel, cause it smelled strong, so I thought I'd check the jet size, and from what I could find online about which size to use, I found that mine was a few sizes too large.. It had a 56 in and I put a 53 in its place..

Just tried it out and it started right up again and ran fine until it warmed up and then the same thing.. Started to stumble and then it died..

So now I'm thinking its ignition related..

Does any of this sound familiar to someone?? What do you think more dealing with.. Cause I don't really know where to start..
 
When it starts to die give it a shot of carb cleaner down the carb and see if it continues to run for a bit. If not look down the carb, is fuel dripping? If neither of the above perhaps it is electrical.

The main jets have almost no effect during idle. How if the float needle leaks faster then fuel is used during idle, the fuel level in the carb will rise until the engine floods with fuel qnd dies.
 
It's getting fuel.. So if it's electrical, like maybe the pertronix how could I check that?? This unit is brand new.. If it's bad, do the warranty their stuff?
 
Make sure the pertronix is getting full voltage, by that I mean what the alternator is putting out, typically around 14 volts with the motor running. If you have a resistor wire or ballast resistor, they need to go, or get bypassed. To check this, you can run a temporary jumper wire from the positive battery terminal to the + side of the ignition coil and see if it starts back up. Be warned that you will have to disconnect the jumper wire to turn it off. One way to get around the resistor wire from the ignition switch, is to disconnect it at the ignition coil, and run it to the coil of a 12 volt dc relay. Ground the other side of the relay coil, and your ignition switch will turn on the relay. Then run 12 volts from the battery through the normally open contacts of the relay to the + of the ignition coil where the resistor wire originally went. Fyi, like points, most versions of the pertronix ignitors won't survive very long if you leave the ignition on without the motor running.
 
I'll check the voltage output.. Sense I've done a full restoration I reworked the wiring harness knowing I was going with the pertronix.. I removed the ignition resistor wire..
 
It doesn't act like it.. In fact when it starts stumbling, my first thought was that it was getting too much gas, but it doesn't matter what I do with the throttle it won't clean up.. I could be wrong but it feels like it's losing ignition..
 
What carb does this have? The old 1904 mixers are manual choke. Simple cable pull to close when cold and push open when hot. If that isn't working right, or there's some auto choke carb on there that isn't opening when it should...but you'd also have black smoke from the exhaust to tell you it was running too Rich.

Does the coil get hot to the touch after a couple minutes of running? I don't just mean warm, I mean painfully hot.

Can you show us some good pictures of this engine?
 
Have you tried hooking a volt meter to the ignition coil + side to see if the voltage changes when the problem occurs? I would also try popping the distributor cap off to check if the ignitor module is very hot to the touch right after the engine cuts out. Also chappies first post about the float needle valve is a good one. You said its getting fuel, if you smell gas, it probably getting too much.
 
it doesn't act like it.. In fact when it starts stumbling, my first thought was that it was getting too much gas, but it doesn't matter what I do with the throttle it won't clean up.. I could be wrong but it feels like it's losing ignition..

After it quits running, is the coil hot?
 
It's got a Holley 1920 brand new carb with a manual choke that's working. I haven't checked the coil yet, but will tomrrow. I'll check the voltage at the coil as well when it quits.. What should I be seeing??
 
it's got a Holley 1920 brand new carb with a manual choke that's working. I haven't checked the coil yet, but will tomrrow. I'll check the voltage at the coil as well when it quits.. What should I be seeing??

You have not resistor and the pertronix module, so you will see battery/system voltage at the coil. But then you would also with a resistor if the engine is off and the points are open.

You say you matched the coil to the ignition? It is the recommended blaster coil?
 
Back
Top