No spark – ‘56 Firestone 30HP

[jpatti75]

Gang,

I’m not getting spark on either cylinder on my Firestone 30HP, which I converted to the OMC universal coils. This model originally had Phelon coils. I also have rebuilt condensers with modern capacitors and both the coils and the condensers test to spec on my meter (but that, of course, does reflect under load conditions). And the points are nice and shiny — gapped to .020 and they are opening and closing on the cam as they should. But, despite all this, neither cylinder will light up my little spark tester. While I am going through everything again, one thing that I haven’t seen with Phelon points until this motor are little copper L-shaped hold down brackets that helps hold the point assembly down to the mag plate. While part of the L- bracket is insulated, I’m wondering if perhaps the L-bracket could be grounding the points, as the end of the L bracket has exposed copper that I believe makes contact with the mag plate base. I’ve attached a picture of the bracket below. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
JP

[frankr]

I don’t remember it, but I assume it is a kill switch to stop the motor when throttle is way down past “SLOW” ? As a test, can you remove them and see you get spark?

• This reply was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by frankr.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by frankr.

[jpatti75]

Thanks, Frank … I’ll give that a try tomorrow. This motor is going to fight me every step of the way. Ha!

JP

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