No power at 50mph and sooty plugs

[Niel Hoback]

Jeff, they're 1 7/8 and 2".   Y'all are free to make your own captions for this picture.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Niel Hoback

[DonaldSmith]

On the subject of trailer hitches, I tell people that I have two balls, and one is bigger than the other (1-7/8" and 2"), but people look at me strange. 

[Don Coatney]

Jeff, they're 1 7/8 and 2".   Y'all are free to make your own captions for this picture.

I have no desire to get hitched up with a screw ball

[Tom Skinner]

LMAO

[Dodgeb4ya]

Jesus these threads run amuck!

[Niel Hoback]

I used to run a muck at work, then I got a promotion to running a crane.

[Jeff Balazs]

Jeff, they're 1 7/8 and 2".   Y'all are free to make your own captions for this picture.

Well that is not what I was not was I was thinking when I made the comment.......but I just about pissed myself when I saw the photo you posted. I spent the day in Dana Point Harbor helping some friends get their boat running. Inboards with poor access. My buddy had mentioned that it backfired quite a bit. Not surprisingly both flame arrestors were loose, Salt water boats are much more difficult than our old Dodges. You should see the wiring.... :eek:   Crimp connectors and not a bit of heat shrink tubing......OMG x 10000000. And they think it's ready for a trip to Catalina.

Jeff

[DJ194950]

I guess that if you like them,

strongly suggest they wear life vests and both have locators beacons in them! 

 

Not for me and I love boat trips on open water.

 

Do you like wiring jobs?

 

Would love a safe trip to Catalina Island in a Safe small boat! 

 

DJ

[Jeff Balazs]

Sorry got way off topic here.

But in a sense still trouble shooting. Be thankful it's a car and not a hole in the water to pour money into. At least with a car access is relatively good........so with some perserverance you should be able to get it sorted.

 

Jeff

[james49ply]

timing looks to be the culprit here, you replace the points, gapped them correctly, did you check the timing? if retarded, poor performance and the fuel will not burn properly. as the points wear, the timing changes. second clue, carb backfired, check the carb for a clogged vacuum port on the baseplate, remove carb to do this, you might have blown some carbon into it.

[sorensen_dk]

It seems like you have too many unknowns at the moment.

 

In your case I would return to square one and have the distributor properly bench tested at a competent auto electric shop.

 

I once had my distributor tested; the shop guy was surprised how well it performed way beyond the red-line of a flathead.

 

Tom

Edited August 6, 2014 by sorensen_dk

[Chrysler49]

Rechecked points, verified timing, and even lowered the float to a point I know is a tad too low. Car runs alright down the road but is still burning way too rich, particularly at idle; vacuum port at the base of the carb is clear. I tried both advancing and retarding the timing a touch just to see what happened, and the car didn't like being anywhere but 0 degrees TDC at idle.

Haven't found a way to properly vacuum test the carb, and the car doesn't have vacuum wipers. This has to be something to do with the carburetor, which baffles me considering it's been rebuilt and cleaned to a T several times over the past year. As I posted earlier, I haven't taken out the main vent tube and I'm still thinking this could be a part of my issue. I don't have the tool and it isn't easy to come by. Only place that I can find it is open Mondays and Tuesdays and that's it. Other than that I guess maybe I've got too high of fuel pressure coming through the rebuilt pump. Not being able to kill the car by seating the idle mixture screw at idle tells me it's in the carb.

[1941Rick]

Did you disable the power valve?    remove the spring....

[Frank Elder]

Haven't found a way to properly vacuum test the carb, and the car doesn't have vacuum wipers. 

 

Most intakes have a vacuum port on them, a little square plug, you can take a reading from there if you have one. Remove the plug, install  the tester, and start the car...18 inches is considered to be acceptable for these engines.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Frank Elder

[james49ply]

as rich as it appears to be running, I wonder if the rebuilder forgot to install the main jet? or put a wrong one in? something is allowing way to much fuel into the engine.

[Chrysler49]

I removed the spring from the power valve. The idle seems to want to hang a bit before falling now, but when it settle I'm still getting too much sooty black exhaust. When idling around 2000rpms the exhaust appears relatively clean. I do have the square plug on the side of the intake, but nothing that screws in with which to attach my vacuum gauge. I'll have to go to the parts store tomorrow and attempt to either find or fabricate something. The plug size appears to be 11/16th, which hopefully isn't too much of an issue.

[Chrysler49]

Vacuum showed 14 at the idle. If I loosened the vacuum gauge to allow more air in the idle went up a bit, and the vacuum would set steady at 18. Perhaps my idle is too low? I raised the idle a bit, and the vacuum is right where it needs to be. I'd estimate the idle at 600-700 rpms, but the black exhaust stops and the car runs great. I think I'll call it good for now.

[james49ply]

well said Niel, I think you hit it on the head.

[Chrysler49]

Air mixture screw having no affect on the engine still shows something isn't quite right, but I'll worry about it next year.

[Jeff Balazs]

Running too rich can be very bad for your engine. Too much gas and you can dilute the oil.

 

Jeff