James_Douglas Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 Hi All, Helping a friend with his '58 Dodge (315). The car runs fine then for no apparent reason will start to run rough and then die when at idle. This engine is very tired. We have put on a new Holley 2-BBL (it fit like it was made for the car). We took out the distributor and cleaned everything, however the vacuum can is shot so it is off to Terrill Machine and I tied the plate down so it does not move until we get it back. All new plugs wires cap, rotor and the like. New fuel filter. New coil. Old ballast resistor and fuel pump on car. The only few things I can think of left are: 1. Fuel Pump 2. Tank junk plugging line intermittently. 3. Ballast resistor failing intermittently. 4. Wire in ignition circuit is grounding out intermittently. I had him hot wire it the last time it stalled and it started went two blocks and stalled again so it is not an open 12v problem. Anyone have any thoughts please chime in. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 new coil...old ballast..does the ballast match the coil? what is your voltage drop across the reisistor..is the coil hot to touch when it dies..do you have a spare coil to swap for test purposes the other could very well be a intermittant fuel plug..one would have to pop the cleaner, shoot the accelertor pump to see if the bowl is full or better yet pull the carb top for a true fuel level condition last 58 Dodge I saw had trash in the needle and seat..the engine would start to stumble and die at idle due to excess gas from spill over due to float inability to shout off fuel supply..this was a 10 minute fix beside the road...look for excess fuel when this happens..could be on the throttle plate if left undisturbed at idle..in the base of the manifold or running out the threttle shaft bushing very obvious with cleaner off if this condition exists Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 Check any of the flexible lines in the fuel system. If thee is ethanol in the fule in your area, old rubber doesn't like it and will deteriorate fromt he inside out will look fine but not work well. Also put some compressed air back throughthe line to the fule tank, and check the screen inside the fuel pump. James we met some nice folks from north of SF at the Plymouth meet in Md they drove their P15 on their round trip. I mentioned there were some nice folks out there from this board. Maybe you contact them for some of the events or get togethers. I sent them the link for the show you posted. I will send you their email via PM. Real nice couple hope you can make thier acquaintence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_Douglas Posted October 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 Hi Guys, Carb is brand new out of the box Holley 2-bbl (350 CFM) electric choke. All the upper lines are new and I plan on blowing the lines back when he gets the car over to my place. Turns out the fuel pump is for just that year (56) Dodge on the 315 V8 and no one has one handy so it is mail order or Terrill. I am going to the speed shot in 5 minutes to get an electric and a ballast resistor. Best, James Thanks for the PM.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Reddie Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 James, If it dies out again, can you check it for spark and fuel reaching the carb etc. Also see if it has one those pesky pigtail wires in the distributor. Those can wear through, ground out on the distributor housing and give you grief:mad:. Good luck to you. John R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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