Well, sometimes you just gotta put your head down and focus on your project. No shooting videos, no internet updates, or friends over to help out. Did that this weekend. I have been having issues getting the engine running well. Rough and erratic idle, really high idle (850) I could not bring down through timing or without losing good tip-in, inconsistent timing, rough and really shaky/knocking cold starts, sluggish throttle response, idle mixture screws at 3 1/2 turns just to get it to start and more. Was convinced it was the rebuilt $85 ebay carb. It may still be a contributing factor as there is a vacuum leak (again) at the base and possibly the throttle valve shaft. I did reuse the gasket when I pulled it to change the jets. I have a new one that will go on before I take the car out again.
After several days researching on the internet (mostly here) I decided to revisit my ignition system. Well, I should say visit it. I never did anything with the distributor when I rebuilt the engine since it seemed to work fine on the run stand. So instead of refurbishing the dizzy, I upgraded to the Proform electronic ignition. That cleaned up a lot of my issues. Cold starts are much smoother. I was able to get the idle mixture screws back in to 2.5 turns with 15" of stable vacuum. Initial timing is a solid 12* with a 650 idle in park and 550 in drive. The throttle is WAY more responsive and it even got rid of most of my stumble from cruise to WOT. New coil is coming soon as well.
Next up, I will be installing an AFR gauge so I can really dial in the carb. I looked at the plugs and I am definitely still running lean, which surprised me. I figured I would be a bit rich. I want to see the AFR at each stage of operation and adjust the jets accordingly. I also need to troubleshoot the fuel gauge. I did some simple testing and found there is no signal on the sending unit wire. Should read 5v from the wire to ground so I am figuring I have an open somewhere as the gauge is always on empty. A ground on the line would cause it to read full.
Also need to troubleshoot the transmission. It is constantly starting out in second and wasn't kicking down when I got on the throttle. I did check the kickdown and discovered it was not going to the rear stop with the throttle on the floor so I fixed that quick. I also dropped a pint of Seafoam Trans Tune in it to clear out any gunk I may have missed when I did the rebuild. I did the air pressure tests when I rebuilt it but have not looked at fluid pressures yet. Initially it was not going into manual low but after about 50 miles with the trans tune in it, it goes into manual low now. I still need to test drive after the kickdown adjustment. Another thing I noticed is that the shift is super smooth. I miss the 2-3 shift if I am not paying attention. It shifts at pretty low RPM if I am not into the petal as well.
Much to do in the future. Want to rebuild the front end. It is pretty creaky when going around corners. Right strut bushing is shot too so it pulls right when braking(aleady checked the adjuster on the left side.) Also want to go in and rebuild the rear end and get new leaf springs. That SHOULD wrap up the "make sure it is mechanically sound" portion (without welding) and I can start of making her pretty.
I will probably rebuild it for my YouTube channel but not decided if I want to put it in the dart or not. would need a new rear end to do so. We'll see how things go once the child support stops in July.
