Stupid Distributor Questions

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It`s the two tiny ones at the bottom, not the big plugs above them. If you take off the carburetor you can look in the bores and see how much of the orifices are filled by those screws.
 
Here are a couple of pix I took.
I think I'm going to remove the plugs so I can adjust the air/fuel mixture and perhaps richen up the carb a bit. It is running a little lean based on the condition of the spark plugs. Am I missing something to inspire your question??

Nevermind. I cant get the pix to load. Mine is the same as the link Longgone posted.

George
 
You`ll have to carefully drill out the lead. A left hand drill would be the best thing if you can get one. That way if you turn the screw it won`t bottom out in it`s bore ,rather back out. If a right hand bit is all you have just be very careful when you get through the lead and contact the screw heads. Once you get the bulk of the lead out you can dig out the little in the slot of each screw and back out the screws. Here`s a photo of the carb inverted, you can see the slot on the left (the one that should be covered at idle) that leads to the vacuum advance port. You can also see one of the the round holes that contain the idle mixture screws. The ends of the screws may be protruding into the throttle bores on your carb. HTH.

IM000503 (Medium).JPG
 
Well, I drilled out the lead, then reset the float levels, then the float drop levels. I adjusted the 2 screws for the highest vacuum reading, and the idle is much smoother now. I took the car for a ride, and it still has a stumble or miss? maybe, and it pop's through the carburator. I took the distributor out, and replaced the advance springs to give me 38º total advance. The initial falls about 20º. I disconnected and plugged the vacuum advance can, and left it that way. I took the car for a ride, and it still has the same stumble/miss and still pop's through the carb. It will run good if you floor it, but for normal driving it runs like ****. There's still a high RPM ping, but much better than before. It will bog when I floor it, but once it catches up it goes well....until high RPM where the ping starts.
I removed the AVS carb, and installed an Edelbrock Comp series carb I bought from a member here. Before I installed it, I removed the electric choke, and used the choke pull-off and choke spring from the AVS. Took the car for a ride, same deal; pops through the carb, has a stumble/miss and runs like ****.

So far, I have tried 2 dist caps, 2 distributors, 2 coils, 2 sets of plugs, 2 carbs, all kinds of timing adjustments, and it still doesn't run right. Only thing left is to replace the plug wires. They're brand new units from Frederick's Dodge I bought off eBay. Orange wires, with black boots. I now know my wires should be black with orange boots, but the eBay ad told me these were the correct wires.
Do you think the wires could be bad? Would a bad wire or wires cause these conditions? Anybody wanna buy the whole car before I set it on fire??
I am OUT of ideas.

Thanks for all the help so far guys, appreciated a great deal!
Sorry to be such a pain in the *** about this but I don't know who else to ask! LOL

George
 
Did you plug the vacuum port on the carb? What did you set the float drop to? Take a volt meter, put it on ohms and check each wire.

The popping is from being lean. You need to back off the timing to eliminate the pinging. take it back to about 35-36* total. Which hole is the arm set on the accelerator pump? If its in the middle hole, try the top hole.
 
redfastback said:
Did you plug the vacuum port on the carb? What did you set the float drop to? Take a volt meter, put it on ohms and check each wire.

The popping is from being lean. You need to back off the timing to eliminate the pinging. take it back to about 35-36* total. Which hole is the arm set on the accelerator pump? If its in the middle hole, try the top hole.
Click to expand...
I plugged the vacuum port on the carb.
Float drop is set to 1/2" per the service manual.
I don't have an ohm meter anymore. I smashed it into a million pieces about 2 weeks ago trying to get this car to run worth a ****.
Accelerator pump arm was in both the middle hole, and now the top hole.
I can try to retard the timing, but if I remember right, it makes it even worse. I will do it tomorrow and report back.

Thanks for the help.

George
 
i upgraded from the stock points to the petronix igniter II. i bolted it in with out takin the distributer out and just two wires conect to either side of the coil!!!
 
Man oh man george, your not having any luck are you?

Do me a favor, fire it up and while it's idling block the top of the carburetor with your hand and see if it dies.

Also if this is a factory 340 set the timing for 32* full advance @ 3400rpm.
Plug vac advance for now.

Have you had an exhaust leak lately by chance?

And have you compression tested all the cylinders and pulled valve covers to see if all the rockers are actuating the valves?

Tell me again when this all started happening and what you may have done [if so] before this happened.
 
3404spdvaliant said:
Man oh man george, your not having any luck are you?

Do me a favor, fire it up and while it's idling block the top of the carburetor with your hand and see if it dies.

Also if this is a factory 340 set the timing for 32* full advance @ 3400rpm.
Plug vac advance for now.

Have you had an exhaust leak lately by chance?

And have you compression tested all the cylinders and pulled valve covers to see if all the rockers are actuating the valves?

Tell me again when this all started happening and what you may have done [if so] before this happened.
Click to expand...

It will die if I cover the carb.
Vac advance is plugged.
There is a small exhaust leak on the drivers side where the down pipe connects to the intermediate pipe. Why? Did you hear it? :D
Compression test showed between 180-200 PSI.
I had the valve covers off at one time, and all the rockers were moving while the engine was cranking, but I didn't start the car.
It hasn't run correctly since I put the car back together after a restoration. Engine is all stock with 90,000 miles if I remember right.

Thanks for the help.

George
 
Basically the engine should be able to maintain a good idle with only 5*BTDC initial timing.
You say you disconnected the vac advance and it lowered the idle too much but you still had 8* initial BTDC, which is enough to maintain a good idle given the motors not a pos worn out 8 hole flower pot.
So if the idle was too low at 8* then you need to raise the idle at the throttle lever with the idle mixture screws out 2 turns a piece and remember how ever many turns they are out they need to be the same amount.
 
3404spdvaliant said:
Basically the engine should be able to maintain a good idle with only 5*BTDC initial timing.
You say you disconnected the vac advance and it lowered the idle too much but you still had 8* initial BTDC, which is enough to maintain a good idle given the motors not a pos worn out 8 hole flower pot.
So if the idle was too low at 8* then you need to raise the idle at the throttle lever with the idle mixture screws out 2 turns a piece and remember how ever many turns they are out they need to be the same amount.
Click to expand...
The story about the vacuum advance port pulling vacuum went away after I removed the lead plugs in the carb, and adjusted them for the highest vacuum reading. There was no vacuum to the advance can after that because I was able to lower the idle.
After I did this, I replaced the whole carb with another one; a Competition Series Edelbrock. The car acts the same (maybe a little worse) with this carb.

No, I never disassembled the engine. It has never been opened up except for replacement timing chain/gears, oil pan gasket and timing cover gasket. It still has the foan intake seals from the factory. Uses NO oil.

George
 
George R said:
The story about the vacuum advance port pulling vacuum went away after I removed the lead plugs in the carb, and adjusted them for the highest vacuum reading. There was no vacuum to the advance can after that because I was able to lower the idle.
After I did this, I replaced the whole carb with another one; a Competition Series Edelbrock. The car acts the same (maybe a little worse) with this carb.

No, I never disassembled the engine. It has never been opened up except for replacement timing chain/gears, oil pan gasket and timing cover gasket. It still has the foan intake seals from the factory. Uses NO oil.

George
Click to expand...

Replacement timing chain and gears ahhh ha!

Is it degreed? straight up I hope or you just made that thing into a ping monster.
 
George R said:
Straight up. Took off the original chain and replaced it exactly the same way.
Click to expand...

But was it the original chain/gear made by chrysler in 68-73?.

At this point thats what I'm looking at.

I mean 180-200psi? with a stock cam advanced to god knows what on pump gas?

The whole thing is screwy and I only with I was there to go through this thing and make sure the ignition is sound and not wired wrong and that the carbs aren't just too lean or too late closing intake valve yadda yadda yadda.

What do the plugs look like? are they yellow? grey? white? brown? black?
what heat range?
Gotta remember that when chains and gears wear they retard cam timing which helps with the border line compression mixed with pump gas.
 
3404spdvaliant said:
But was it the original chain/gear made by chrysler in 68-73?.

At this point thats what I'm looking at.

I mean 180-200psi? with a stock cam advanced to god knows what on pump gas?

The whole thing is screwy and I only with I was there to go through this thing and make sure the ignition is sound and not wired wrong and that the carbs aren't just too lean or too late closing intake valve yadda yadda yadda.

What do the plugs look like? are they yellow? grey? white? brown? black?
what heat range?
Gotta remember that when chains and gears wear they retard cam timing which helps with the border line compression mixed with pump gas.
Click to expand...
The chain I took off was the original piece. I replaced it with a Cloyes roller, which is basically a replacement of the original.
Every ignition part is brand new, and replaced at least once with yet another new part.
The wiring harness is new, as is the alternator, ballast resistor, voltage regulator. I think the carb is lean too, but how the hell do you richen it up?
Haven't pulled a plug in a while, but last time they were white, almost like new, which would indicate a lean condition.
There are no vacuum leaks.
I am not as concerned with the ping as I am about it popping through the carb. It pops often while going up a hill, unless I punch it.
Thanks for the help.

George
 
so it pings a lot more under load?

Skinnier primary rods will richen it up.

So you know, if it was an extreme case of lean it would basically start to cut out at a certain rpm like a rev limiter.

Whats f'd is you say you put a new eddy carb and still can't get it to even low rpm cruise, now eddy's are quite lean outta the box
[their calibrated for chevys] but I would only expect a surge at cruise not pop pop pop outta the carb.
Lets work 1 last time on the carb but not the factory mystery carb.
What size eddy is it and if around 600 or so I recommend size 100 jets and .073 rods to start.
The plugs are white with no color even down in the plug= lean
With that comp you need plugs that are 2 steps [at least] colder.
 
George, it sounds like richening that carburetor has helped. You`re getting closer to getting the bugs worked out, now we`ve just got to get a good electronic ignition on there and some colder plugs. 34* BTDC is about all you want to go on a stock smallblock. In the interest of street driving and mpg, I would hook up the vacuum advance. That can also help with the car bogging out of the hole. It sounds like you have very good compression. Are you running at least 93 octane?
 
You go with what ever timing you can without it detonating or deteriorating HP output so in your case you will have to find out what you can get away with.

longgone,
Masking a bog/carb problem with vac canister is lame, you fix the carb.
 
3404spdvaliant said:
You go with what ever timing you can without it detonating or deteriorating HP output so in your case you will have to find out what you can get away with.

longgone,
Masking a bog/carb problem with vac canister is lame, you fix the carb.
Click to expand...

We`ve been working with the carburetor since the first page?
 
Longgone said:
We`ve been working with the carburetor since the first page?
Click to expand...

Yea, and it's lean yet you say to hook up the vac advance knowing it'll add timing to the mix and make the condition worse.
I say set up the distributor with out vac advance then fix the carb and after all that, then experiment with your gas mileage canister.



Lets put our heads together on the same page.
 
To check your wires run the car in the dark idling with the hood open and look all around for arcing.
 
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