mrahc

The clutch does not shudder at all. I realise that the fluid that has now leaked from the unit has potential to cause the clutch to slip, but I've been having this issue since well before it started leaking.

My initial thought was the clutch, but I would have smelled it. And with the size of the hill that I was spinning up, it would have left me in a cloud of smoke and unable to continue driving.

As the title states, I'm having issues with the fluid drive in my 50 Coronet. It's been slipping on me for a while, under acceleration and uphill. My fist attempt at a solution was to drain the old fluid and replace it with new ISO 32 hydraulic oil. This didn't seem to help anything at all. My next attempt was to remove some of the fluid and, in its place, top it off with some Lucas Stop Slip. This seemed to offer a noticeable improvement the first time I drove it, but the improvement didn't last very long. On a road trip this weekend, she started slipping pretty badly while going up a large hill on the highway. When I pulled over to check everything out, I saw that fluid had started pouring out. I pulled out the plug to try topping it off before continuing down the road. There was noticeable pressure relieved when I pulled the plug away, and fluid was spewing out of the unit. To avoid losing any more, I plugged it bag up and let it cool off before continuing on my way, with the slipping now worse than before, but still obviously drive-able. 200+ miles later, there was still a large spot on my driveway the morning after I returned home. My goal for this winter is to swap to an overdrive transmission, but there are still some shows I need to get to this summer. Is there any way to easily lock up the fluid drive unit in order to make driving the car more tolerable? I really enjoy the three speed, but the hydraulic coupling is a nightmare. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Feel free to contact me if you need any help along the way. I've put about 7,000 miles on my setup over the last year and the only issue I've had was losing two of the screws holding down the top of one of my carbs. The head was decked .060" and the intake is water-heated, both of which I would highly recommend. I did Fenton split headers because my stock manifold was cracked, but they sound great with the Smithy glasspacks I put behind them. Good luck!

I'm going to make some phone calls to local Mopar guys tomorrow. Of all things, I didn't expect brake parts to be so difficult to find. Thank you guys for even acknowledging my needs! I appreciate it.

Front! I guess I should have mentioned that.

Yesterday, I started what I figured would be a simple project of replacing the wheel lug studs on my D34 with all right hand thread. When I took the first drum off, the friction material from one of the shoes fell right out. I figured that's no problem, I'll just get a new shoe. Turns out it's damned near impossible to find new brake shoes. Upon inspection of the drum itself, I discovered a pretty bad crack. I planned on converting to discs this winter, but I've got a road trip planned for the end of this month and I don't know if I have the time to work that out beforehand. Does anybody happen to have a drum and a shoe I can buy (or rent)? I'd hate to pay full price for parts I'm only going to use for a few months.

That makes perfect sense. I was thinking that the external screw was for a ground wire, but that's going to be power from the coil, and then the distributor body itself grounds to the motor. I guess I'll just have to ground the coil separately. Thanks again.

Thanks! But I still can't quite tell what the white wire at the bottom right is attached to underneath your condenser wire. It doesn't look like I've got a terminal in that location.

I recently had an issue with my Pertronix ignitor (which is being replaced under warranty), but I had kept my points as a backup. My problem is that I don't remember how the wires were connected, and I stupidly forgot to take pictures before installing. I have also been unable to find any clear pictures of the distributor that I could replicate. Can somebody tell me where the condenser is connected, and where this extra wire is supposed to be attached?

I suppose I can update with some progress... Merle, I checked the distributor as you mentioned and everything was as it should be. I also picked up another vacuum advance from a friend of mine, but the diaphragm was in eve worse shape than mine. I'd still like to find a replacement, but the only one I've found is $98 from Kanter, with a $45 core charge. At that price, I'd prefer to attempt making my own diaphragm out of some nylon-backed nitrile. I tried for days to find a vacuum leak, as that still appears to be the most logical answer to this dilemma. I still could not come up with anything and the car still doesn't idle the way it should. Off idle, the car was great for about a month. I drove it 1,300 miles with no issues. Then, all at once, the car started running like garbage...backfiring out of the exhaust and the intake, stumbling, no acceleration. I decided it was probably time for a checkup, so I readjusted the valve lash, changed the fuel filter, checked the plug gaps, synchronized the carburetors, and (still a mystery to me) reset the timing. She runs better now, though not as well as before. The terrible idle persists and it's been detonating. I tried backing off the timing, which didn't fix the detonation, but instead added backfiring, so I returned it back to where I started. The plugs look to me like it's not getting enough fuel, which is consistent with the detonation, but I don't know why this lean condition would start all at once. I'm sick of messing with these carburetors, so I'm in the process of rebuilding a pair of Carter BB. This is where I've run into an issue that I need some advice with. The throttle plate shafts are worn pretty badly, giving noticeable play that will undoubtedly result in a vacuum leak. I've been searching all over for replacements, but it doesn't seem too promising. Instead, I'd like to ream the throttle bodies and insert bushings, but I can't find any information on people having done this with these same carbs. I believe the throttle shafts are 5/16", but I'm not sure if a standard 5/16" bushing kit would meet my needs, as the shafts themselves are worn, and not the throttle body itself. I've considered making a nylon bushing, but I don't know if it would hold up to the combination of heat and gasoline. Any advice on adding bushings to these carbs would be very much appreciated.

Merle, I'll double check the distributor, but everything looked intact when I had it apart on Sunday. As for the timing marks on the damper, I found TDC before I even knew that the marks were there, then looked down to mark it and it was already dead on.

Don, I synchronized the carbs using the vacuum ports at the base of each carb. I'll try contacting Marty today for more information on his setup. I'm pretty sure I've come across his threads in my endless searching, but thanks for the contact. More time spent wrenching over the weekend left me with nothing but more questions. I removed the vacuum advance and found that the diaphragm is shot, so I need to try to find a new one, or at least a functional one. So, for now, the vacuum advance is disconnected entirely. I purchased a new timing light to confirm the old one was malfunctioning, but, to my surprise, it read the exact same thing. After setting the static timing, the inductive timing lights (connected to cylinder 1 wire) are showing about 50 degrees advance at idle. This can't possibly be correct, but what would cause them to read this way? I advanced and retarded the distributor and in each direction, the motor starts to stumble and die, so I returned it to the same position and the car runs and drives just fine, with some slight detonation under heavy acceleration. I hope I can get that to dissipate by retarding the timing slightly more, but I still can't figure out why the timing light is showing me such an absurd value.

rcb, I keep thinking the carb base gaskets are to blame, but spraying ether did nothing, so I don't know why I'm stuck on that. I adjusted the valve clearances pretty recently and just tested compression on all of the cylinders to verify the valves were closing properly. All were between 145 and 155 psi. Plymouthy, The timing light I've been using has an inductive pickup, which I've been putting on the Cylinder 1 plug wire. I suspect that the rheostat on the timing light is faulty, or at the very least needs to be zeroed. The open ports at the base of the carb are where the idle mixture screws are hidden, unless I'm looking in the wrong place. I'll check to make sure there are no vacuum ports that didn't have a nipple on them, and I'll also try venturi vacuum for the distributor again.

I've been checking the balance at every step, with the vacuum gauge in the photo. The throttle stops are very sensitive, so I've been careful to keep them balanced along the way. I've only got one port on the manifold, so I've disconnected the distributor each time while taking readings and making adjustments to the carburetors. I've been using a tach/dwell meter connected directly to the coil to measure RPMs. I suppose a clean slate is the logical next step. Do you have any experience with the Pertronix ignitions? When adjusting the static timing by the book, I couldn't get the distributor to light a bulb, so I instead connected a spark plug and based my timing off of that. I assumed this was occurring because it no longer has a mechanical contact point, but is this correct behavior?

After chasing my tail for about two weeks, I guess it's time to ask for some help. I guess I'll start off with the setup: I'm running a 230 with a water-heated Edmunds intake with two of the Carter/Weber 32DFT 2bbl carbs on top with all stock jets. Langdon split manifold headers running two 2" pipes back to Smithy's glass packs. Pertronix 12V electronic ignition with a matching FlameThrower coil. Head is milled .060". Stock bore. My issue is that I cannot get the car to idle consistently. I started by setting everything to default. Distributor was static timed per the manual, idle air screws 1-1/2 turns out, spark plug gaps set to .035", etc. The carburetors are synchronized at both the throttle plates and the linkages, so that they're open the same amount at idle and open together with throttle. Only the rear carb has a choke cable attached and the front is wired open. At its lowest, I can get the idle to bounce around between 700-1000 RPM. Vacuum at the manifold bounces from 16 to 19 inches, depending how fast the motor is spinning at any moment. The venturi vacuum ports I was taking the readings off of (top right of the air/fuel screw) gave me a more consistent reading of about 7.5" of vacuum at around 900 RPM, initially. This was also where I ran the vacuum to the distributor, per Langdon's recommendation. The port to the left of this gave a reading of less than 1 inch, but both carbs were the same. There is a relatively large vacuum port on the side of the carb opposite the motor, which I initially thought was for a PCV setup, so I ran hose between the two carbs with a breather in the middle. In this state, the car started detonating like a bastard under moderate acceleration. The motor would idle on its own about 90% of the time, but seemed to be stumbling and shaking. With the choke pulled, the idle was higher than it should be, but it was very smooth, so I immediately started looking for vacuum leaks. The intake manifold and carburetor bases appear to be fine, as there was no immediate difference while spraying starter fluid at them. I disconnected the vacuum advance and there was a noticeable improvement in pinging, so I moved the distributor vacuum hose directly to the manifold. This alleviated the detonation, but instead caused some stumbling under load at higher RPMs. The next morning, the stumbling was miraculously no longer an issue, and has not returned since. Still convinced that I had a vacuum leak on my hands, I looked up pictures of similar setups and found that people had the larger rear vacuum ports plugged. I removed my breather setup, plugged the ports, and readjusted my idle. Ported vacuum now reads about 11 inches at the lowest I can get it to idle on its own, but I did notice that the rear carb's vacuum reading seems to fluctuate mildly (+/- a half inch) with the inconsistent engine speed, where the front is steady. Manifold vacuum dropped some, to between 14 and 17 inches. Pulling the choke even partway no longer smooths the engine, but causes the RPMs to increase dramatically. As I appear to have taken two steps back, this is where I'm consulting the elders. Has anybody had any similar issues? Any recommendations? I still feel that a vacuum leak is the culprit, but I can't figure out where it would be coming from. I'd like to adjust the timing based on vacuum, but without a consistent idle, this has proven to be impossible. I suspect the timing light I've been attempting to use is malfunctioning, as it was showing 45 degrees BTDC at idle, immediately after I set the advance close to 0. There has to be something I'm overlooking and I sincerely hope this is just an issue of me being an idiot.

I'm from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area. I've had some luck with parts at EZ Pull and Engler's, but I never thought to try Harry's for old cars. Looks like I'll be in the junkyards again this weekend!

Flatie, I already checked for intake leaks. Given the sporadic behavior, that was my first thought as well. It usually backfires through the exhaust, but occasionally through the carburetor...thinking of it now, I should probably double check the ignition timing. Ray, thank you for the information! I believe the venturis on both carbs are 22mm on both primary and secondary and the throttle bores are 32mm, but I have to check the auxiliary venturis for variation. The different sized jetting is not intentional, but rather how they were set up when I purchased the carburetors. I think I'm going to start with returning the jets to the sizes that I anticipated would be in them when they arrived. It seems people have been happy with that setup in the past. This isn't the only car we've got running Webers at the moment, and it certainly won't be the last, so I'll definitely have to look for that book. Would you happen to know if jets and emulsion tubes are interchangeable between the DFT and the DAT, DATR, or DMTR?

I found an old thread on this, but it was seven years old and inconclusive. I'm wondering if anybody has successfully experimented with jetting on the carburetors that I'm sure most have bought from Tom Langdon (Carter/Weber, Weber 32DFT, Motorcraft 740, Motorcraft 5740, whichever other name they've been made under). I purchased mine elsewhere, which at this point is starting to feel like a mistake, as the jetting is completely off from what should come from the factory and they aren't matched at all. My current jets are as follows: Front Carb Primary Idle Jet - 70 (Stock = 50) Primary Air Correcter - 150 (Stock = 160) Primary Emulsion Tube - X04 (Stock = X05 or F53) Primary Main Jet - 15 (Not sure if this is shortened from 115?)(Stock = 105) Secondary Air Correcter - 150 (Stock - 220) Secondary Emulsion Tube - X04 (Stock = T02 or F22) Secondary Main Jet - 120 (Stock = 95) Secondary Idle Jet - 60 (Stock = 60) Rear Carb Primary Idle Jet - 65 Primary Air Correcter - 150 Primary Emulsion Tube - X05 Primary Main Jet - 15 (?) Secondary Air Correcter - 175 Secondary Emulsion Tube - X04 Secondary Main Jet - 15 (?) Secondary Idle Jet - 60 I was hoping somebody has been able to find parts for these carburetors, as I have had no luck. I am going to plug and/or drill jets to the appropriate size, but I probably won't be able to accurately recreate the correct emulsion tubes. Just to add some additional information, the motor is a 230 and I am running an Edmunds water-heated intake and Fenton-style split manifold headers from Langdon. The head was milled down .060" to bump up compression, but the cam and bore are stock. The car makes a surprising amount of power, but is very inconsistent in its low-end performance and backfires some at idle. I have a suspicion that the car is running too lean on the primary circuit, but it drives fine at steady speed and I don't hear any knocking. Any help would be appreciated!

I haven't called Langdon yet, but he's had answers for all of my questions so far. I just feel bad bothering him. I haven't gotten to the point of adjusting idle yet. As soon as the car is started, it revs pretty high. I backed the adjustment screws completely off of the fast-idle cams, but the stops at the bases of the carbs are preventing the throttle from backing off any more

I had a change of heart and went with the dual 2 barrel setup from Langdon. Despite only having one choke because of the narrowness of the Edmunds intake, I've got the car running again. I've got some questions for tuning these, as I haven't been able to find any information online. It seems as though the throttles aren't closing enough, but they're hitting the stops on the base of the carb. My idle is staying up way too high. Does anybody know if the stops can be adjusted, or is there somewhere else I should look? I'll try taking some pictures, but they probably won't be very good.

blueskies, that does certainly sound like a happy flathead. And nice work on the poster. I settled on rebuilding the Carters for now, so I'll post an update when I get everything up and running. For now, I've got a lot of tinkering and polishing to do while I wait on carb parts. Pistons came in yesterday, the head is waiting for me at the machine shop, and I've got an exhaust to build.

I have found rebuild kits for the Carters, but would they make for a more reliable setup than other options? I plan on driving the car to hell and back.

Is that an Offenhauser air cleaner or did you make it?

Thank you for the contact. I'm going to reach out to him today. Regarding the carb spacing...I'm not sure if this Edmunds puts them lower than stock. I haven't compared them side by side, but the intake appears to be pretty tall. I guess I'll have to measure them tonight.