Plymouthy Adams Posted September 26, 2015 Report Share Posted September 26, 2015 Timing is OK, but the carb has to go. It takes starting fluid to start the engine, then it will idle forever. Step on the gas, and the engine dies. I know, vacuum advance. I checked it with a vacuum pump. The car would stall when starting off, unless I used the clutch. (Fluid drive.) Then it would run OK down the street. I considered rebuilding the carburetor, but figured it may not address the real problems. Bad dashpot? Leaking around the throttle shaft? Other hidden things in the innards of the carb? New carburetor arriving Tuesday from Carburetor Exchange. They set up their rebuilt carburetors on an engine before sending them off. We shall see. Stay tuned. I'm ready to sell the car, maybe in the spring. I'm getting too old for this (insert scatological reference). you do not need vacuum advance to run the engine through the full spectrum of rpm changes...the mechanical advance is more than plenty for that and is also gradual as it only advances as needed...vacuum is for mileage and leaning out the engine when there is a light consistent load applied. Odds are you have a restriction in the crab fuel distribution...all fuel is common to a single point and depending on the circuit activated, the jet it will dispense from is selected. Look close at the breakdown and explanation of the carb circuits in your book...I think then you will understand how one portion will work and not the others...again fuel for the choke, idle and run jets are common..the accelerator pump also must be able to shoot a stream of fuel to transistion from idle to run...BUT WILL NOT.substitute for a bad run jet..it only prevents a stumble..you can transition if your circuits are good without the pump...only with hesitation and some stumbling.. If you think the dashpot is bad and preventing it to rest at the correct position..bump up the idle setting to take this out of the equation and test your engine again. Clean your car..odds are you do not even need a rebuild kit to do this.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonaldSmith Posted September 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2015 I installed my Carburetor-Exchange-rebuilt carburetor and took the car for a drive. Driveability is greatly improved. I can let the fluid coupling do its work in starting off and stopping- no clutching. I figure I got my money's worth. But the car won't upshift. I'll check the wiring, including the kickdown circuit, and the idle speed, which seems a little high. The carb people engine-tested the carb. If I don't find a wiring culprit, maybe I'll ask them at what rpm they set the carb. Anyway, I feel much better; I feel I can fix whatever remaining problems crop up. (I still think I'll sell the car within the next year. I should have it in good condition in the Spring - ran when parked.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted September 30, 2015 Report Share Posted September 30, 2015 it would be very hard to set the RPM at the factory and say for certain it would match that of the receivers engine and perform as such at preset/tested RPM...RPM at idle is critical to the smooth shifting and you must be able to establish the correct RPM and I hand held dwell/tach is almost the only way to get it there for certainty...you can keep dropping the RPM by ear and test drive as an alternate method but again you only guessing if you have a problem with RPM or other contributing factor(s) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted September 30, 2015 Report Share Posted September 30, 2015 All carburetor adjustments including Idle speed must be set on your engine. Every engine is different. Even though they adjusted the carburetor on a running engine it must be re-adjusted on your engine. No two engines are the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonaldSmith Posted October 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 I lowered the idle speed to about 800 with the engine warm, and took the car for a drive. Still no upshift. Then I checked the wiring. Some idiot had connected the wires at the carb wrong! The car was constantly trying to downshift, so no upshift. I don't know what I was thinking. I switched the wires and it upshifts the way it should. Amazing. Now the car is getting back to sweet. Easy start, underway OK (once warm) and it upshifts. I increased the idle a bit. Maybe that will make for better take-offs before the engine warms up,without using the clutch. I almost like the car again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted October 1, 2015 Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 90% of the time we are our own worst enemies when it comes to some of the minor things...and to make it worse...we say...its only two wires, what can I do wrong...or its not that, I checked it earlier... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted October 1, 2015 Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 Contact the guy who did the wiring and see if you can get compensated for making the correction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lahti35 Posted October 1, 2015 Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 I still think I'll sell the car within the next year. I get to that point too... when things get bad I wanna whip out the for sale sign and park things at the curb! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niel Hoback Posted October 1, 2015 Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 You should check the specs for your car, I think the idle should be around 500 or less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonaldSmith Posted October 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 Niel: Practically speaking, idle speed is the lowest we can set it and still have the car driveable. I've heard that 450 is the ideal idle. I have not attained it yet, but it may be tweakable. lhti35: I know that eventually someone else will take possession of the car. I have all winter to prepare for selling the car. But now it starts so well, and upshifts too. Don C: You said "Contact the guy who did the wiring and see if you can get compensated for making the correction." I'll compensate myself really well. Maybe a few extra of the wife's to-die-for chocolate chip cookies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted October 1, 2015 Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 I understood it was you but I do hope you will share some of that compensation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted October 1, 2015 Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 to make a movie quote...it take a big man to admit when he is wrong...I am not a big man...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonaldSmith Posted October 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2015 Don C: I suppose you think that, because you have made some helpful comments, you should share in the compensation receivable from the idiot who installed my carb wires wrong. Hmm... In view of the technical and humorous contributions you have made to the forum, from which I have benefited, I have decided to send you a token of appreciation, or four tokens. Check your mail in the next few days, not the e-mail, the snail-mail. You can't send cookies by e-mail. (My wife bakes cookies despite being celiac; she is not supposed to eat them herself. I have to be the official tester, but I step up to the plate.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted October 2, 2015 Report Share Posted October 2, 2015 Yum, Yum, Eatem up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonaldSmith Posted October 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2015 I've been called the "Cookie Monster", but there may be more than one such fiend entitled to such a moniker. On the one side of our house, the fence is only four feet high, so we have become good friends with our neighbors on that side. When their older daughter was two, she wandered through a gap in the fence and became quite at home in our yard. Tomorrow is a party for her fifth birthday, and we are invited. Her younger sister, two-and-a-half, has followed in her footsteps and is hard on her heels. Since the original wandering into our yard, the girls have frequently requested to come inside our house, and to go into the basement family room, with its stash of vintage kiddie toys in the toy room under the steps. After playing a bit, they meekly ask, "May we please have a cookie?" My wife then thaws a plate of chocolate chip cookies which we all share, except for her. At times there is fear that a Cookie Monster has cleaned out the supply, but my wife always has a bag in reserve. The house on the other side of us has a high privacy fence, so we didn't get to know them very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casper50 Posted October 2, 2015 Report Share Posted October 2, 2015 My motto: Cookies are like women's breasts. There are no bad ones, it's just some are better than the others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted October 8, 2015 Report Share Posted October 8, 2015 Don C: I suppose you think that, because you have made some helpful comments, you should share in the compensation receivable from the idiot who installed my carb wires wrong. Hmm... In view of the technical and humorous contributions you have made to the forum, from which I have benefited, I have decided to send you a token of appreciation, or four tokens. Check your mail in the next few days, not the e-mail, the snail-mail. You can't send cookies by e-mail. (My wife bakes cookies despite being celiac; she is not supposed to eat them herself. I have to be the official tester, but I step up to the plate.) Thanks Donald. The four tokens arrived today and just in time as I was heading to the casino. Sorry to say the slot machine rejected the first one of them and I was not able to capitalize on your tokens of appreciation So my wife and I ate the rest of them and they were yummy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.