Haha sorry for the vagueness. True, I don't want a ton of visitors given that this is a totally public forum. I am in baltimore but I'd be willing to have the car towed someplace close if someone that really knows what they are doing could help me out. i have been trying to read everyday after work about carbs, distributors, etc.... It just is really tough to understand when all you have ever worked on are cars newer than 1990 or so. I'm going to try to spend some time on this thing this weekend dale: it has 36k on it....pretty low,right?
If you have worked on newer cars then this will be a "Walk in the park" so to say. They are SO simple & basic, but you need to know your basics before you should even start. It's definitely NOT hard, just time consuming learning. Wish I were closer to give a helping hand & to teach. Tom T.
You connect the 2 main wires to the battery (+/-) and the big clamp on the spark plug wire of the 1st cylinder (front right side). Set the advance setting to zero and check the timing mark on the pulley. The engine should run at least without any large issue with a setup at ~4 deg advance at idle. If this is fine and the engine still runs bad, you should take out all spark plugs and check the gap (if you got still the original points ignition, not too big). Check again the correct firing order with the plug wires. If this is all fine, you can concentrate your search tomthe carburator side. As said: very nice car.. great color combo. Take good care of it (or sell it to me... nooo.. I am joking). Good luck, Steffen
Thank you everyone for all the help and kind comments. I'm going to try them this weekend. I will let you guys know how it goes. Thanks again for all the comments!
So we checked the timing today. Apparently last time she was tuned up they screwed up the timing order. Running much better now. Still stalls out when you put it in gear. ... but I think we are making progress. Any ideas about why it would stall out as soon as I put out in gear?
My Nailhead does the same when cold and I think I've traced the problem to a worn out (dried out after 8 years sitting in a field) vacuum advance module. Never had time to check/fix before I put the car in storage and flew home.
Stalls when put in gear: Try this: turn each idle mixture screw in to bottom and count the turns, remove both screws and keep seperate as to location. Place an air gun tip into the screw holes and give a couple blasts of air. Put screws back in original location, bottom screws and back out specified number of turns in your shop or carb manual. If you don't have a book, back out 2 1/2 turns each for starters and then adjust for smoothest idle or highest vacuum reading. IDLE MIXTURE OR CIRCUITS IS COMMONLY THE PROBLEM FOR STALLING AT IDLE WHEN DROPPED IN GEAR. It is NOT the only possible cause.
As a caution, only lightly seat the idle screws. You don't want to tighten, just very lightly SEAT!!!
Well she is running well now! Stumbles a little if I goose it from a dead stop, but other than that it is running very nicely. The stalling out when dropping into gear was solved by turning the idle screws out. They are both at 2.5 turns out now. Now I just need some chrome polish and also I need to replace the water pump gasket. That's a task for this weekend.
More than likely a water pump is needed. RARELY have I ever seen a gasket leak. Start soaking the 4/1/4" bolts NOW before trying to take them off. Warm up the engine & soak again. Let it cool, soak again & let it warm up. Then just before you try & loosen them hit them HARD & SQUARE with a good size hammer to try & loosen the galvanic corrosion that happens when dissimilar metals are in contact with each other. In this case aluminum cover & steel bolts. I don't care how low the mileage the corrosion happens over time not mileage. Good luck I hope none of them break, or else you will need more than the week-end or maybe have to hire someone to remove broken bolts for you. Tom T.
I replaced my water pump a few weeks back and can confirm the 4.5" bolts are a MAJOR pita to remove. In my case no amount of heating or penetrating oil would help with the last one. I eventually had to hammer on a 12mm and then a 7/16" socket just to get the dang thing off. The only bolts I could find that could fit were some plain ol bolts for putting fences together or some nonsense. I had those bolts in for less than a week before replacing them with some good stainless and one of them had already started corroding like crazy. I kept the bolts in my trunk so I could show my dad. I'll run out to my car in a little bit to take a pic
Stainless is NOT impervious to corrosion also. ALWAYS use a liberal amount of anti-seize on the threads & prime & paint the shanks.
