Have been chancing my tail on my 318 engine not running correctly. Had a well known Mopar engine rebuilder[Wayne Hyrowick] rebuild my engine ,Keith Black #167 pistons, .30 over , Hastings Piston rings, 30 over, Comp Cam 20-223-3 and matching springs, lifters, alum. intake, 4 barrel Holley carb, ITT headers, 2 1/2 exhaust, 904 auto trans., I just looked at the paper work he did in 2014, 10 years ago. car ran fine up until the end of last year. would not want to stay running. Now the engine only has less then 500 miles on it. Thought it was electrical , since my Battery Tender took out my voltage regulator, and I thought it took out my coil because of low power. Have replaced the cheap A/M Pro cam electronic dist. have replaced with Pertronix ignitor II dist. and matching coil. plugs, plug wires, have been replaced, played with spark plug gaps, double/triple checked all grounds, SYSTEM DOES NOT USE A BALLAST RESISTOR, ignition 1 and 2 tied together , I have 9.92 volts in running, 9.5 while cranking, have tried a direct wire from coil + to battery + to make sure of not losing power. Then thought may fuel problem , since I can get the car to start, it will run some what good for 20-30 sec. then it starts to run rough and keeps going down hill, till it will stall out. I also installed a new Holley carb. thing fuel problem, have clear fuel filter, and pressure gauge[6psi] did not help, had old Holley reinstalled and still have the same problem, playing with the timing at the dist. does not make it run any better. Checked for vac. leaks, sprayed carb cleaner intake manifold, carb base, unhooked vac, line to brake booster no leaks. Even opened the gas tank cap thinking vac. so not getting fuel. Someone else was having a running problem that had a post on here , and if he would unhook his voltage reg. the car would run fine, so I also tried that, no change.
My question now is, did some how the timing gear chain jump ?, is some how the gear that drives the dist. not in correctly, if so how could this engine run for almost 500 miles, and not have a problem till now. is there a way to check the dist. gear to make sure it is installed correctly? We have set timing with # 1 top dead center, have rotor at number 1, have triple check firing order.
With out tearing down the engine to check the timing chain, and cam alignment marks to make that is ok, is there a way to check that?
If you want to read more I have a post under any pertronix people .
Just do not know what else to check/try!!!
Pulled a spark plug here is a photo, the ground contact looked black but it is not.
View attachment 1716296901