I have a 67 nova with a 250 inline 6 (my next project). On several occassions, the car has been running then just dies. It loses spark. I've replaced the points, condensor, plugs and wires and it still wouldn't start, then all of a sudden, it starts again. I haven't ruled out wiring problems, but was hoping someone has had this problem before and has some suggestions.

Does it usually do this after it has run for awhile and the engine is fully warmed up? It may be the ignition coil since it restarts when it cools down.

I would say that it is the coil. Sounds like the coil is intermittantly breaking down. I had this problem on my '69 several years back. Acted the same way.

I will try the coil today. No, it still wouldn't start when it cools off. The coil should have 12 volts on the positive side when the ignition is on, correct? Because it sometimes lights my test light on the positive side, and sometimes it doesn't. If the coil replacement doesn't work, I will start tracing the wiring. Thanks, brad.

It won't have 12 volts unless you have switched to an HEI dist and have run a new wire, It probably has about 9 volts, it is a resistive wire.

A fair amount of those late 60's 6cyl distributors were known for getting excessive shaft/bushing wear. Grab the shaft and see if you can move it. The last one I saw had about 1/8" of movement, which would throw the points setting way off. Same thing, guy had all new parts, but it ended up being the distributor itself.

This is pretty basic but are your battery cables good? I had a similar problem and found it was my neg cable that was badly corroded inside the sheething.

I just had that exact problem on a 67 nova 6 cylinder and it was the ignition switch in the dash. Try to start the car and when it starts don`t release the key all the way. Release it just enough to disengage the starter and see if it continues to run. I had to replace the ignition switch and have not had a problem since. :rolleyes: