New Motor In and Running!!

[MOPARJ]

Just got the rebuilt 318 put back into my 73 Duster. I broke in the cam and all already and took it over last evening to connect the headers to the rest of the 2.5" Flowmaster exhaust. It sounds awesome! The XE268 cam gives it a nice lope, perfect for me and just what I was looking for. Haven't drove it much, just last night to the gas station after I changed the oil again and refilled with Rotella 15w40 and a bottle of EOS. Still have some tuning to do, as it seems more timing sensitive than ever before. With this stock converter and 2.76 gear, it still gets out of the box fairly well, but I haven't really romped on it yet, as it gets up to speed ok, but when you come to a stop, the engine decreased dramatically to 400-500 RPM like it wants to die, but I tap the throttle and it comes back to a closer to normal idle speed. Is this due to the decrease in vacuum( since I run vaccuum brakes and power steering), or is it still timing related and needs more adjustment? How many degrees after zero should I set it at on the dampner at idle? It seems to hesitate a little on acceleration still, and occasionally pops back through the carb and it may die if it does it at lower RPMs. I just need to determine if its a byproduct of less vaccuum, or still semi retarded timing. If anyone has suggestions and/or a timing reading on the dampner at idle to compare, I would appreciate it. Otherwise, the motor sound awesome and I cannot wait to get back to the cruise night this weekend.:toothy10:

 

[crackedback]

Nice job J... :cheers:

If the timing mark is on the drivers side, should be on a 73, you want the balancer mark ABOVE the '0' mark to get the timing in before TDC. If it's below the "0", you are really retarding ignition timing. I'd put 10-12 on it at least.

Got to get timing right before messing with carb adjustments.

 

[MOPARJ]

Nice job J... :cheers:

If the timing mark is on the drivers side, should be on a 73, you want the balancer mark ABOVE the '0' mark to get the timing in before TDC. If it's below the "0", you are really retarding ignition timing. I'd put 10-12 on it at least.

Got to get timing right before messing with carb adjustments.

I was just about to PM you, Rob, to que you in. Lol, I was at the Vons shopping center last night @ 10 pm tuning on the car with a timing light. I had a group of teenage kids gathering around the car watching me. It was kinda funny. All of that just so I don't p#$% off the older gentleman across the street.

Anyways, right now, the timing mark at idle sits at 3 degrees above 0 or TDC, presuming the dampner is not spun, which it shouldn't, as I set the #1 cylinder to TDC with that timing mark. I know before, on the previous combination, I was running 5-8 degrees after TDC, so maybe I need that much again. I tried setting to 5 after TDC, but the idle came way up and it dieseled upon shutdown. Maybe the carb is fooling me and the idle speed is set too high and maybe it actually needs atleast 5 degrees after TDC at idle. What do you think?

How about anyone else?

 

[crackedback]

I was just about to PM you, Rob, to que you in. Lol, I was at the Vons shopping center last night @ 10 pm tuning on the car with a timing light. I had a group of teenage kids gathering around the car watching me. It was kinda funny. All of that just so I don't p#$% off the older gentleman across the street.

Anyways, right now, the timing mark at idle sits at 3 degrees above 0 or TDC, presuming the dampner is not spun, which it shouldn't, as I set the #1 cylinder to TDC with that timing mark. I know before, on the previous combination, I was running 5-8 degrees after TDC, so maybe I need that much again. I tried setting to 5 after TDC, but the idle came way up and it dieseled upon shutdown. Maybe the carb is fooling me and the idle speed is set too high and maybe it actually needs atleast 5 degrees after TDC at idle. What do you think?

How about anyone else?

J,

IMHO, 5-8 isn't enough. Put 10-12 on it and maybe even more. More lead, to a point = better vacuum signal. Additionally, you can close down carb primaries and clean up your idle settings.

Down side to put a bunch of lead on the crank, you may have to limit distributor advance by jb welding up the wieght slots in your distributor.

I ALWAYS like to put as much lead on the crank as possible without, pinging, run-on dieseling or starter kickback.

Screw the old man... tune it in the driveway before 10pm... stupid old pruney bastard. :thebirdm:

 

[MOPARJ]

J,

IMHO, 5-8 isn't enough. Put 10-12 on it and maybe even more. More lead, to a point = better vacuum signal. Additionally, you can close down carb primaries and clean up your idle settings.

Down side to put a bunch of lead on the crank, you may have to limit distributor advance by jb welding up the wieght slots in your distributor.

I ALWAYS like to put as much lead on the crank as possible without, pinging, run-on dieseling or starter kickback.

Screw the old man... tune it in the driveway before 10pm... stupid old pruney bastard. :thebirdm:

Lol. That's exactly what my father said, except he said he would run it with open headers. I shouldn't worry so much, except I hate dealing with the police. If the car is so much as idling for a period of 10 min or so in the driveway, he will call them up. The next time it happens, my dad is filing a complaint to the city, since we follow all ordinances and are not obnoxious whatsoever. Would you believe the police told me to take my tools and go to the park if I wanted to run my car?! Does that sound like the voice of reason or extreme irrationality? Let him get his way, while I get screwed? F%% that. All of the rest of the neighbors love and welcome the cars in my cul-de-sac!!

Anywho, I will try setting it at at least 8 degrees after TDC and lower the idle speed down to a level where I can still hear the lope from the cam. I always tune with a light and on the last combo, I also tuned by ear on the road under different loads and different speeds until I was right on the ragged edge of detonating/pinging. It ran great like that. Runs a little warmer than before, but that is probably due to the fact that the motor is still tight.

 

[crackedback]

Anywho, I will try setting it at at least 8 degrees after TDC and lower the idle speed down to a level where I can still hear the lope from the cam. I always tune with a light and on the last combo, I also tuned by ear on the road under different loads and different speeds until I was right on the ragged edge of detonating/pinging. It ran great like that. Runs a little warmer than before, but that is probably due to the fact that the motor is still tight.

Before TDC, not after... after = bad, VERY BAD!

 

[MOPARJ]

Before TDC, not after... after = bad, VERY BAD!

Lol. I must be thinking backasswards. The balancer mark is above the zero, so I guess that it is BEFORE on the top side and AFTER on the bottom side. It has to be, otherwise everything would be way off. My goof. I thought After was on top and BEFORE was below the "0", but I confused the picture in my brain.