Thread: SBC 283.. 66 Impala

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Originally Posted by falconvan

I had the same problem on a 65 Chevy truck and it turned out to be a short in the ignition circuit. Run a 12 gauge wire from the hot side of the battery to the + post of the coil with a toggle switch and ballast resistor in between. (take the old wire off of the + post, also) use the switch for your ignition on/off. Drive it a while and see if the problem goes away.

.. New coil and points now the car wont start at all but will turn over. I chked the power to the + side of coil with old and brand new one on and its only reading 6 volts however battery is at 12. Is this normal or can we put this to the switch?

Originally Posted by CHEVYLV3R

.. New coil and points now the car wont start at all but will turn over. I chked the power to the + side of coil with old and brand new one on and its only reading 6 volts however battery is at 12. Is this normal or can we put this to the switch?

There's a resistor wire in between the ignition switch and the points. If you're bypassing this wire to test it, go to the parts store and get a ballast resistor for an early 70's Duster and run it inline with the switch and then to the + on the battery. Another thing worth mentioning is to check the wire that goes from the - side of the coil, into the distributor, and to the points. Make sure it's not cracked where it goes into the distributor or it could be grounding to the distributor casing and killing your spark.

Ok im not sure about this resistor wire but I do see two wires to the + of the coil. One is red and one is white and they are linked together with a lead. They both are leading down to starter but cant find were the white wire goes. The - side of coil only has the black to the distributor and seems to be fine. I used a Volt/Dwell/Rpm Meter to chk the + side of Coil and it was reading 6 volts with the key turned on (not turning over).. this is all new to me and I am trying to learn but not having any luck atm. Notice the ones im holding are the ones im talking about. the taped off wires are to a blower relay that is on order. If u need any other pics let me know.

here are the pics

Good friend, maybe, but don't let him touch your car anymore for starters.
Sounds like the choke is stuck shut or sticking. Use a clothspin to clamp it open to temporarily get it running, except now your "friend" probably has the timing all out of whack. Also check the points. They may have went shut if they were just worked on, the screw maybe wasn't tightened down and if they didn't lube them the rubbing block goes away real fast. I would change them out for a petronix. Very simple to install.
Also this is pretty remote and would only apply if it had the original exhaust but that vintage of GM cars came with a double wall pipe and there were known for the inner pipe to collapse shut. You couldn't see it from the outside. A vacuum gauge will show it right away and usually they will start spitting gas back out the carb just before it dies.

I'm afraid your simple choke problem has now turned into trying to fix the stuff that other people muddled up.
BTW, the ground strap is supposed to be under the screw, not jammed under the frame of the points.