Thread: Another Pontiac for the firebird

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Oh, and Bill, this thread is for my 48 pontiac silver streak.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

Oh, and Bill, this thread is for my 48 pontiac silver streak.

Oops


Bill S,

I've definitely got to rethink pulling the steering wheel, it takes too long to reach for the horn button.

Another minor issue: the voltage drop when starting will cause the radio to drop out, loose its Bluetooth link and reboot. Besides the obvious, start the car BEFORE I turn on the radio, I was thinking of adding a small battery or a large capacitor in line with the radio, and putting a diode in series to prevent the battery from discharging into the system. Anyone done something like this?

I think I'd try sourcing the fuse block accessory feed from the battery, not from the starter terminal as I expect it is now.

I hope y'all are having half as much fun with your rides as I am with my 48 pontiac silver streak. Sunday I took friends to breakfast in town, at my favorite waffle house. I still have to seal the front window halves, and the fuel guage started intermittently failing. But, this car is really enjoyable to drive.

Take it out and drive it, even if it's not finished. Life is short. Enjoy the small pleasures.

Hey y'all long time no post.

I just crawled out of a deep dark rabbit hole with the 48 pontiac Silver Streak.
Reader's Digest version:

Pickup (reluctor?) In the dizzy went flaky, misdiagnosed as bad module.
In the troubleshooting process blew the holley power valve with a backfire.
Now troubleshooting two problems.

Moral of the story:

New distributor
New carburetor
New brake booster(vacuum leak)
New fan clutch(locked up)
New power steering pump and pulley (only the pulley needed replaced)
New fittings and braided steel lines on the power steering. (Wrong fittings to begin with)

New parts on kitchen table: steel fuel lines (who thought plastic lines would be good enough? )
Fuel pump, header gaskets.

Probably should have started the fuel line replace today, but I was troubleshooting little sister's 76 VW bus. It's now running with a relay added to give direct battery voltage to coil, but new coil, wires, plugs, cap and rotor are on order. It was converted to carburetor from fuel injection, and the genius decided the coil was a perfect place to source the electric fuel pump. Or was that factory genius? Anyway it's running now and will run better when the new parts arrive and get installed.

Happy new year!

To better explain on the bus:

Sourcing the fuel pump off the coil probably triples the power requirement of the stock 16AWG wire (ok, it's german, so it is NOT AWG but MIL - I digress...) and the battery is right next to the engine, so putting in a relay to power the coil straight from the battery eliminates probably 30 feet of 16AWG wire, and therefore gives a couple extra volts at start.

Little sister's 76 VW bus is kicking my ass!
Reader's Digest version:

It wouldn't start.
Added relay to put battery straight to coil, made it start and run
New flamethrower coil, it ran awesome
Changed plugs and cap, now it won't run above idle.
Put old plugs back in, runs slightly better.

Verified points opening, condenser looks new, Verified firing order, spark looks a bit weak.

I'm at a loss. Tomorrow I'll re-verify firing order at compression stroke #1 cylinder.

Have you measured resistance values between the 2 coils? Some have an internal resistor (GM & IHC) and some use external resistance (Ford & Mopar) You may have "stacked" resistors and knocked voltages to low??? Just a guess at 5 am.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

It was converted to carburetor from fuel injection, and the genius decided the coil was a perfect place to source the electric fuel pump. Or was that factory genius?

First, I'd think that the output of your relay should be to the electric fuel pump, not the coil. Leave the coil wired directly from the ignition switch. It's not a big deal but just makes good sense to me.

If it indeed "...ran awesome" with the new flamethrower coil, old cap & plugs then it makes sense that something in your R&R of the cap & plugs caused the problem, right? Good luck with the chase!

Thanks for the feedback!

It was the points all along. The new street fire coil (not the flamethrower, sorry) was frying the points almost instantly.

I want to swap to an electronic distributor which can handle the new coil.

Sounds like you're missing the ballast resistor. It's supposed to have 12V to the coil for start, then reduced voltage for run to keep from burning up points. The hotter spark coil doesn't affect the voltage going through the points.