"Idle"-ness is the Devil's Workshop

[Faulkner]

its not wd40- it's carb cleaner. wd40 will not burn. (not that i've tried or anything ) --j

Actually, according to Ed Eckerson, it can be any spray -- even water. It's not combustion you're looking for, it's a temporary blockage of the leaking pathway that causes the engine to pick up rpms.

Dan

[Faulkner]

What about some help from a friend? Is anybody here who would go outside and pull the vacuum hose to check when it has high and low vacuum? It just takes two minutes and we would find finally the solution.

I volunteer, Stefan! Now that I have a rebuilt carb and new gaskets. I'll give it a go...

...after I finish refinishing the front porch (laying down fibermesh and elastomeric paint). Time and the elements take their toll on more than just antique cars...

Dan

[rogerh]

the shop manual explained it. The mechanical weights RETARD the timing.
The vacuum advance ADVANCES the timing, whichever is required for smooth running. It doesnt take much vacuum to move the points plate.
Start your cars, let them warm up so the idle is down, then pull off the vacuum connection and hear the engine speed change.
Since Dan has Pertronix, I dont know if this applies to his car. Is the Pertronix attached to the original breaker plate, which in turn is moved by the vacuum advance? (I dont mean to get off-topic)

[Faulkner]

Since Dan has Pertronix, I dont know if this applies to his car. Is the Pertronix attached to the original breaker plate, which in turn is moved by the vacuum advance? (I dont mean to get off-topic)

Yes, it is -- the only thing Pertronix does is eliminate the points. Everything else is the same, including the mechanical and vacuum advance.

Speaking of advance, time for me to "advance" to the kitchen for lunch. The porch is done, now on to Faulkner...

Dan

[Faulkner]

Let me tell you about my carburetor rebuilder. He's the third generation that's been doing this (Palacio's -- Cuban? Dunno). He's holed away in a little storefront on North Broad Street in Philadelphia. Got two yappy dogs that guard the counter while he's in the bad yard tinkering (the back of the store is entirely open to the yard. Charged me $140 to rebuild -- painted the entire carb with lacquer, his own special mix of metallic silver and black. Looks gorgeous -- like brand new, doesn't it -- but does it work?! I asked about putting anything on the gasket, he suggested a little bearing grease -- which I did.

I put it back on the car, warning Marie that I would have to crank it for a while because I needed to get gas into it; and that it may not run right until I adjust it. I turned the key -- varoom! It was instantly running!

As before, I had to crank down the idle screws because I was running too rich; I also had to turn down the idle (a bit too much, I'm afraid, I'll have to nudge that back up). But Faulker was running smooth as silk.

And inexplicably -- I'm still getting virtually no suction at idle, Stefan. I'm not sure I'm getting any at higher RPMs, either; and at idle, when I remove the vac advance from the distributor, I get no shift in timing whatsoever. So, I dunno. It's a mystery to me; but machts nichts -- it's running great now.

So Marie and I took it out for a spin! Ready for my next problem?

Dan

P.S. Palacio's does a lot of work for shops all over the country; he gets a lot of work from L.A. and Las Vegas, he says. I highly recommend, if anyone's interested in a carb rebuild. Really friendly guy, fast turnaround, very reasonable prices

[Faulkner]

Palacio's does a lot of work for shops all over the country; he gets a lot of work from L.A. and Las Vegas, he says. I highly recommend, if anyone's interested in a carb rebuild. Really friendly guy, fast turnaround, very reasonable prices

Here's a link:

http://www.yellowbot.com/palacio-carbur ... ia-pa.html

[sportfury1959]

I volunteer, Stefan! Now that I have a rebuilt carb and new gaskets. I'll give it a go...

...

Dan, I thought about anybody else, except you! I could do it myself but my original Carburetor is disassembled in the shelf and some parts are missing. But macht nichts, we will find some cars in Carlisle and we’ll check it there. I’m glad that it works now but I’m curious now and want to know why.

[Fins59]

its not wd40- it's carb cleaner. wd40 will not burn. (not that i've tried or anything ) --j

Carb cleaner - Batmobile is correct. I remember now I used carb cleaner on my TBI on my '88 GMC Van. This was probably about 10-12 years ago. It wasn't running right - one garage told me I needed a part (can't remember what but big$$) - a friend of mine told me to spray carb cleaner around base to see if gasket leaked. He was correct. New gasket cost me 1 or 2 bucks and solved problem.

[batmobile]

yeah those tbi engines r bad about that, particularly the ones w/ a warmer plate underneath like my '90 1- ton w/ da 454. the distributors suck in them as well. suposedly the aftermarket have fixed the oe shortcomings, the reman sucks. went through 8 defective ones in a row, all the modules were bad. i ended up just putting my parts on it to correct, should have put a new module, instead of the "low mileage" one i had laying around. that left me parked about 300 miles away, in the middle of I-35 south. i was not a happy camper to say the least! i have noticed u can buy new distributors now, i'll let u know if they're any good as soon as i find out. won't be on my truck though, gonna sell it soon as i paint it. gonna paint it as soon as i cement. --j