VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 It's just not running right.

Okay, we've gotten our '33 Eagle out of mothballs with some triumphs and a few tragedies, but it's just not running right.

It seems to be missing, it backfires all-too frequently.

We've replaced the coil, plugs and wires. It puts out one HECK of a spark … I'll bet it'll just 3/4 an inch. We my father pulled the #1 wire off, it "bit" him and he dropped it. It was then jumping through the boot and paint on the fender, presumably to the metal beneath.

We've adjusted the tappets to .008 and .010. It doesn't rattle.

All six cylinders have virtually identical compression … 75 psi. That's decent, isn't it? But at least they're all consistent, which would seem almost more important.

If you pull off ... ahh, crud, I can't remember the firing order, so I'm going to say #1 is closest to the fan and they just go back to #6 at the firewall. I know that's not the order, but if you follow that, you'll know what I mean.

If you pull off the plug wire on #1 or #2, it'll keep running at an idle with little difference in note. Pull off either #3 or #4, and it dies; #5 and #6, and it doesn't sound but slightly worse than pulling off #1 or #2

Yet, it'll still pull itself up onto a flatbed trailer. It'll pull at a lot lower RPM than I'm comfortable with. (Too much time in my Toyota, I'm sure.)

Thoughts? Anyone willing to volunteer to have me call them and hold the phone next to the motor and tailpipe?

The filming experience, from a car point of view, has been good ("'33 HELP!" subject). Our wranglers have some idea of what they're asking of the Picture Cars and their drivers. So do their wranglers. I'm pretty sure, however, that the director himself either does not, or doesn't care. There is a lot of standing around and waiting for SOMETHING, but not knowing what. Then when it's time to go somewhere, it's absolutely right now, with people literally running to get things started and moving.

However, there has been one tragedy. We were hauling the car on an open trailer … had done so before with no problem … on Saturday, and we looked back, and there was something poking up off the top of the coupe.

We stopped to investigate.

Our soft-top insert is just plain GONE. Everything from the wire screen up. Tore up the headliner a little bit too.

Of course that was all original, so that's fairly upsetting.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a place to get an estimate for replacing the top and headliner?

Grianainech (Michael)

Oh, yeah,

I forgot to mention that we seem to have gotten the fuel tank cleaned out. We dropped a length of chain inside (After removing the gauge unit of course) and tumbled that around inside for quite a while, then flushed the tank at a high pressure and fairly high heat for about half an hour, alternating between the four holes (filler, drain plug, gauge hole and line out to the engine).

We've now got a clear, in-line filter just in front of the sediment bulb, and with a few gallons through, the filter's still as clean as can be.

The firing order is 1-5-3-6-2-4

Try advancing the timing some more. Fool around with the timing and find where it runs the best. Timing light is not necessary.

May be cross firing in the disrtibutor cap.....Same cap as used on many tractors with a Delco ign. system.

i would double check the ignition wires for the correct fireing order . also does the engine have the correct intake and exhaust manifold . hope this helps

You will want to make sure the point gap is correct and not to much side play in the dist. shaft. Also check for vacumn leaks at the manifold.