Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback
It was not a productive day here today. I had errands to run for household needs and for my uncle. I needed a break anyway.
This evening I finally moved the Barracuda into the garage to check things out. My first focus was on the carburetor. The back bowl took a little over one full turn of adjustment and the front took about 1/4 turn. The levels look good now.
Next I figured that I better try to read the plugs. I hadn't pulled any of them since the motor went in and was surprised that those aluminum header gaskets interfered with access when I tried to slip a socket on a few of them. It was no big deal. I just smushed the gaskets a bit with a pliers and all was good.
The plugs were not so good though. Black, sooty, and wet. I don't know if the bowl fuel level adjustment will take care of this or not. I may have to drop a few jet sizes if I don't see an improvement.
One thing that has me bothered is that the outsides of the plugs were sooty also. I looked the heads over and did not see any traces of exhaust soot coing from the sealing surfaces around the header gaskets. The soot looks as though it was coming from the plugs themselves. It's almost as though the plugs weren't fully seated in the heads. None of them were loose when I pulled them. But I'm not sure that they were tight enough. I know that I was very conservative when I'd replaced the two before the motor went in. I was worried about over-torquing into the aluminum heads.
A search online tells me that even with aluminum heads I should go 1/2 to 3/4 turn past snug or 18-22 ft lbs.
I guess I'll clean these plugs, re-check gaps, and re-install them as close as I can to the proper torque. Tomorrow I'll find out if things improved. I'll no doubt have to pull the plugs again to re-read them when I get a chance. It's too late tonight and the 'Cuda's too loud for me to want to do any test driving right now.
View attachment IMG_1787.jpg
View attachment IMG_1788.jpg
View attachment IMG_1789.jpg
View attachment IMG_1790.jpg
View attachment IMG_1791.jpg
View attachment IMG_1792.jpg
View attachment IMG_1793.jpg
View attachment IMG_1795.jpg
View attachment IMG_1796.jpg
View attachment IMG_1797.jpg
It was not a productive day here today. I had errands to run for household needs and for my uncle. I needed a break anyway.
This evening I finally moved the Barracuda into the garage to check things out. My first focus was on the carburetor. The back bowl took a little over one full turn of adjustment and the front took about 1/4 turn. The levels look good now.
Next I figured that I better try to read the plugs. I hadn't pulled any of them since the motor went in and was surprised that those aluminum header gaskets interfered with access when I tried to slip a socket on a few of them. It was no big deal. I just smushed the gaskets a bit with a pliers and all was good.
The plugs were not so good though. Black, sooty, and wet. I don't know if the bowl fuel level adjustment will take care of this or not. I may have to drop a few jet sizes if I don't see an improvement.
One thing that has me bothered is that the outsides of the plugs were sooty also. I looked the heads over and did not see any traces of exhaust soot coing from the sealing surfaces around the header gaskets. The soot looks as though it was coming from the plugs themselves. It's almost as though the plugs weren't fully seated in the heads. None of them were loose when I pulled them. But I'm not sure that they were tight enough. I know that I was very conservative when I'd replaced the two before the motor went in. I was worried about over-torquing into the aluminum heads.
A search online tells me that even with aluminum heads I should go 1/2 to 3/4 turn past snug or 18-22 ft lbs.
I guess I'll clean these plugs, re-check gaps, and re-install them as close as I can to the proper torque. Tomorrow I'll find out if things improved. I'll no doubt have to pull the plugs again to re-read them when I get a chance. It's too late tonight and the 'Cuda's too loud for me to want to do any test driving right now.
View attachment IMG_1787.jpg
View attachment IMG_1788.jpg
View attachment IMG_1789.jpg
View attachment IMG_1790.jpg
View attachment IMG_1791.jpg
View attachment IMG_1792.jpg
View attachment IMG_1793.jpg
View attachment IMG_1795.jpg
View attachment IMG_1796.jpg
View attachment IMG_1797.jpg