/6 wont Idle

So I finally got the '72 Dart running. It was my fathers and he had it sitting for 15 years, I got it to my house and switched over to electronic ignition because the points weren't working for me and the fact that I hate points.

Well it fired right up and sounds great, but I cant get it to idle right. I was thinking it was the 318 holley 2280 thats on it, but after talking with my father I'm not sure.

He was telling me that he could never get this motor to idle right (he's actually pretty good at these sorts of things). Another thing that caught my attention was that the original 1 barrel was better in every way. It had a 20 mph high top speed and got 6 mpg better than the 2 barrel.

So I am wondering if there is anything mechanical in the engine that wont let the engine idle right and have a loss in power/mpg?

If it helps any the current motor is supposedly out of a '76 valiant? But was a factory super six 2 barrel

check the egr valve could be stuck a little , spray some carb cleaner around and look for vacuum leaks at the intake also if the gas is not fresh I wound change it. check the pcv valve could be stopped up. did you rebuild the carb?

Can you describe in more detail what is not right about the idle?

Make sure you adjust the valve lash; it has a strong effect on the /6 operation.

I don't know why i didn't think of an intake gasket leak.

I did not rebuild the carb but it's not the one my father had either, that was stolen so I got another one from a pull and save (same as what he had, Holley 2280 off of a 318). I did take the top cover off and clean it but I don't think it needed it.

The gas is fresh, it's running on a boat tank that I've been using to run my `72 scout II, seeing as they both have had tank problems it seemed easiest to get them going using that.

Anyways when I get under about 1000 rpms it starts to just fall on its face until it dies sometimes if I feather the throttle I can get it back up to speed but usually it tries to pop back through the carb.

I'll look up the procedure on the valve lab and do that when I get time.

Agreed, valve lash is huge on a slant. carb may be a little large, not pulling what it was designed for at idle. hows your fuel level?
[ame]http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Lit/Films/359/359.mp4[/ame]

As to the lash; a tic loose is better than a tic tight. I think I'm running 13/23. Don't let the adjusters fool you. Get some narrow feelers, a little narrower than the stems. The rocker arms like to develop a wear pattern that is not wide-feeler friendly.

seeing as how the only feelers that i can remember where they are, are completely rusted up. I'll have to go get a narrow set and find a better place to store them.