[dhomsey]

car 74 pontiac 455 eng. (drive once or twice a month) problem: car starts, revs up, then dies. try to re-start, it floods, have to wait an hour then it runs fine as long as I rev it high for about a minute. Now it will not start. (eng just turns) popped the MSI distributer cap and saw a pale green color on the points. (no buid up on contacts or ignition rotor ) but looking further down, I could see there was a lot of rust above the distr. gear. next...checked a couple of plugs for carbon build up. looked fine, however, plug wire won't stay connected to spark plug now. push it in and it keeps falling off. I never messed with any of this before so suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[T-bucket23]

Sounds more like a choke or fuel issue to be honest. If the choke is not opening a little when it first starts, it will flood and die quickly. Sitting for a while will ry the gas out and it will restart. If this has the original carb setup there should be a vacuum operated choke pull off on the right side of the carb. When the engine is cold the choke should close, as soon as it starts the vacuum pull off shold open the choke about 3/16 or so.

Chet

[dhomsey]

Here are some pictures of the engine

[oldbogie]

Originally Posted by dhomsey

Here are some pictures of the engine

Is this in a boat? I haven't seen so much corrosion in a distributor, perhaps ever. Just throw this baby away and get a new one, the cost and time to fix this will be more than replacing it. Then drive it more often and try to park it some where dryer.

Bogie

[dhomsey]

Your right! seems to be a fuel issue. fuel pump turns over but very little gas entering carb. how do I fix this myself? MSD racing fuel pump/filter (life time warranty). rebuilt last year by MSD .Could just send it back but takes about a month/ (fyi.. no choke). it's been locked open (I guess for racing). It has the shaker hood which is notorious for allowing water on the engine. Car cover causes more problems with the 100 %humidity and temps in Fla.

[dhomsey]

as far as spark plug... crimped the wire with pliers where it connects to plug. stays on now