75 Courier: Slow road to a fast "truck"

In reply to The0retical:

Thanks!

The good news is finals are over, and I have another day before I have to see my grades .

The bad news is I had to get towed home. Again. Same issue as before. Got about 8 miles in before it died this time. It's much worse under load than at idle.

Whats the best method for troubleshooting ignition components? The ignition coil is brand new (2nd time), the points, condenser, cap and rotor are from June, and the spark plugs/wires are from May.

I know the fuel filter needs to be replaced and the janky aluminum battery cable needs to replaced with a copper one, but those are not the source of this issue I think

classicJackets wrote: I also learned that the "Leaky windshield" I've been having problems with isn't the windshield at all, but a few small rust holes on the cowl shelf that water just runs through. Makes tons of sense but is probably going to suck to fix!

Those can ahem, be tedious. Ask me how I know Love the truck.

Are you sure this is a spark related issue and not fuel?
I'm wondering if it gets worse under load...

Also, count me as another fan of this truck! Very cool!

In reply to XLR99:

My reason for thinking it's still spark is that it did backfire again this time. I'm hoping to get the battery tested and wire replaced and the fuel filter replaced tomorrow. I need to check spark plugs again as well.

Unfortunately, I think the shop I had it at last week kept the Chilton's manual when I picked up the truck. Rats. Going to have to have a friend pick it up for me.

Replaced and readjusted the points today (took a little while), and it runs again! Took it around the block a few times. Still hiccuped on me like 3 times but didn't stop or cutout like before. Definitely still need some adjusting but at least it's on the road.

Spoke too soon. Went to go for a ride this morning and it wouldn't crank over. It didn't even try to. Finally got it to crank a few hours later with starting fluid, sounded okay but still was obviously not even idling 100% right.

Got the battery tested and picked up the fuel filter I knew I needed. Turns out the battery was bad, which sucks but isn't shocking given I have no idea how old it was.

Then I replaced my fuel filter. Here's what drained out the back of the old one..

Needless to say that needed to be done. Somehow, it still isn't right though. Under load it still bucks and sputters, but no backfires right now. Don't have a timing light or I'd check it myself. If I can't rule anything out by Monday I will probably run it up to the local shop of guys that I actually do trust.

Keep working the ignition stuff, you will get there.

Ignition check and refresh and valve adjustments are what made up the tune ups from that trucks era, and that's back when tune ups made a huge difference.

Did you disconnect (or accidentally break) any vacuum lines while messing with the points on the distributor?

My guess is your timing is out and you may also have a vacuum leak.

Go get you a cheapo harbor freight timing light, they are like $10. also I second the vac lines notion, make sure they are all connected properly and not cracked. Forgive me for not going back through the thread to check your setup but it's carb correct? You have gone through it right? Considering the gunk in that filter im betting some jets maybe gunked a bit too that can be contributing to your issue. You know how to read plugs too? Keep an eye on the color heck you may just be a few carb adjustments from being peachy keen. Or is it peachy King? Anyways, I've been enjoying this build thread keep it up man

In reply to chiodos:

It is a carb setup. The fuel pump has a filter on the front end as well, and I'm hoping that between the two, most of the junk was caught. I've looked at the pictures online but haven't checked mine in a little while. I think the carb probably does need adjusting, and the timing hasn't been done in a while (and it was sketchily done then) so I should check that as well.

p.s - It is peachy keen, you were right!

In reply to Robbie:

The vacuum lines are all as they have been. The one cap I had to replace is still on tight, and most of the others are in okay shape. There's only one vacuum line on the same side of the engine as the distributor and it's pretty out of the way of the points. At least I've crossed several things off the list I know that it is not!

In a streak of bad luck, the fuel pump has gone out as well. It won't start on starting fluid so I know that's not the only issues, but I can no longer hear it running. It was a Mr. Gasket, and I'm not surprised it failed, but I am surprised it took this long. NAPA didnt tell me what they ordered me last time until it came in and they upcharged me by a bundle.

Off to RockAuto...

I've had bad luck with the mr gasket electric pumps as well.

Well, got my new Beck-Arnley/Facet fuel pump in and installed today, along with the distributor cap and rotor I ordered for good measure. After adjusting the points one more time, it fired right up. I cleaned up the tip of the muffler and got it back on temporarily and it ran alright. Certainly not great. As I was adjusting the carb I noticed more and more how much noise I was hearing and had no excuse not to pull the valve cover off and get to work. I did adjust the timing some (each way) and had no cease-misfire no matter what I did.

I pulled off the valve cover so I can adjust the valves in the morning once everything cools off, but it's looking like it's going to be a massive pain in the butt to actually get the feeler gauge in to see where I'm at, unless I'm missing the easy way. Check out this angle though (I know exhaust valve 1 is open but it's just as hard to reach on the closed valves).

On the plus side, the camshaft lobes look pretty good to me (though I'm certainly no expert)

Get a set of angled feeler gauges. I got a set specifically for adjusting valves since it's tough to get a normal one into most cars.

If you know the motion ratio of the rockers and do a little math, it looks like you can just put the feeler gauge between the cam and the rocker?

In reply to Spoolpigeon:

Thanks, I had no idea those even existed. I ran out and grabbed a set this morning and got the valves set. Re-gapped the sparkplugs while I was at it. Fired it back up today and it's worse than before I did the two above things. Berkeley. Going to try putting the sparkplugs back where they were before I jump to conclusions on the valves again. The good news is the valvetrain is much quieter

Check to see if there is a small gas filter on the carb, most carb's have a small filter.

If it will run at a steady state but not accelerate, that sounds like a fuel flow issue. Getting just enough fuel to run, but not enough to accelerate.

Or the carb accelerator pump. Typically a rubber diaphragm piece, could be dry and cracked, should be a easy replacement, accelerator pump cover is normally on outside of carb, remove cover, replace rubber piece and reassemble, just don't lose the spring under the cover.

Not running well at steady state at the moment, but I will certainly check the carb accelerator pump, thanks!

Got a new condenser in and installed this morning and thats all it took. Running beautifully again, and even with the muffler half welded on its quieter too!

Gotta love points.

berkeleying ill tempered, inconsistent, maintenance intensive, failure prone pieces of E36 M3. I hate them.

Can you get a pertronix module or something for that distributor to make them go away to the fire pits of hell where they belong?

In reply to Dusterbd13:

Lol. I agree with everything you said. Yeah you can, it's like $70 plus whatever the coil costs. Not bad, and when I have an income again I'd like to do that upgrade

Seems to be having fuel issues. Today I took it for a ride, had no problems. Stopped and added 9 gallons of gas and it immediately wouldn't accelerate. Any kind of load bogs it down. Pump is still pumping, hoses are intact, no leaks, and filters are clear. Going to see if I cant get some kind if pressure gauge on it tomorrow. If it's getting good pressure, either my carb is going going gone or ive got a mystery vacuum leak. We'll see.

Could it be as simple as bad gas? If that was the only change....

^My thoughts too. I went out this morning and got gas "drier" treatment stuff in case there was water in the gas (we did have 10" of rain in the last like 8/9 days here). Didn't get better. Talked to our local family mechanic and he suggested draining the tank, which I did. I took a gatorade bottle sample of what came out of the lines and there was very definitively a layer at the bottom of something other than gasoline. Berkeley. Put in 5 gallons of new gas and it was still doing the same thing.

Since I was troubleshooting in daylight this time I could see that the carb wasn't spraying fuel consistently when I was pulling the throttle. When gas did come out, the engine would come to life, but frequently it looked like no gas was coming out and the truck would try to die. I'm going out of town tomorrow (becoming an uncle, yay!) and have to move back to Greenville in about a week so I'm not going to be taking the time to tear the carb apart. I dropped it a local shop who actually say they work on carbs, and will be interested to hear what they say come Monday/Tuesday.

Doug

Carbs can be good fun.

The only fuel you can see spraying into the carb, is from the accelerator pump. The fuel from the idle circuit will be somewhat hidden, it will be coming out at the edge of the throttle plate, typically not visible.

Sounds like it's not getting fuel from some of the carb circuits. If there is a idle mixture adjustment screw, could try removing that and spraying some sort of cleaner into that hole.

Not sure what type carb you have or what could be wrong, but if the ignition is now working, I would assume some sort of carb issue. How old is this? Rubber parts dry rot and things clog up.

Nothing wrong with points and condenser, can carry a spare set, and it is easy to fix if something goes wrong.