The first thing I wanted to do with Project Playboy was try to get the engine running; the previous owner could not get it running prior to selling it to me. I looked like the spark plug wires were new, including the distributor cap, rotor, points and maybe the spark plugs too. There was also a new inline fuel filter installed that would later reveal a lot of debris coming from the fuel tank.

I had to charge the battery because it was showing little signs of life and one of the cells was completely dry. I set up some jumper cables from my Jeep to the old Mustang battery and let a charge trickle in for a few minutes. While the battery was charging I decided to check under the distributor to see if the points had been set, perhaps that could be why it won’t start. The points definitely did not appear to be set; I could not see any visible gap when turning the engine to bring the breaker block to the high point which will open the points. Since I didn’t have any real tools to speak of yet I used a paper match stick to set the point gap.

NOTE: I use the fan belt to turn the engine while looking for the point gap; this is of course with the ignition in the off position.

With the points set and what is hoped to be a somewhat charged battery I crank over the engine to see if it will fire; no luck on the first shot. It’s been a while since this engine has been running so it’s probably going to take a few tries. I continue with a few more tries, occasionally getting a sputter out the engine; so it definitely wants to start.

After several false starts and a few that actually got going for 30 seconds or more; I decided to let the battery charge for a while longer. Once again I cranked over the engine, this time with a good solid start and I got it to run for a while after turning in the idle screw a few turns to keep the RPM’s up. It was a success, I got it up to running temperature, filled the garage with the smell of old gas and probably got the neighbors wondering what I was up to with this old beater.