Harley Earle started missing under acceleration, then got worse until I couldn't get it home. Contacted mechanic who had just done a tune-up, described symptoms. He opined that the advance plate was worn, instructed me to remove the vacuum advance and see if that cured the roughness; if it did, he said, I'd need a new distributer.
I did, and it did. I ordered and received a new distributor from Bob's Memoribilia.
When I went out to replace it, I discovered that the screw which anchors the wire from the condenser was missing. When the vacuum advance operated, it pulled the wire out of contact with ground. When the plate was in the normal position, the wire grounded. And the #$!%@#$ little screw was still in evidence inside the distributor. I replaced it and the car ran fine.
Moral: look for @#$##$$! loose little screws befoe ordering expensive parts.
Senior Member
When I rebuilt my '50, I wired the points to ground by accident... The engine would only fire when I had a dwell meter hooked up! The motor wouldn't start, so I hooked up the dwell meter. It looked OK so I tried to fire it again. It started but ran really bad. I messed with the timing, carb etc. nothing made it better. finally I get PO'd and yank the dwell meter off and the engine dies!! huh??? I rechecked the distributor and found the wire mounted to the ground screw on the condensor!!
Mark
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