Made the swap to electronic ignition and the car barely runs now

-
Man 3 1/2 hr drive is alittle steep with no way of getting it there at this point. Lol I can’t even get it to stay alive once I drop it in gear let alone take it for a 3 1/2 hr drive!

I’ve got 6 lbs of pressure at the gauge just before the carb from an electric pump. (My fuel system was run by an edelbrock lawn tractor rated electric pump when I first got it... so that system has now been gone through, positioned properly, replaced and has a return line to the tank to ensure no dead heading and a constant pressure of 6 lbs) but I can turn that down if needed. Edelbrock recommended over the phone 6 lbs. I have not seen any fuel pushing out anywhere yet. But again, I could turn it down easily if needed.
 
Did you replace the ballast resistor with the one from the electronic conversion kit????
 
Here in Aus we run straight 12v to electronic ignition and disconnect ballast resistors or resistor wires.
I am sure your dizzies would be the same!
 
If the engine doesn't want to run I would check for the correct firing order / wires are installed onto the plugs as well/ 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2.
 
Last edited:
pishta said:
crappy idle and rough running...fuel pressure more than 5 psi for an Edelbrock? Is it dumping fuel out the boosters at crappy idle?
Click to expand...
I had the same problem. After running about a minute fuel would dump into the intake. Put on a fuel pressure regulator set at about 6 psi and problem solved.
 
Don K said:
I had the same problem. After running about a minute fuel would dump into the intake. Put on a fuel pressure regulator set at about 6 psi and problem solved.
Click to expand...
So I’ve got it regulated down already and I’m running a return line to make sure the pressure doesn’t spike on me
 
Id regulate that pressure down to 4psi. Manual Choke fully disengages? (if you got one hooked up) do you have a vacuum gauge...whats it read at nice cold idle and then at crappy hot idle. Just watch it and note what happens when the idle goes south. that or a timing light on the #1 and watch the pulse rhythm. Maybe you are losing spark at temp? Check reluctor gap when hot, see if it didnt change from .008 cold. A greater gap will give you a low cranking speed+ hard start/no start condition
reliuctor.jpg
 
Last edited:
Alright so I’ve got the pressure regulated down to 4 psi. I’ve got new plugs, wires, and cap in there now. I ordered a new harmonic balancer in for it and got to taking the old one off today. I think I found a huge problem. Check out how much that balancer slipped... no wonder I couldn’t get the car to run right no matter how much carb tuning I did.
New balancer is on top, old balancer is on bottom, the key holes are lined up.

D8B059DD-3162-40E2-BC24-6C7E472DC531.jpeg
 
Markzilla88 said:
Alright so I’ve got the pressure regulated down to 4 psi. I’ve got new plugs, wires, and cap in there now. I ordered a new harmonic balancer in for it and got to taking the old one off today. I think I found a huge problem. Check out how much that balancer slipped... no wonder I couldn’t get the car to run right no matter how much carb tuning I did.
New balancer is on top, old balancer is on bottom, the key holes are lined up.

View attachment 1715550408
Click to expand...

So, evidently you did not read post 22
 
Probably didn't have piston stop at the time. Does the crank key point right up #1 cylinder? Found that to be true. I paint a white stripe from ring down past the rubber strip to hub to keep eye on slipping. Found one slipping and have not seen it happen since but I now run a silicon damper. Im actually making a yoke for my slants balancer out of .080 AL that will bolt to the hub and have 3 fingers that will extend past the bond and bend 90 degrees into 3 of the 36 notches I machined in the ring so it will have no chance of moving farther than the slop in the hole as I'm running 36-1 EDIS timing off the ring. I dont know how much those rings are designed to 'move' but I cant afford it to as planned. The Hall sensor wont pick up the AL tabs.
 
Markzilla88 said:
Alright so I’ve got the pressure regulated down to 4 psi. I’ve got new plugs, wires, and cap in there now. I ordered a new harmonic balancer in for it and got to taking the old one off today. I think I found a huge problem. Check out how much that balancer slipped... no wonder I couldn’t get the car to run right no matter how much carb tuning I did.
New balancer is on top, old balancer is on bottom, the key holes are lined up.

View attachment 1715550408
Click to expand...
Bingo
 
Which timing mark were you using? The white or the green?

Just started reading this.... the balancer slipping would be the right suggestion and you found it. Explains why the chop came back.... your 10 BTDC is actually, what.... 50 BTDC? 30 ATDC? And it explains the hard cranking.

So tell us a bit more about this engine, so folks can give you better info on where to time this. Is it a stock 360 or what?
 
nm9stheham said:
Which timing mark were you using? The white or the green?

Just started reading this.... the balancer slipping would be the right suggestion and you found it. Explains why the chop came back.... your 10 BTDC is actually, what.... 50 BTDC? 30 ATDC? And it explains the hard cranking.

So tell us a bit more about this engine, so folks can give you better info on where to time this. Is it a stock 360 or what?
Click to expand...
Oh sorry, I should have said that. I was using the white paint mark on the original. I bought the car last fall after this guy used it at the track and occasional rides, so I don’t personally know EXACTLY how the motors built, all I can do is go off what he told me. So it’s a 360 bored .30 over, edelbrock 1405 carb with manual choke, edelbrock performer intake, it’s got the police interceptor heads that have “serious work done to them” (his words not mine), an unknown lunati cam that he said was a big cam, Keith black pistons, and I’m not sure more then that. I just installed Mopars electronic ignition kit to convert it over from points (odd thing was he was running points, but had the harness for electronic so I’m not sure why he didn’t run electronic)
 
I am with @krazykuda on this. The Mancini kit 4 prong ICM. If you are running the power wire for the ICM through the ballast, you arent going to get a full 12V that the ICM wants. If you are using all 4 wires on a 4 prong ballast with the Mancini kit, you are doing it wrong. I would suggest you ditch the 4 prong for the 2 prong that came in the kit. Then all you need to do is bridge the stock wiring that goes to the ICM that was originally going through the ballast. You could also bypass the ballast for TROUBLE SHOOTING PURPOSES ONLY and see if it gets better.

I think you have multiple problems... spark is one of them, but also you need to verify TDC and sort out your fuel problem.
 
Markzilla88 said:
Oh sorry, I should have said that. I was using the white paint mark on the original. I bought the car last fall after this guy used it at the track and occasional rides, so I don’t personally know EXACTLY how the motors built, all I can do is go off what he told me. So it’s a 360 bored .30 over, edelbrock 1405 carb with manual choke, edelbrock performer intake, it’s got the police interceptor heads that have “serious work done to them” (his words not mine), an unknown lunati cam that he said was a big cam, Keith black pistons, and I’m not sure more then that. I just installed Mopars electronic ignition kit to convert it over from points (odd thing was he was running points, but had the harness for electronic so I’m not sure why he didn’t run electronic)
Click to expand...
OK on the white mark. Yes that would force you advance the timing 35 degrees to get it to line up at the same point as the new damper. Looks like the green mark on the old damper was correct. No wonder it was hard to crank when hot and idling messed up... you had 45 degrees initial timing in it! Probably it was detonating too when it was missing and backfiring.

Fair warning: You won't get the torque you had with the base timing so far advanced.

BTW, I would be running cylinder compressions on all cylinders. Mostly to get some clues as to what you have for a piston + cam combination. KB's can be higher compression, or just Silvolite low compression stock-replacement pistons sold as KB's. And get a head casting number; it ought to be 7 digits, under a valve cover, cast on one of the runners.
 
nm9stheham said:
OK on the white mark. Yes that would force you advance the timing 35 degrees to get it to line up at the same point as the new damper. Looks like the green mark on the old damper was correct. No wonder it was hard to crank when hot and idling messed up... you had 45 degrees initial timing in it! Probably it was detonating too when it was missing and backfiring.

Fair warning: You won't get the torque you had with the base timing so far advanced.

BTW, I would be running cylinder compressions on all cylinders. Mostly to get some clues as to what you have for a piston + cam combination. KB's can be higher compression, or just Silvolite low compression stock-replacement pistons sold as KB's. And get a head casting number; it ought to be 7 digits, under a valve cover, cast on one of the runners.
Click to expand...

Yeah oh yeah it makes sense why it was very hard to start and ran like crap. I’m okay with not as much torque, it was acting like a dog yanking on a chain and as soon as I hit the gas it tore off, but was not street able. So if through all these fixes I get a car that starts, runs and drives well I’m good with it! When I get a chance I’ll try to get a compression reading on it and then also grab those casting numbers off the heads for reference
 
Will probably need to upgrade your alt from your stock 60amp to a 80amp due to the more load the electronic system pulls on the system. Are your lights all a bit more dimmer as well since upgrading?
 
Gotta be honest haven’t taken it for a night ride since the swap but I’m planning to tonight
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top