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Not firing

I recently bought a frankensteined 1961 f100 with a 390 and 1 ton running gear. I got myself pretty deep in this hole of a problem. I bought the truck and she ran. Carb was blowing fuel everywhere and it has a busted MSD electronic ignition module in the distributer cap. I swapped the card to a big shiny 4bbl 750cfm that I had laying around, went to fire it up and the msd module exploded in my cap. I replaced the entire distributor with a DUI HEI. Put it on tdc, plugged my 12v wire into the ignition port on the distributor. She almost fired, but blew a fireball out the carb and now i have no spark. I guess im just spitballing to see if anyone has some input before I pull the wiring and hand re wire this monster. I can add that it is cranking strong, just not turning over and firing.
 
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got it running. In case anyone felt like chiming in at some point.

With something like that ,its hard for someone to diagnose the problems!
Its best to just try to figure it out yourself!

I'm not savvy with those electronic modules ,I still run the ancient
points set up with out issues!....smilieFordlogo

Glad that you got it figured out!...YelloThumbUp
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
got it running. In case anyone felt like chiming in at some point.

Would you like to share what you found? Many times fireballs indicate a timing or firing order problem. Interesting and disappointing the MSD literally blew up... Almost sounds like a wiring issue of some sort to get it hot like that.

Nice project. Are you sure though about the 1 ton running gear, or just the rear axle? Still has the 1/2 ton front is why I ask. Matching the gears had to be fun... Buying tires could be a pain as well.
 
Would you like to share what you found? Many times fireballs indicate a timing or firing order problem. Interesting and disappointing the MSD literally blew up... Almost sounds like a wiring issue of some sort to get it hot like that.

Nice project. Are you sure though about the 1 ton running gear, or just the rear axle? Still has the 1/2 ton front is why I ask. Matching the gears had to be fun... Buying tires could be a pain as well.

You are right, i meant to say 1 ton rear end. Tires will be a pain eventually. Its got brand new tires from the previous owners, and this is only a winter driver, so I should be good for some time. The guy that had it before the kid i bought it from obviously put a lot of work into this thing. He did the 1 ton axle, it has overload leaf springs as well as coil overs. Converted it from the 282 to the 390. Its a pretty cool old truck.
 
Would you like to share what you found? Many times fireballs indicate a timing or firing order problem. Interesting and disappointing the MSD literally blew up... Almost sounds like a wiring issue of some sort to get it hot like that.

Nice project. Are you sure though about the 1 ton running gear, or just the rear axle? Still has the 1/2 ton front is why I ask. Matching the gears had to be fun... Buying tires could be a pain as well.

The MSD converter was similar to "MSD Ignition 501". It looks like it wasnt installed properly and floated in the dizzy cap. The rotor was shaving it down when it passed and it finally just shattered all the internals. I tracked down a bad splice in my ignition wire. Once I fixed that the truck started up first turn of the key. Water pump sprung a leak and the radiator they had installed didnt fit, so Ill be swapping those out this weekend.
 
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Sparky83

Virginia Chapter member
5,566
219
Norlina NC
sounds like a fun project.. glad you got it going.. keep us updated...
 
Took her out for her maiden voyage yesterday. Motor runs smooth as silk. I have a nasty exhaust leak on the passenger side exhaust manifold that will need to be addressed soon.
 
Awesome! I just got my tapatalk installed on my new phone. My old one died a couple of months ago so I've been out of the loop. It sounds like you had an issue only you could find though.

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
 

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