Hook47

Well, I found the answer to the high idle. The answer is- I am an idiot! What I thought was a failed rod for the throttle plate was much simpler. The bracket which attaches to the rod, and the rest of the throttle linkage was loose, not the actual throttle plate! Under some grime I found a friction screw that allowed me to adjust it and lock it in place... I've got her idling better now, and responding to the enrichener screw! I still can't help but wonder if I've got it running right. It sure feels like it's hitting on all 6, but as mentioned above there is some valvetrain noise (not scary amounts, but noticeable. Is it normal for this motor? Need to start the M37 which has been dormant a few months!) And there is that occasional pop in the exhaust. While my current carb is OK, I'm intrigued by the carb posted by Sam! Anyone have any experience with this carb? Sam, would you say it's worth a swap? If I don't use it for the P18 I've got another dozen motors around it would mount up to!

OK fellas, rooting around the carborator has revealed my issue. Not sure this will be an easy fix, though! The throttle linkage attachment point is very loose. It had a lot of play in it. The bracket where the idle adjustment screw is located (where the throttle linkage connects) is loose in the vertical Axis, meaning it has a lot of up and down play like it is worn out. When I move the bracket, the idle changes significantly. What are my options here? I'm not finding aftermarket parts for this carb and I got a feeling I'm not going to.

Thank you Gents! That gives me places to start. I may try spraying the old carb cleaner trick to see if I hear the idle change. The vacuum system is extremely simple (the wipers aren't hooked up and it's plugged). I can't seem to find where they would hook up, as I suspected that could be a place where I'm leaking vacuum. Throttle plate looks good and choke is working A OK. I actually felt brave and went on a 10 mile test drive today. She did great, but still idled high at the end. She at least got a splash of new gas at the station! The engine sounds like it's running on all six, very smooth and strong now, no misses. It's still a little "clattery" as the wife described it, but having never heard another Deluxe run I feel like the valve noise is probably normal for the Flahead six? I've got a Dodge M37 with a flathead and it has a similar sound (I don't know how similar the engines are mechanically). Aside from the high idle, the only other tuning issue I have is a bit of a pop from the exhaust at idle. Not a back fire, but still sounds like she isn't quite dialed in. I appreciate all the help guys, so close to having this car where I want it!

Any guesses, fellas? Still playing around with it but I haven't figured out why it's idling high yet.

Well, she is throwing another curveball at me! Did an oil change today and decided to confirm timing now that she is firing on all six. I've noticed the last couple runs she is idling high... like 2 to 2500 RPM! Not sure why this started. The lean/rich screw has no effect (probably because its not on the idle circuit), the throttle linkage is set correctly and the choke is open and not stuck. I put the timing gun on and the damn thing is saying it's at like 35-40 degrees advance!!! How is that even possible! Is that because the RPM is high? Here is the kicker... I loosen the distributor and went full retard (I know, never go full retard) by turning it all the way clockwise. She is still idling high and showing about 30 degrees advance at the fill retard setting! I'm pretty stumped.

Funny thing is I have no reason to believe it needs wheel bearings, I was just going to check them out! Are the drums that bad to get off? Saw a YT video where they came off fairly easy with a few taps of a hammer around the radius! Brakes actually work, so I was considering more preventative work!

We got it, fellas! BIG WIN! So following the above advice, I got my motor back to TDC and dug in. The distributor is off the factory spec position. The rotor is at the 4 o lock position, meaning the oil pump is off a few teeth. Swapping the rotor has it in the 10 I clock which was still out if spec, so I decided I don't care as long as it works. At this juncture I do not plan to pull the oil pump to reset it. That sounds like a two man job and I'm 1 short! Instead, I determined the firing order to see if that was a issue. Following the wires I found I was at TWO five three six ONE four.... two wires were swapped to the wrong place! I swapped them to 153624 and WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Prior to today I had only been hearing a flathead 4, that flathead 6 really purrs in comparison! On a test drive I had great power, no missing, no loss of power when hot, and great oil PSI! SHE EVEN FIRES RIGHT BACK UP WHEN HOT! Thanks a bunch for the help, fellas. Next step is new wheel bearings, maybe looking over the brakes, and she is ready to go to town!

Thanks fellas, I'll try the above! I think I've found the root cause of the PO giving up because "it just won't run right!" I'll report back on my success/failure/both after doing the above recommdations! Hope I didn't hurt the poor thing running it for short durations. God, it must have been preigniting and detonating like a mother. I can very much see why it was losing power and dying on me! One last clarification- barring some actually insane foul up when the last guy or guy before the last guy rebuilt this motor- can I trust my crank pulleys TDC mark? I'm assuming it's keyed to where it would have to align to the engines crank shaft to properly represent TDC. It was interesting that the number 6 cylinder did show me believable timing when I used the timing gun. PO did say his Dad (before he passed) had the motor professionally rebuilt, and it looks it. Compression is also great. When PO tried to make it run it the dizzy and several other parts were not installed.

Hey fellas, more progress, but more questions! So I dug into why the #1 was firing off the TDC gauge, and I think I found it... I went back to the basics. I put #1 on TDC, compression stroke, determined by me feeling compression through the plug hole and feeling pressure. I cannot get the pin hole bolt out of the number 6, as that bolt is cammed to hell and back! My understanding is plugs fire over the valves, so putting a wire in the plug hole to help find TDC is pointless. Once I reached TDC I noted the rotor was at the 5 O clock position, rather than the 7 as the service manual calls for. As I understand, this means the oil pump was installed and timing out of spec, but isn't critical if the firing order with the wires is at spec. And therein is the issue. The rotor is on the #4 wire! This seems way off! My understanding is the rotor should be at the #1 wire at TDC, #1 compression stroke. My question is how was this thing even running?! Can they run with the wires out of order? Maybe this explains backfires through the intake during crank! The #1 plug is clean as a whistle too. Doesn't look like it's been firing in spite of me DRIVING the car a couple times like this! My understanding is the firing order is 153624. Right now it's something like 423651... wth lol. Am I on the right track? Set to TDC on #1 compression, then set the wires in the DIRECTION of dizzy rotation to 153624?

Copy above on the oil pressure! Guys, am I on the money timing this cat off the #6 cylinder? Using the xenon timing gun it's the only cylinder that even makes since on timing. With the number one I'm flashing on the opposite side of the crank pulley from the timing marks!

Thanks for all the awesome input, fellas! She's on a 6V coil WITHOUT internal resistor! I've made that mistake before. Well like I say, she was at 22 degrees advance which seemed really agreesive. Guess what I found out today? The bolt to tighten down the distributor was TOTALLY LOOSE! No wonder she was so advance! I set her to about 8 degrees before TDC and she was running better. Started warm and on a short 5 minute drive didn't lose spark! Are we getting closer? I've noticed my oil pressure gauge starts at 40 when cold, then goes between 10 and 20 when warm, up to 30 or 40 under load. Is this normal? Could be it a worn out transducer? One step closer fellas! I have Petronix 6V electric ignition NIB. I've decided pulling the dizzy is a good call just to make sure she is road ready, in line with advice above, I'm going to replace the suspect ground (er... positive?) Wire from dizzy. Any recommendations between keeping her stock or going Petronix? Thanks again guys!

Hey Gents! First post! I'm mighty proud to own a beautiful 1949 Plymouth Deluxe! The PO gave up on it because he couldn't get it to run, and when I took it home it had a significant portion of the vehicle in the trunk! Fast forward to now and I've made a lot of progress, but I've got a couple odd issues I could use some help chasing down. The car will run, drive and stop (thankfully) but after about 5 to 10 minutes it will loose power, possibly due to a loss of spark. I've been wrenching on cars for years, but this is the furthest back I've gone aside from some tractors and motorcycles. Here is what I've found: Compression is good on all six. She isn't smoking or burning oil, and the engine honestly looks like it was rebuilt before PO gave up. New wires, 6V coil, 6V battery, points (yes, aftermarket... I know... but NOS ones coming in the mail!) and new condenser. Gas tank flushed, new ethanol free fuel Carb and fuel system are in good shape. Nice strong jet of fuel, choke is set and functioning as God intended. Used a timing gun (off a 12V battery) and realized the car is 21 degrees advance of the #6 cylinder. I tested the #1 and the timing marks weren't even close to showing up with the gun. Am I on the right track with the #6? 21 degrees seems like a LOT but I wanted to ask you guys before I mess with timing. Here is another weird symptom- I'm noticing a spark maybe under the points? It's weird. Hard to see where it is coming from. On other vehicles I've seen similar issues when the condenser was bad, so I installed a new one and noted it does crank easier, but occasionally it fires through the intake! I'm assuming the 21 degree advance has something to do with that! I want to do a better job diagnosing what is going on when it dies. After it cools down she will run again. Next time she dies I'm going to check thoroughly for spark and for maybe fuel in the intake incase she is flooding out? Any ideas? Am I on the right track?