If I ever get this car running and riding good, I am going to celebrate ! I have a problem that is driving me nuts. I can get in the car, drive all day, runs like a top. Then one of several things seems to go wrong. 1.) Take a left corner, engine starts sputtering and will only stay running with foot in it. 2.) It Idles smooth, put it in gear and it sputters horribly, can not keep it running. 3.) It idles rough, and runs rough. 4.) Idles good, surges very bad. I have tried the following. 1.) Using starter fluid, checked for vaccum leaks. The carb itself was leaking at the base. Everything tightened up. 2.) Changed both fuel filters. 3.) Changed the air filter to a 4" Chrome type, to allow adjustments while the carb is covered. I did this because I could get it adjusted, put the Air cover on, and it would not be adjusted right. Fuel Pump is new, Carb is new (not original), Fuel Filters are new. New PCV Valve. New Plugs. New Wires.
If this car has the EGR plate between the carb and intake manifold, inspect it for any holes burned through due to a stuck EGR valve.
I am not real clear on what the EGR valve is, but, this engine has the air pump removed and everything to do with the smog stuff blocked off. Does that make any difference in what you are saying? PS: Everytime I post here, I feel more stupid than I did before...very humbling
The EGR valve will be attached to a plate sandwiched between the carb and intake manifold it will have a vacuum port on the end of it. A lot of the plates were made of aluminum and would burn through causing major vacuum signal issues. May not be in your case but it is worth a look. Could also have a carb float issue but seems like it would run bad all the time. Does it puff black smoke when it starts running rough?
Wow you got a good one here. You can install a clear inline fuel filter to see if it is starving for fuel when the problem is happening.
Usually when a motor starts running rough after a turn its because the float level is set too high. A plastic float thats absorbed fuel ( very common on Q-jets and thermoquads) will cause the same thing. If the car idles OK while sitting still, try bouncing it and see if that causes it to start running rough. How long has it been since the carbs was overhauled?
Check for stuck or inoperative vacuum advance. also coil output and water in the fuel. Carb sounds like the culprit though?????
1.) How do you check the vaccum advance? I started out to solve this problem yesterday and thought I was there. Changed the Carb gasket, worked from ground 0 on all the carb settings. Checked out vaccum leaks again. Advanced the timing a hair. It was running great ! Decided to change the Water Pump, put it all back to together. Started right up, went one block and bam !! Started missing and surging, idles fine (more or less). Next part = Fuel Pump. At this rate I will have a rebuilt motor and still not be able to drive the darn thing.
I still do not have this solved. I have messed with different vaccum lines and I keep thinking I have it solved, then, it goes back to surging. I replaced the Fuel Pump, checked or replaced all the fuel lines. Sometimes the inline filter appears to go dry, I thought it would be a problem in the line from the tank. I ran a line from a fuel can to the Inline fuel filter and same thing, never more than a small amount of fuel in the filter. I am going to install a small electric fuel pump tonight and see if this works. The carb is not stock and I can not find any diagrams for it, it is an Empire Carb? Vaccum advance sounds like a possibility, still not sure how to verify. Thanks for all the help. I would love to get past this running problem and get on with the improvements.
put a timing light on...note the timing. pull off the hoses from the distributor and block them with a pencil or something. if the timing jumped, the vacuum advance is working to some degree. put the hoses back on. have somebody gun the engine a little and see if the timing jumps ahead a lot. (not sure how many degrees is proper.) if it does, vacuum advance is fine. best of luck!!!!
If you want to check to see if the vacuum advance is working, try this. This is not a rocket science method, just a way to tell quick. Take the vacuum line that leaves the distributor and follow it to carb, disconnect at the carb and suck on it to make a vacumm. Stick your tongue on it,,, As god as my witness I am not messin with ya here... if it does not hold vacuum, either the line is bad or the vacuum advance is bad. In your case, I do think you have a carb issue,, messed up float is my guess. Dan
