'66 electrical and timing issues

[DukeGnarley]

Ok guys, I've got a '66 that I've had sitting around for a while and it's time to sell it so i can put some money into my '65 convertible project. I haven't had the car out on the road in a few years, and since then a couple of things have stopped working, so I thought maybe you could point me in the right direction to start figuring these things out. I'm not expecting to sell this car for too much, but would like to get as much as possible for it.

Problem 1:

the left turn signal shows no light on the dash (but i can hear the blinker), and the front bulb doesn't come on, however the rear one does. The right signal is working fine, and both front bulbs are good (swapped them from side to side).

Problem 2: the heater blower won't come on.

problem 3: the vacuum advance seems to advance the engine too much, making it so it won't run. With the vacuum line attached to the passenger side of the edelbrock carb, I can get it to idle, but as soon as throttle is supplied it will die. Currently I have the vacuum advance disconnected. (this is on a 5.0 with points dizzy)

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[rbohm]

Problem 1:

the left turn signal shows no light on the dash (but i can hear the blinker), and the front bulb doesn't come on, however the rear one does. The right signal is working fine, and both front bulbs are good (swapped them from side to side).

first check the bulbs. it is possible that they are burnt out, andd the flasher you have is a heavy duty one that is normally used as a four way flasher. you can check the bulbs easily by running the four ways, and if the bulbs light up they are good, and you have a wire that is a problem, or a bad ground somewhere.

Problem 2: the heater blower won't come on.

there is a resistor in the side of the heater case, and chances are that is fried.

problem 3: the vacuum advance seems to advance the engine too much, making it so it won't run. With the vacuum line attached to the passenger side of the edelbrock carb, I can get it to idle, but as soon as throttle is supplied it will die. Currently I have the vacuum advance disconnected. (this is on a 5.0 with points dizzy)

are you sure it is just the vacuum advance? you might have too much centrifugal advance as well. if the springs are weak you will have full advance far too early. also check your initial timing as well.

 

[DukeGnarley]

thanks, I'll look into those things once I get a day without rain. everytime i tried to work on the car today it would start to rain, then quit when I did. very frustrating.

 

[DukeGnarley]

ok, to fix the turn signal problem, I just glared at the car for about 5 minutes with increasing intensity, then the problem magically fixed itself.

the blower motor issue ended up being the switch. I pulled it out from the dash, sprayed some electrical cleaner into the switch, and now everything is working fine.

It looks like I just need to get the timing fixed and I should be good to go.