Early Ford V-8 Club Forum

EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / 1937 Sedan cuts out until stops

Reply to Discussion | New Discussion << previous || next >>

Posted By Discussion Topic: 1937 Sedan cuts out until stops     dirkstew 02-17-2012 @ 3:38 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 6 Joined: Feb 2010 My 1937 Fordor Humpback will drive good for about two miles then will begin to cut out then die. I've cleaned the fuel line and filter. My other thought it could be the coil. What do you think? Stroker 02-17-2012 @ 6:37 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1460 Joined: Oct 2009 Except for the seal-beam conversions and "stripped" hubcaps, that is an absolutely stunning 37! While "others" (particularly 38fordV8) will take issue with me, I offer this ancient Hot Rod truism: "Ninty-Seven point three percent of fuel problems are ignition, and vice versa". I'd send the distributor off to Skip Haney for starters, as if the coil hasn't failed, at some inconvenient time in the future, it probably will. If it turns out that it's not the coil, then any fuel problems are easy to fix, and you can eliminate the ignition. The reason I said "distributor" is that while the coil is the most expensive item to rebuild, you might as well take advantage of having the points, vacuum brake etc. set-up on a calibrated machine. trjford8 02-17-2012 @ 8:44 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 4215 Joined: Oct 2009 I agree with Stroker. Work on the ignition first. There are two types of original coils on an old Ford, those that have failed and those that are going to fail. By now almost all those old coils need to be rebuilt. A good ignition system will keep down your blood pressure and eliminate certain words from your vocabulary. It costs a few bucks to set up the ignition system with Skip, but it's money well spent especially if your wife is along on the ride. ford38v8 02-17-2012 @ 8:52 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2762 Joined: Oct 2009 Dan, what i take issue with is your percentage, and what that number represents: It was 99.9%, and it was pure Ivory Soap. You must know that, so why argue? Everything else you said is true. Alan TomO 02-18-2012 @ 7:49 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7253 Joined: Oct 2009 The coil may be your problem, but I would check the spark before removing it and sending it off. When your engine is at operating temperature, remove a wire from a spark plug and hold it near a head stud with the engine idling. The spark should be blue in color, at least 1/2" long and make a sharp crack. If it fails any one of these criteria, remove the distributor and coil, then send to Skip for rebuilding. I use an insulated screw driver in the spark plug connector to hold the wire. Other wise your heart could get a good jolt. A fuse puller will also work very well. If you have good spark, then check your fuel pump pressure and fuel delivery. Tom supereal 02-18-2012 @ 11:02 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 Your symptoms also point to a weak or open condenser. It usually takes more than a couple of miles for the coil to get hot enough to fail, unless the ignition resistor has been removed or bypassed. It is quick and cheap to swap condensers before you move on to bigger jobs. We are seeing lots of defective condensers now, and if the points don't show abnormal contact wear, we often reuse the condenser when we rebuild distributors. Robert/Texas 02-19-2012 @ 4:16 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 108 Joined: Dec 2009 Dirkstew Off topic but I was surprised and pleased to see the picture of your '37. It looks exactly like my first car that I bought in 1950 for $175. There was a shortage of used and new cars at the time and that was an awful lot of money for me to spend. The car was in really good condition for a car that had survived the war. It was a deluxe fordor touring sedan the same color as yours and with the same sealed beam conversion headlights. The only difference that I see is that mine had blackwalls and (I believe) grey hubcaps. This car was unbreakable, I had it up to 90 on the day after I got my drivers license. It continued to get a lot of punishment until I sold it. The only thing I remember that failed was I broke the front spring and both of the headlight assemblies flew off when I went over a railroad crossing too fast. I bought a similar car (green) and unrestored about two years ago and have been enjoying reliving my teen age days at a much slower pace.

<< previous || next >>

NOTE: YOU MUST BE A REGISTERED USER AND BE LOGGED IN TO POST (and reply to) messages in this forum. If you are a first time user, please click the CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT in the masthead above to register and Log In. After that, all you do is LOG IN to enjoy using this site.

DISCLAIMER: The V-8 Club does no independent testing of any of the opinions, thoughts or suggestions presented in the website on the Forum, in the Tech Tips section, or any section. A reader should consider the website to be a forum wherein differing solutions to a particular set of circumstances may be discussed. Ultimately, the selection of an item for an individual's vehicle must be based upon the independent study of the vehicle owner in consultation with people in the hobby and restoration experts.

EFV-8 Club Forum Home | Back to Home Page | Contact the Webmaster

Copyright © 2009 - EFV-8.org
Powered by < CF FORUM > v.2.1