QuestionDear Mr. Benjamin,
I read a question wrote to you about a man who was have trouble starting his 1950 Chevy pickup. He said that it ran fine and then would not start. I do not know if it would not start after it was converted to 12 volts or not. I have a truck which was also converted to a 12 volt system. It has to have a ballast resistor to drop the voltage from 12 to 6 volts before the coil. I was told that 12 volts will fry the points in the distributor. He said the spark was weak, so maybe the 12 volts has fryed the points.
AnswerI don't recall the other person's question, (I've answered about 1500 questions on here!), but yes, if the truck has been converted to 12 volts, it either has to have a 12 volt coil with the right ballast resistor installed, or the points will be overloaded and have a short life.
But tell me more about the symptoms, and maybe I can keep you from throwing money at the problem.
Check number one is to remove a spark plug, connected it to the spark plug wire, then lay it down on something metal that is gounded (like the valve cover) and have someone crank the engine while you watch the end of the spark plug. If you see a spark jump from the center of the plug to the outer part, then you have spark, and your ignition system isn't your problem.
Next, reinstall the plug and spray some WD-40 into the top of the carburetor while someone cranks the engine. If the engine starts, even for a second, your problem is lack of fuel. Then you can investigate the fuel pump, carburetor, fuel filter etc. to find out why.
If it doesn't start even on WD-40, something serious is wrong. It's time to do a compresssion check, check the timing of the valves etc - time for a pro to help you, in other words.
Let me know what you find out, I'll try to advise you further.
Dick.
