Solex sweating % dist. problems? Long

I just bought a 1961 CJ5 with the F134 engine. So I have no previous history. According to the previous owner it was running fine, no problems. The engine had been rebuilt and it has a new distributer (Prestolite I think, no Vac Adv.). The dist. is the newest part of the Jeep.

It just wasn't idling right, it had a random misfire spitting through the exhaust. After running for about 15 minutes it would only idle and would buck and stall when the throttle was opened. While running I put a timing light on a plug wire and no flashing! I kept moving to other wires and checking the clips on the battery. Nothing. I went over to my other truck and hooked up the light and it works. That is very strange.

On the chance it was a carb problem I bought a new Solex from Quadratec to replace the YF. In addition I put in new fuel lines, filters, ign. coil. Spark plugs showed a very rich condition. I cleaned and gapped the plugs. After putting the carb on I started it and it started OK but still had the misfire. It also still had the buck and shut off after running about 15 minutes. From that point on it barely will start and eventually dies.

Off on a tangent maybe here: the new Solex sweats a lot. The weather is warm and humid and the carb body feels very cold when running. Is this normal for humid conditons? I never had a sweating carb before. I don't think this is part of my problem but it is unusual to me.

Now back to the other problem. I pulled the dist. cap. I noticed a lot of dark grease covering the point assembly and points, puddling below the points. That isn't right! The points also look burned. So I tried to pull out the dist. to clean it and gap the points. It won't come out! I removed both bolts (the plate to block and the plate to dist.). Won't budge. So I put the bolts back in and cleaned the grease the best I can and gapped the points the best I can, after filing the points lightly.
I barely got it started and it doesn't want to run at all off idle. Then it backfired through the carb. That was new.

So I'm trying to sort out the carb vs. dist. It's a new carb but it sweats. It's a new dist. but it is stuck in the engine. I put the carb in but not the dist. The previous owner had the dist. put in by a fwd shop.

There is an off chance something happened to the timing gears, but it is a recently rebuilt engine and supposedly ran fine.

To keep the answers short here are my questions:
Is the sweating Solex a sign of a problem?
Any ideas why the dist. is stuck? Does the dist. have a gear drive or a slot drive?
Did this year CJ5 have a ballast resistor? I can't find one on the car.

Thanks.

 

based on your statements about what parts you have replaced/changed, it sure eliminates everything, other than the distributor. The dist drives off the oil pump, the dist shaft is slotted off-center where they engage.
The machine-fit of the dist body could be the cause of the snug fit into the block; it should pull out.
I think I would remove it and thoroughly check it or have it checked.
The timing light no blink issue, you got me there; bad plug wires ?
I wouldn't sweat (sorry) the carb right now, don't think that's a problem.

 

As far as the ballast resistor, yes it should, unless your coil was replaced. Mine was replaced with a coil that did not need the ballast resistor.

As far as your timing light...Maybe your plug wires are bad? It shoul at least give some sort of reading though. Dunno

 

I had the same problems with mine when I first got it. First check your timing. Second, check dwell. Third, check carb mixture. The best thing I did was install the Pertronix in the dist. Runs like a champ now. Fourth, I would clean & rebuild the carb. Good luck.

 

Firepower, fill in your profile. Someone may be right around the corner to help out.

 

make sure your fire order is lined up right. perhaps it is one tower off? or even 180* out?

just trying to think of things before you start replacing parts.