318 backfiring

[RustyRatRod]

Yeah big word, Pishta got it right though. The other day I saw hydroscopic on a forum describing the same thing.....

I know. I was messin with him.

 

[Bewy]

Yeah, I know you were, all in good fun....
Cheers.

 

[69FBCuda]

dont even bother with the ballast resistor. Just bypass it for your test. It aint that. Todays **** gas will plug air bleeds and gum up carbs after a while as it is more hygroscopic that regular gas.

Not disagreeing with your prognosis I just don't recall water and crud causing backfiring or delayed/advanced cylinder ignition issues.

 

[AJ/FormS]

I'm suspecting the timing chain jumped a tooth. Any thoughts?

When this happens, if the car still runs; it takes a huge amount of throttle to keep it running, sometimes even WOT; AND, the ignition timing is also way out of whack. This is because the cam drives the distributor; if the cam goes out of sync, then so does the ignition timing.
If you put the timing back to normal, it may run a lil better, depending on how far it jumped, but you'll be able to tell that it still ain't right.

If you check the timing chain slack by jockeying the crank balancer back and forth, that may give you an idea of how to proceed.

 

[69FBCuda]

This is why I like forums. Thank you everybody for your ideas. The carb is squirting gas. I pumped whatever was left in the gas tank out, all the gas in the tank is fresh. I'll check the ballast resistor, points and condenser next. If there is no change I will move on to the heads. I'll let you all know how the process of elimination is going.

Any updates?

 

[oldkimmer]

Did u check the distributor cap? Kim

 

[69KillerFish]

Any updates?

I took a trip out to its storage home for a bit. I changed all the plugs, wiring, coil wire and distributor cap. We looked at the ballast, nothing wrong there. I always carry a spare ballast and a few other oddities in my trunk just in case of emergency. I'm going out there in the next couple of days. I'll start exploring around the cam, lifters, rods and valves. I think the general consensus out there is there something

Valves sticking? might pull covers and get a remote switch on the relay to study the rocker action. All I got for now, good luck.

Thank you for that, I'm gonna get up with my mechanic friend in the next couple of days and pull the covers off and go exploring. I'll let you know what we found (or didn't find? when we get back.