Well, I took the first voyage in the slightly refurbished Newport Custom today. I recored the radiator, replaced the timing chain, water pump, fuel pump, many gaskets, and painted the engine, replaced the heater core, refoamed the front seat, replaced the carpeting, and replaced the tranny mount. Yeah, busy Winter!
It seems to accelerate reasonably well (the carb isn't great) but I noticed a slight hesitation with it wide open.
The car is stock, '68 383 2 bbl. with electronic ignition.
I suspect either the carb (which is tired) or the timing is off a bit. Any other good ideas?
It felt GREAT to drive the car after 6 months of hard work!
Joined: Sat Dec 10 2005, 04:28PM
Location: United States
Posts: 4954
Well you're on the right track. . . With the engine off, hang your head over the carb and give the accelerator a shot. If it's a good squirt and it sorta spashes around (That's actually important) It's not the accelerator pump. If it doesn't splash and you get a meager flow, the accelerator pump is bad
Timing, yes, check it. While you have the light on the car, race the engine and see if the timing goes off the scale. Tne pull off the hose and see if it goes as far. If the timing mark ends up in the same place, you may have a bad advance on the distributor.
Another way of checking to see if the advance is working at idle, is to find a full vacuum port and connect the vacuum advance to that. See if the mark moves while at idle. You'll know right away because the engine will speed up <span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Sun May 07 2006, 09:58PM ]</span>
The dist. is new in the last year as are the wires and plugs. I am going to check the wires again just to make sure they are tight.
Timing was set at 35 @ 3000 RPM with a digital advance timing light. I am now wondering if the car was cold or warm when I did that, I hope it was warm.
One thing I noticed when I installed the carb was when I got fuel into it, some fuel ran out of the shaft for the throttle plates at the bottom of the carb. I wonder if this carb is beat enough to just replace it? These newer fuels don't help them any for sure.
Joined: Sat Mar 25 2006, 07:31PM
Location: Nebo, NC
Posts: 86
rbrogle,
If you see fuel leaking at the throttle shaft, it means that you have an internal leak somewhere up above the throttle shaft. Unfortunately, there are no new carbs and, if you locate a rebuilt one, DON'T surrender you old core or you will regret it later! What you should have there is called a Carter BBD 1 1/2" and they were unique to big-block Mopars. I can restore it in my carb shop, but 2-barrels start at $275 and we are about 2 1/2 months behind.
This isn't a difficult carb to rebuild by yourself. Just note where the two check balls for the accelerator pump go, be sure to use gaskets identical to those you remove and be sure that your metering piston works freely. The rest of it is not really scary. Take digital photos before you start and during the disassembly process and you should do fine. Of course, it always helps to have a factory tech service manual for your car handy; they generally have the most accurate carburetor detail and adjustment specs.
Thanks. I will keep you in mind if I don't have any success with a rebuilt unit. I ordered one today and we'll see what happens. I think this will do it, but if not, I'm ready to buck up. Normally I would switch it to a 4 bbl. but this car runs so well with a 2 bbl. that I don't want to change it. That, and all of the other cars are one 4 bbl. or another.
I ordered a rebuilt Tomco from Rockauto and I'll give it a shot. I also think that over the counter rebuilds are a shot in the dark for the most part. I've had no luck with rebuilt 4 bbls., only 1 and 2 bbls.