OMG! Midlife dead along side of the road!

[Midlife]

Today, while out and about for the weekend daily drive, the car felt like the transmission jumped out of gear on the highway. I looked at my tach, and found it at zero...uh oh. I tried starting the car while rolling forward without success, and pulled over on the shoulder. The problem definitely felt electrical.

I opened the hood, checked all connections, and tried to start the car: it would crank but not start. I then popped the dizzy cap off, and examined the newly refurbished distributor and the points. What's that? A bolt that holds the leads onto the points was laying on the dizzy plate! Musta vibrated off. Seems simple enough to pick up the bolt and put it on the screw, tighten it by hand and drive off. Nope...there wasn't enough room for my thick fingers to start that bolt and I had no tools or cell phone with me. Fortunately, a very nice couple in an El Camino (1977) stopped and the guy was able to start the bolt. Once tightened and the rotor cap replaced, I was able to go home and tighten it up correctly.

The points were installed by the refurbisher and I never checked for tightness of the fasteners.

 

[70 StangMan]

No basic tools in trunk ?? Shame..Shame.

 

[guruatbol]

No multitool in the glove box?

Wow, I don't believe it!

Mel

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[Opentracker]

Glad you got it fixed without having to go on the hauler.

Lesson learned ? Some Cheby guys know how to start a bolt !

 

[guruatbol]

Chebby guys have to carry tool.

Hehehehe....lol

Mel

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[Midlife]

Geez...the bolt requires a 9/32" open or box end wrench, not a common wrench size at all. The only one I have in that size is from a Snap-On ignition wrench set. I also have that size in a multi-sized socket set.

 

[jims6t6]

You just need to keep a trusty leatherman in the glove box.

 

[AzPete]

Well......it WAS a nice distributor......

Glad you got it home. You should probably contact someone who has knowledge of the electrical systems on these old cars and have him give the car a good look over for you. Parking on the road side is not fun.

 

[JeffTepper]

No basic tools in trunk ?? Shame..Shame.

Knowing Randy, the only thing in his traveling tool box is Yukon Jack !

 

[Midlife]

You just need to keep a trusty leatherman in the glove box.

That's a great idea (why didn't I think of that?)! I just ordered one from Amazon for the glove box.

 

[cmayna]

I'd prefer a leather woman in my glove box.

 

[Ponyman66]

Glad you got it home. You should probably contact someone who has knowledge of the electrical systems on these old cars and have him give the car a good look over for you. Parking on the road side is not fun.

 

[dm289]

Since nobody smokes anymore... where did you find a book of matches to set the point gap too???

A buddy laughed when they saw I had my old set of points, condenser, ignition lead wire and a book of matches in my car's toolbox... even though I have a Pertronix... I wanted to be prepared...

 

[Midlife]

Points were still screwed down to the dizzy plate; the nut/bolt issue was on the side of the points which hold down the wire connectors. I didn't have to futz with the point gap.