More Trouble

Hey yall! Well, I'm having more trouble with my 73 B roadster. My dad replaced the points and condensor this weekend while I was in New York, and the car wasn't running and better (backfiring ect.). Today I took her out and I had a little trouble starting her, but she finally came to life. She was running worse than ever, but I got her out front to wash her. After washing, I went to start her and she ran for about 5 seconds, backfired and shut off. I couldn't get her to start and now there is a clicking sound whenever I turn the key (i can hear it trying to turn over also though). Any ideas? Thanks.

Sounds to me like the distributor slipped, maybe your dad didn't remember to tighten the distributor clamp. IE the backfire is from the ignition being mis-timed. Check it out.

Check your ignition first, but if that checks out, definitely check out the fuel mixture. An excessive rich or lean mixture will make a car very hard to start or make it run very poorly. Check that out, and for leaks of any sort. Good luck.

If the clicking is relatively constant, or slowly tapers off, it is the fuel pump. It is normal for it to click for a few seconds after you turn the key to "on". It should stop after a few seconds, though, when fuel pressure is up to normal. It clicks while the car is running, too, but the sound is masked by the engine noise.

Make sure dear ol' dad didn't knock or break a vacuum line somewhere. Vacuum leaks can cause all kinds of weird stuff.