i have a 68 firebird with a 74 catilina 400. the motorhas an edelbrock intake with an edelbrock 500cfm 4 barrel carb. when the car is cold it is hard to start and after it is hot the car is impossible to start. why is this and how could i fix it.

i have a 68 firebird with a 74 catilina 400. the motorhas an edelbrock intake with an edelbrock 500cfm 4 barrel carb. when the car is cold it is hard to start and after it is hot the car is impossible to start. why is this and how could i fix it.

It COULD be a million different things. A better description of your problem and symptoms is needed.

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Does the motor crank over the same if it's cold or hot?
Is there any "sputtering" while it's turning over?
Could be improper timing, voltage, fuel,dwell if there's points, etc. etc.

it is a points system that is in the car. there is no sputtering and it seems to turn over the same cold as when it is hot. I am having trouble keeping a charge in the battery. i think i might have a bad ground. i just replaced the fuel pump. i took it up the street to have the dwell set a while back. when it is running i have a bad back firing problem. the guys up the street told me that i wasnt getting enough voltage to the coil and that i should run a wire to a switch then to the coil. this solved the starting problem for a while but now it has returned. when running the switch helps the back firing also. so other than the switch is there something else i should do?
thanks

If you are backfiring when running, I would start with a timing light. Incorrect timing will cause the motor to crank hard and overheat(making restart even harder). Also, the factory points distributors originally have a resisted wire feeding them power from the factory, not sure if they should have more voltage than that. But I have HEI and am not familiar with how points should be setup. I do know is I was given alot of bad advice from down the street guys on my first cars. I found out on my own later that if its setup the factory way with good parts it will work really good.

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GR-RRR!

If you're running a points type distributer.
Then too much voltage can fry the points, plus if your coil hasn't enough internal resistance.
it'll go up in smoke too.
I believe the total resistance for points is only supposed to be something like 9 volts.
But hopefully some one out there can either verify, or dispute.
I can't remember what the ohms reading is supposed to be for coils, but if the resistance reading is too low you'll need to run a ballast resister.
I have to use one of these with my super coil.
Even though I'm running a Pertronix ignition.
Too larger a gap in the points, will also lead to hard starting.

My one line says "the total resistance for points should be 9 volts".
It should read the line voltage for a points distributer should be something like 9 volts.