Ted,

If you watch the valves for cyl 4.  When the exhaust valve is open the pistons are driving upward.  Cyl 4 is driving to exhaust and cyl 1 is getting to the firing position and is in the compression stroke. 

When cyl 4 exhaust valve closes you are roughly at TDC for both Cyl 4 exhaust stroke and cyl 1 TDC compression stroke.   If you continue turning the crank cyl 4 intake valve will open while cyl 1 is in the power stroke driving down after the plug has fired. 

When cyl 4's exhaust valve closes just before cyl 4's intake valve opens you are at TDC on cyl 1 or just a couple of degrees before TDC cyl 1.   PS... At this point the rotor should be under the distributor caps # 1 plug wire and the points should have just opened.

I hope this helps,  Chet...

Ted,

I am sure you have considered all this but I think it would be easy to mix up.   If you are using cyl 4 to find TDC on cylinder 1 than you need to determine tdc of cylinder 4 after ignition on the exhaust stroke.   Just at the point the exhaust valve closes for cyl 4 will you be at or near TDC for cyl 1.  The intake valve will open right after the exhaust valve for cyl 4 when cyl 1 leaves TDC.

You might just be 180 out with your timing.   Just something to check.  I can write the word 'you' instead of the word 'your' and read it over and over again and never see the mistake.  Just the way our human brains work, or at least my screwed up brain.

I hope this helps you.., we all would like to hear that you are back on the road.

Chet...

Quote from: SteveG on May 29, 2014, 04:16:42 PM
Thanx for the info. Very helpful.

When I do this job, it is good to good to hear neoprene seals are available.

Also interesting to note that your oil pressure is similar to mine.

My car is losing oil, about a quart per 150 miles. I'm assuming it is burning oil because of wear. Strangely it does not smoke and runs strong.

I'm not going to worry abut it, just curious.

Does yours lose or burn oil?

Thanx for your comments.

SteveG

Hi Steve,

My old car uses about the same.  I think it burns as much as it leaks.  But like you I don't blow a lot of smoke and I don't drive that many miles anyway.  One of these days I hope to get around to doing some major wrenching on this car.  For now more projects then time.

Chet...

Roland,

Did you ever resolve the problem ?

Chet...

I agree with the old man.  These engines will run with a lot out of spec.  When this problem first occurred you were encountering backfiring through the carb and the exhaust.  This to me indicates some major event.  You have verified compression, spark, and gas so all that can be wrong now is these are not coming together at the right time. 

I have found over the years when a good technician is looking at the same things for more then 2 days the problem is someplace else, otherwise they would have found it.  You must be missing something in your troubleshooting process or your timing method.

I know this doesn't help much but you need to do something different.  Take a different approach think back to when this first occurred and approach it differently.

Chet...

Quote from: Rusty on May 26, 2014, 11:03:45 PM
I got my model A carb off ebay.  Few hundred bucks for a fresh rebuilt one. My 29 is a daily driver in the summer and with the addition of electric fuel pump, very reliable.

The nice thing about driving the 29 during rush hour is that no body can go any faster than you.  The problem is not having disk brakes.  If you leave enough space somebody jumps in and hits their disk brakes and then it's.  Oh! baby...  Unless you live rural then you're the other car on the road.

Chet...

John,

I would think that if the wheel alignment was off the car would pull to the left all the time.  It seems to me that the left brake is grabbing harder then the right.   I would redo the brake shoe alignment course and fine adjustments.   As far as the hydraulics are concerned unless you have an air bubble on the right side all the cylinders will exert the same pressure to the shoes.   Sounds to me like the shoes on the right side are not adjusted so the majority of the brake shoe catches the drum surface.

My two cents, Chet...

Dave,

Really nice work.  A little black paint and the average person won't know the difference.   

Chet...

Frank,

It sounds like you are on the right track also.  I started running all the gas out of my snow blower, generator, and power washer.  They are all 4 stroke engines.  It seems that the longer they sit the harder it is to get them going again.   Unlike the chain saw which is a two stroke engine.  That can sit around for years and start right up.  At least it did last summer.  Since I have been running them dry of gas when I am finished with them, they give me less trouble when I need them again.  Hopefully blowing out the jets will do the trick. 

Chet...

Frank,

It sounds like it is starving for gas.  Of course a major vacuum leak will create the same issue.  Is the vacuum fuel pump filled with enough gas to keep the old girl running ?  Sitting for a time might have caused the gas to evaporate and it might need a little priming.  Is everything tight on the intake side, carb included ?

My 2 cents..  Chet...

I have heard that back in the day some would say that automobiles went downhill when they put steel wheels on them. 

I believe wire wheels were available on the 29 but I am not sure if they are a bolt on with the 32 PB.  I am sure others will chime in on this.

Welcome to this site,

Chet...

Hi Ian,

Your car even with the Easter break issues is really looking Great !!  I hope to start restoring mine sometime in 2015.  I really like your color choice of finish paint.  Driving at night must have been fun, hopefully no traffic.

Chet...

Roland,

From the audio you sent it appears that the engine is responsive and accelerates when you rev it.  The point being is that if it was starving for gas I think it would be hard to rev or if you tried rapid acceleration it would stall and lose all acceleration power.

My car misses every now and again but not to the extent of your audio.  I am sure you have checked for leaks around the intake manifold and the carburetor, all bolts snug.  Maybe someone else will hear the audio and share some wisdom.  To me it still sounds electrical.  Something arcing lowering the sparkplug output.  You don't appear to be backfiring so the mechanical timing seems correct.  For these old engines the vacuum being steady confirms the mechanical timing is correct.  I am still leaning toward electrical.  If you are using a modern wire set your wires may be a little to resistive.  Modern carbon based wires are used to suppress EMI and RFI.  Solid copper or steel wires admit a lot of Radio frequency noise but provide all the maximum amount or energy to the plugs.  Wires like this are generally not used on electronic ignition cars.  You might find these in a speed shop.  Low resistance plug wires might help.

Just a thought,  Chet...

Quote from: Roland on April 17, 2014, 01:33:56 PM
You are right – every avenue.
Capacitor is new as well!!
Distributor cap is the only thing what is not new (don't have it in spare). But a good point, will looking after one soon.
I checked the Valve adjustment as well, they are not to tight. But I must admit to my shame that I haven't done it very often. I checked the valves when they were closed and followed the Owner's Manual for Cyl. 1 and 4.
I installed a new set of plug wires this morning (not bunched together in the wire holder), haven't fire the engine yet (low battery).
The "unusually" is since I bought the car, it was never running quiet good. I haven't used the PA a lot (around 300miles after restoration), but this summer I will have him on the street as much as possible.
You are right 9PSI is low, i suspect to low. Manifold is checked for cracks. Not sure about the carb.
About your 29 - never touch a running system

Thanks Chet!!

PS: The reading I am using is BAR, I converting it to psi.

I added to my post "21 inch of mercury = 10.31 psi   So 9 psi at idle may not be a problem if you are measuring in psi." 
21 inch of mercury = 0.711 Bar

Sorry for all the trouble but it is a good problem to get the old brain working. 

Roland,

Sounds like you have been down every avenue.  The engine you described sounds good.  My assumption is that you also have a new capacitor as well as the new coil.  Everything else makes it worst brings us to either spark or gasoline.  I had an 8 cylinder that drove me nuts which had a new distributor cap that got a good deal of moisture in it due to a rather large puddle.  Even after it along with everything else was dried out and after a close inspection, which turned up nothing wrong,  the motor would misfire like it had bad wires.  Like you.., I went down every path and finally changed the distributor cap because it was the only thing I hadn't replaced twice because it was new.  Bingo the motor purred like a kitten.  Apparently after closer inspection it appeared that it was arcing from the center point randomly to the plug points.  Maybe the moisture or maybe a defective cap.  To this day I always save my old working distributor cap as a spare, just in case.
If you try the carb and it doesn't help, I would try a new set of plug wires not bunched together in the wire holder and a new distributor cap just because. 

One last quick question, anything unusually going on when this problem first showed itself.  In my case it was rain.

On Second thought 9 psi at idle I think is low.  Have you checked the intake manifold for cracks or loose bolts.  Also the carb ?  My flathead 6 cyl pulls 21 @ low idle and rock steady.  I am not sure with my 29 I don't think I have had the need to check it.  Probably should just for a point of reference.

PS... The reading I am using for vacuum is measured in inches of mercury.
21 inch of mercury = 10.31 psi   So 9 psi at idle may not be a problem if you are measuring in psi.




Chet...