Classic/Antique Car Repair: 1941 DeSoto, ballast resistor, compression stroke

Question
Hello Mr. Benjamin,
I have a 41 DeSoto that I have yet to get started. I was able to get it to pop once, but that was it. The car was reported to have been running about 2 years prior to my acquiring it. It has a positive ground, 6 volt system. I get spark, I brought the #1 cylinder to the top of its stroke and noticed that it did not coincide with the #1 plug wire on the distributor. It was in fact, 180 degrees off. I corrected that problem, but it still won't start. I have noticed that the coil gets quite warm as well as the positive battery cable. Could I possibly have a short and if so, would it prevent the engine from starting? What should I look for?
Thanks,
Carl

Answer
It is normal for the coil to get warm if the engine is left with the key on and not running, because current is running through the coil 100% of the time instead of only part of the time (assuming the points are closed), but if you feel the heat is excessive, investigate whether the car has a ballast resistor - I don't know for sure whether or not it originally had one, and even if it did, the coil now on the car may not require one - I'm sure the coil is not the original one now.  However, that is not going to keep the car from running.  Similarly, the battery cable getting warm or even hot is normal when you have been cranking the engine quite a bit - a 6 volt starter draws a tremenous amount of current, which will definitely heat the cables.   Both cables should get equally warm - if one is noticeably hotter, that one has a poor connection as the source of excessive heat.   However, that will not keep the car from starting either, as long as it will crank fast enough to start the engine.

I am very suspicious about that timing error.  Are you aware that the TDC situation occurs twice during the rotor's traversing 360 degrees (the engine is a 4 stroke engine, so TDC comes up on the compression stroke and also on the exhaust stroke), and only on the compression stroke should the rotor point at #1 spark plug wire.

To verify that you have the timing set right, remove the #1 spark plug and put a small piece of Kleenex tissue over the hole, then slowly rotate the crankshaft in a clockwise direction (viewed from the front of the car) until you notice the tissue being moved by air exiting the spark plug hole.  Then, slowly, and without backing up at all, bring the crank clockwise to TDC.  Now, check to see that the points are just about to open, and that the rotor is pointing at #1 plug wire.

Once you are certain of that, you can forget a timing error.  

Next, while you are cranking, mist a small puff of WD-40 into the carburetor airhorn  to see if you get even a brief sign of life from the engine.  If not, run a compression test on the engine. Ideally, you should see about 120 PSI on each cylinder, but even if you only see around 80 PSI, the engine should run, if poorly.

Any engine that has fuel, spark and compression, and is properly timed WILL RUN, just keep at it and you'll find the problem.

I wish I could be there to look over your shoulder - these are great cars, and very nice to look at - don't give up on it!

Dick