Cool Dave’s 1973 Dodge D100 Club Cab
Thanks all!
I’ve been thinking about how to concisely sum up the basic work I’ve done to it since I got it home so let’s just start with a list of new parts..
IGNITION/ELECTRICAL:
Distributor, cap, rotor, coil, wires, plugs, ignition module, starter relay, ballast resistor. I also cleaned and tightened all the contacts on the back of the dash and replaced all the dead bulbs except the license plate.
MECHANICAL:
Oil/filter, transmission pan gasket, neutral switch, shift-shaft seal (don’t even get me started on that), basic carb cleaning and tightened countless loose bolts.
So overall pretty thorough but basic tuneup stuff. After all that I polished it up and took off the big hubcaps, I’m casually looking for some cheap poverty caps or possibly different wheels after I get it reliably useable.
So now let’s get to where I’m at with the truck currently..
Two weeks ago it was running pretty well with the exception of a noticeable flat spot at light throttle causing hesitation. I had previously set timing when I put the new (cheap) distributor in and roughed in the carb using a vacuum gauge and just how the truck felt. The electric choke is wired open but even cold starts were easy, idle was decent and it felt strong at mid throttle. I did have some bounce in the vacuum gauge needle at idle but I chalked it up to maybe not finding all the leaks yet and the cheap gauge.
Fast forward to last weekend, I decided to dig into the vacuum situation. To make a long story short I took the vacuum advance line off and checked it, I can suck air through or blow air back. Little disappointing but not surprising considering the parts quality. That said, when it was hooked up (manifold vacuum, not ported, school me) it still pulled a bunch of advance but I thought maybe it was causing too much of a drop in vacuum when the throttle was cracked open leading to the flat spot.
So kinked the line off and bumped initial timing up to 16-17 degrees. Still fires easy but idles a little warmer. No flat spot accelerating but once the motor has heat built up it starts to run awful. Can’t take a load on the motor unless you give it a bunch of pedal.
And that’s where I’m at, waiting for more time to tinker.. I have two young kids and work pretty long hours so time for the truck is limited. I’m itching to get it going properly.
So school me! Where do I go in my troubleshooting from here? Should I move my vac advance to ported vacuum or just bump up my static timing? I’m here to absorb all the wisdom about these motors.
Thanks all!
I’ve been thinking about how to concisely sum up the basic work I’ve done to it since I got it home so let’s just start with a list of new parts..
IGNITION/ELECTRICAL:
Distributor, cap, rotor, coil, wires, plugs, ignition module, starter relay, ballast resistor. I also cleaned and tightened all the contacts on the back of the dash and replaced all the dead bulbs except the license plate.
MECHANICAL:
Oil/filter, transmission pan gasket, neutral switch, shift-shaft seal (don’t even get me started on that), basic carb cleaning and tightened countless loose bolts.
So overall pretty thorough but basic tuneup stuff. After all that I polished it up and took off the big hubcaps, I’m casually looking for some cheap poverty caps or possibly different wheels after I get it reliably useable.
So now let’s get to where I’m at with the truck currently..
Two weeks ago it was running pretty well with the exception of a noticeable flat spot at light throttle causing hesitation. I had previously set timing when I put the new (cheap) distributor in and roughed in the carb using a vacuum gauge and just how the truck felt. The electric choke is wired open but even cold starts were easy, idle was decent and it felt strong at mid throttle. I did have some bounce in the vacuum gauge needle at idle but I chalked it up to maybe not finding all the leaks yet and the cheap gauge.
Fast forward to last weekend, I decided to dig into the vacuum situation. To make a long story short I took the vacuum advance line off and checked it, I can suck air through or blow air back. Little disappointing but not surprising considering the parts quality. That said, when it was hooked up (manifold vacuum, not ported, school me) it still pulled a bunch of advance but I thought maybe it was causing too much of a drop in vacuum when the throttle was cracked open leading to the flat spot.
So kinked the line off and bumped initial timing up to 16-17 degrees. Still fires easy but idles a little warmer. No flat spot accelerating but once the motor has heat built up it starts to run awful. Can’t take a load on the motor unless you give it a bunch of pedal.
And that’s where I’m at, waiting for more time to tinker.. I have two young kids and work pretty long hours so time for the truck is limited. I’m itching to get it going properly.
So school me! Where do I go in my troubleshooting from here? Should I move my vac advance to ported vacuum or just bump up my static timing? I’m here to absorb all the wisdom about these motors.