New car, new problems; 76 Duster 318

The temp gauge does not change, it stays on the "off" setting no matter how warm the car gets. The fuel gauge works as far as I know. I got it on E, put 10 bucks in and it went up a notch. Haven't filled the tank, in case I need to drop it.

The speedo stops at 80, and it goes up with speed... I know I could pop it open and pull the needle and set it at 0, but I still wouldn't trust it. Dunno why. Might give it a try and then have a friend pace me with his car... Better than buying a new speedo...

I have a feeling the Cat may be plugged. I ran it today after putting a new air filter on (haven't had time to do any more to it), and noticed the exhaust is shooting black soot... Not smoke, soot. :S All the fluids are separated (no gas/oil/coolant in any of each other), so I doubt it's an internal problem such as bad rings or blown head gasket... Thinking (and hoping) it's just a case of a stopped-up cat...

Will report back with more info the further I get. I picked up everything for the ignition system from plug to distro (new cap and rotor). Wires look quite good on it, though.


Thanks once again for the info!
- CK

P.s. About the service manual and FABO: FABO experts such as 67dart273 are a great help in teaching us newbies the ins and outs of engines we've never played with, and a shop manual shows you exactly where/what everything is. I have a plan to get a shop manual, as having both is better than just having one.