1967 Barracuda 4 Speed 273 back fire issue

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areg

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I acquired the car from up north and attempted a 16 hour drive to bring her home 8 hours into the trip the car started to back fire and sputter so needless to say she made it home on the back of a 20 foot flat bed.
First thing I noticed was the rotor had a small crack on the tip and the cap also had a crack in it so I replaced them along with the points it did not do much to help the car. Additionally, the dizzy was also way off so I walked the gear to get it pointing to #1, while it was out I noticed the shaft had a cut in it like someone had tried to hacksaw it at some point so I picked up a new distributor. Set the point gap to 17 and she fired up but if I give it gas she dies. Thought it might be a bad carb since the timing was in place so I bought a used 2 barrel carb put it on same thing. After a while the car would not even start so I noticed that the points were fried sanded them down and re-gapped them fires up running ruff though. I remember the PO told me it was running bad and they had changed out the coil thought maybe coil was wrong for the car so I changed it out along with the ballast resistor..no changes.
Now number cyl #1 and 3 are not firing. Car is not idling well at all, but previously I had checked the vacuum and it was not bouncing around much at all and compression while not great is 107 - 94 at worst..
As an additional bonus the starter has a bad bendix system and it has gotten stuck before so much so that you could smell something brewing such that it may have been acting as a secondary alternator possibly frying something since it would not disengage...since then if you turn key off the car will not shut off seems like there is still juice in the terminal only option is to pull the cord from the coil.
The iron lady needs some desperate love atm…open to any ideas on how to mend the relationship.
 
ideas on how to mend the relationship?
Speak kindly, offer $$/repairs, and she`ll come around:thumblef:
I think you know your looking @ a new starter, plus going through your wiring harness and bulkhead connectors. have fun, good luck
 
Well I unplugged just about every electrical connector under the hood and plugged them back in nice and tight fired up the iron lady and had her running really good. Was actually thinking I could take her out for spin next thing it started back firing again sorta Dr. Jeckle & Mr. Hyde deal but I noticed that the ballast resistor started to smoke and I tried to turn off the car but with the key in the off position it would not turn off ended up pulling the cable off the coil. Checked the points they were fried again and the coil was really hot.
 
I'll venture a guess here and I'm certainly no expert but it sounds like to me you may have troubles in the ignition switch.

With all the damage to the ignition system, for example burned points, fried ballast resistor, hot coil, that would suggest to me that somehow the 12V the coil sees during "start" is not dropping back to the 8V it should have in "run"

Another clue it may be in the switch is you said you couldn't turn off the engine with the key and you had to yank the coil wire. I'd be looking at the ignition switch and possibly replacing it with a known good one.
 
Starter not disengaging, engine not stopping at off, all point at the ignition switch or the wiring to/from it. I think it would hold systems hot and drain the battery too if this were the case. Hmmm... If it was mine I guess I would just dive into the wiring, taking my time to find and fix all of its faults. Anything that has been touched by previous owners is suspect in my mind too. If there is aftermarket radio, etc.. I undo all of their wiring and go back to stock configuration rather than spend time studying what they've done.
 
I'm with Redfish on this one too. Sounds like you may have a bad ignition switch, starter, possible bad distributor, wiring etc. You may also check your compression (after you replace the starter) and change that darn timing chain. Reality to me says you're due for a new or rebuilt engine.
 
Definitely all good points...here. Going to check the wires for faults this week then install the starter and a new switch. Any additional feefback is welcome and since I don't have a shop manual any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks again for all the input as I am a car guy but far from a mechanic.
 
cudajim said:
I'm with Redfish on this one too. Sounds like you may have a bad ignition switch, starter, possible bad distributor, wiring etc. You may also check your compression (after you replace the starter) and change that darn timing chain. Reality to me says you're due for a new or rebuilt engine.
Click to expand...

Working my way through it this fish ain't getting away..
 
Ahhhh the memories, I used to own a completely orig 70 super bee and it did just about the same thing as yours, The problem was the result of two errors in wiring that were easy to correct. after numerous ignition, points, starter, alternator swaps I finally found the culprit(s). The ballast resistor smoking was my clue, the wiring from there to the fire wall connector had gotten discolored and while I was unwrapping the wiring at the firewall connector I noticed a little black stuff powdering out of the wiring. separation of all the wires and a full inspection revealed the connector had failed between a few contacts and started the ball rolling. As they would intermittently shorted to each other I had the same symptoms. acted like my timing chain had slipped..with your distrib reclocking I still wouldn't rule that one out!. anyway...I fixed the firewall connector and had great improvement..but still was acting funny, slow cranking and hard starts, would die..so looked more and found the ground from the block to the firewall just hanging...screw had dropped out of firewall. replacing that and hardware and my troubles were over. easy cranking, no more intermittent starter hangs, no backfires stalls or jumps.
Hope this helps, I am an aircraft electronic technician and most all of the problems I see boil down to wiring causing component failures.

Good Luck!:thumbup:
 
Unfortunatly, I hit a bit of impasse...but I'm back on talking terms with the iron lady. Looks like I'll need to find the following bits:
20131002_125236_zpse528e895.jpg

20131002_125227_zps81b271e2.jpg

If someone can point me in the right direction that would be great....
 
Well, Mopar wiring systems aren't quite as bad as Lucas (Prince Of Darkness), but they do have their shortcomings that need attention. maybe you can get some used wiring from your local wreckers or a parts car.
 
The bulkhead connector is part of the dash wiring harness. I don't know who makes the connector in repop. It is out there somewhere as there would be no repop dash harnesses otherwise.

Year One has the dash harness 67 Barracuda for a cool $445.99 (HU306A). This harness connects everything but the steering column. Considering the past problems with the ignition switch and the value of your time, this may be a good investment.

I used YOs wiring for the Demon which was missing wiring from the firewall forward. Yes it's pricey, but I didn't have to ring out wiring and re-do half fast connections. Quality of the connectors and wire was good on what I bought.
 
the link I gave has the bulkhead connector listed in it. I agree with 2 darts though the YO engine lighting harness is affordable and a correct direct replacement for less than 200. I think I paid 145 for mine on special. I rebuilt my dash harness.

Bulkhead Connectors
66-74 A Body bulkhead connector $70.00
 
Rocky_JS said:
the terminals are "packard 56" type. Napa carries in the weather pack catalog.

i'll look through my spare dash harnesses and see if I have a good bulkhead and connectors.
http://www.evanswiring.com/catalog.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link...ordered the parts fun should start soon. Buying the harness would of killed all the fun...but seriously now I can use my soldering gun last time I used it was 20 plus years ago when I was playing with my RC cars.
 
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