It won't start !

[youngb506]

Annoying will it / won't it starting. My regular use 1957 saloon cut out at the traffic lights on Thursday evening but a pull on the starter had it running again and all seemed fine. Wouldn't start on Saturday. Yesterday I re gapped the points, took out no 1 spark plug and rested it near the block. At first no spark, then it started sparking and the engine ran on 3 cylinders. This plug is a bit paler than the other three and the spark wasn't huge. Cleaned all plugs. Running fine. This morning it wouldn't start. Petrol pump seems to be ticking over as normal. New coil a few months ago. Distributor dr points and condenser, new Distributer two years ago. Any obvious things to look for anyone? The battery's fully charged.

[myoldjalopy]

It could be the new coil
It could be a dodgy rotor arm or a loose low tension wire to the dizzy. If you have a good spark from the king lead, take the dizzy cap off and hold the lead 1/4" above the rotor arm. If it sparks to the rotor arm, the rotor arm is faulty. The red rotor arms are the best.

[youngb506]

That gives me something to check. It had a nos Lucas rotor arm a couple of years ago. Low tension looked ok but I'll check again.

[myoldjalopy]

Also worth having a good look at the dizzy cap. Look for a crack, signs of tracking and make sure that the carbon brush in the centre of the cap is moving freely against the spring behind it. Do check all connections to the coil are good and that the king lead/HT leads are firmly connected to the coil/dizzy cap.
Do check that there is a good spark at the king lead, because if you have a good spark at the king lead, then juice is going IN to the dizzy, but not out. Usual suspects in this scenario are cap or rotor arm. If your points and condensor are from the good doctor, it is not likely that these are at fault.

[youngb506]

Turned out to be a loose king lead whee it screws into the coil. Water must have got in because the end of the lead and little washer were all poedery and blue.

[youngb506]

Thank, "myoldjalopy" for a very clear check list.

[myoldjalopy]

Epic success! Yes, I had a similar problem with a loose coil/king lead connection not too long ago. Started misfiring going up a hill. First thing I did was check the high tension lead connections and found the king lead loose. Quick fix! It is worth giving the cleaned connections a wipe of vasoline to slow corrosion down. And all connections tight, of course. Glad you got it going again.