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da-burb · 03-08-2004, 10:08 PM

This certainly doesn't qualify as a big roadside repair, but it does qualify as a repair you wouldn't want to try 1000miles from home.

Last year my wife and I and the C30 Motorhome went to Pigeon Forge TN for the truck show. The motorhome drove flawlessly 17 hours straight through all the road construction and accidents between Louisville and Knoxville. The next day was just as good as the first. We pull into PF and set up the camper. We had a great time all week. The day we decide to go home it doesn't start. I spend a few hours messing with the points and finally it fires and runs great. I take it for a test drive and all is right in the world. It is late enough that we postpone leaving until the next morning.

We are all packed up and ready to go.....Turn the engine over but no FIRE! arrrrg! We are never getting out of the hills of Tennessee! (insert Deliverance banjo playing here) Off to NAPA for a dwell meter and a new set of points. They have the points, but nobody there knows what a dwell meter is........I install the new points and set them with a few sheets of paper. (yep, no feeler gauges at Napa either) Off we go. Power is down a little, but I figure we are on the road. Coming into Knoxville I let off the gas to coast down the hill and KA-BOOM it backfires through the exhaust. Tweak the points again, man I hope I am going the right way. Off we go again. Now I am barely making it up hills and backfiring down hills.

We make it to the top of the Cumberland Pass. There is a wayside rest there and pull in. I have one more thing to try. I have a Pertronix system in the truck that I brought with for an emergency. This qualified. I cut the wires to the points, the nuts were rusted on the coil. So I installed a set of aligator clips on the wires and ran it out the inspection door of the cap. Hooked it all up and said a prayer to the ignition gods.

There was only one way to test it. vvvvvvva-ROOM it fired. We made it the rest of the way without any more troubles. Lots of power from the big block once again. I didn't shut it off until I pulled into my yard, just in case............

03-08-2004, 10:08 PM	#9
da-burb "Ochre Ogre" Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Springfield, MN Posts: 3,558	This certainly doesn't qualify as a big roadside repair, but it does qualify as a repair you wouldn't want to try 1000miles from home. Last year my wife and I and the C30 Motorhome went to Pigeon Forge TN for the truck show. The motorhome drove flawlessly 17 hours straight through all the road construction and accidents between Louisville and Knoxville. The next day was just as good as the first. We pull into PF and set up the camper. We had a great time all week. The day we decide to go home it doesn't start. I spend a few hours messing with the points and finally it fires and runs great. I take it for a test drive and all is right in the world. It is late enough that we postpone leaving until the next morning. We are all packed up and ready to go.....Turn the engine over but no FIRE! arrrrg! We are never getting out of the hills of Tennessee! (insert Deliverance banjo playing here) Off to NAPA for a dwell meter and a new set of points. They have the points, but nobody there knows what a dwell meter is........I install the new points and set them with a few sheets of paper. (yep, no feeler gauges at Napa either) Off we go. Power is down a little, but I figure we are on the road. Coming into Knoxville I let off the gas to coast down the hill and KA-BOOM it backfires through the exhaust. Tweak the points again, man I hope I am going the right way. Off we go again. Now I am barely making it up hills and backfiring down hills. We make it to the top of the Cumberland Pass. There is a wayside rest there and pull in. I have one more thing to try. I have a Pertronix system in the truck that I brought with for an emergency. This qualified. I cut the wires to the points, the nuts were rusted on the coil. So I installed a set of aligator clips on the wires and ran it out the inspection door of the cap. Hooked it all up and said a prayer to the ignition gods. There was only one way to test it. vvvvvvva-ROOM it fired. We made it the rest of the way without any more troubles. Lots of power from the big block once again. I didn't shut it off until I pulled into my yard, just in case............ __________________ Bowtie Truck Stop Inc. Mid-West GM Truck Restoration Parts Supplier Your Key Parts, Auto Metal Direct, Dynacorn, and Goodmark dealer. like us @ www.facebook.com/BowtieTruckStop 1971 C-10 Suburban (Ochre) 1971 K-10 Suburban (Ochre) 1972 C-10 Suburban (Ochre) 1972 K-20 Suburban (Yellow- that just aint right!) Springfield, Minnesota 56087 Last edited by da-burb; 03-08-2004 at 10:11 PM.