Please help I’m Stuck It’s been 5 months

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^^^ I agree, let it sit there and idle for 30 minutes and watch the temp. gauge or better yet put on real mechanical gauge. If the radiator is weak and about to have pinholes it will show.
Remember engines must have fuel, spark, and compression, all of which you can check.
 
Well, I just gotta say, as much starter fluid as this thing has choked down, there likely isn't any oil left on the cylinder walls to make the rings seal. And if the rings don't seal, the pistons can't pull gas out the main wells and that engine will never run.
Right now you need to get some oil into the cylinders to help the ring seal. So take out the plugs and put a tablespoonful or so in each hole, then turn the engine over one turn, and repeat. Then put a charger on that battery, and walk away for an hour.
While you are waiting;
>Check the oil level and quality, it may be partly/mostly gas by now; do what you gotta do.
>make a jumper wire with clips about 6ft long. Later, you are gonna connect the battery to the powerside of the ballast resistor ( figure out how) , to power the ignition system up.
> Go mix up a small pop-bottle of fresh gas with at least 5% two-cycle oil. Then go find a tiny funnel to insert into the carburetor bowl and pour some of that gas into the bowl, about 30 or 40 CCz, or until it starts running into the intake. .
>When the hour has expired, come back, crank the engine over for a few seconds, maybe like 5 or 6, to puke out the excess oil. Then reinstall the plugs,etc.
>Ok next, put the fast idle up on the highest step.
>Next dribble another 10 to 15cc ( couple of tablespoonfuls) or so of that mixed gas into the carb airhorn.
>Then connect the power to the ballast thru the jumper. After this, you will not be able to turn the car off with the keyswitch, but will instead have to disconnect the jumper to kill the ignition circuit.
>Ok, do not touch the gas pedal.
>Now crank it! until it begins firing and keep cranking it until it catches and keeps running, and do not stop until it does or until 30 or so seconds of cranking time goes by;none of this 5-second crank bs. The running or firing engine cannot hurt your starter, there is an overrunning clutch in there to prevent damage. And as long as the engine is firing, the load on the starter is almost nothing, so your little tiny starter supply wire shouldn't get hot.
>If it hasn't begun to run after 30 or so seconds of cranking, STOP cranking! Something is mechanically wrong. Disconnect the jumper.

But, IMO , the engine will sputter for a few seconds, then spring to life, and the Rs will scream up to 2000rpm or thereabouts. If your fuel system is working and delivering combustible fuel, it will continue to scream at 2000 or whatever. If you feel it is too fast, then kick it off the fast idle cam, and just let the speed come down to 2000 or less, but just hold the pedal there until you have proved the fuel system is keeping up. Or about 2 minutes.
If I'm right; congratulations you now know how to hotwire a 73 Duster...... or any other Mopar of that era. All I ask is that you stay away from mine,lol.
If I'm wrong, you'll have to check a few mechanical things,lol....... and we'll have to start over.


Is this the easist way to get the rings to seal ?
 
He says it runs with starter fluid so the coil is getting juice if that is the case. If you watch the videos, that carb probably has never been open, so I would bet it has some issues; that said it looks like a lot of things need work and I would not be surprised if the coil was weak. Point here is that he does not have a good starting (no pun intended) point, everything is suspect and the ignition switch is a distraction to getting the car running. If I had the car, I would work on getting it running reliably first, then worry about the ignition switch. Basically what he has right now is a remote starter switch connected inside the car; when I build cars I always use a remote switch outside the car to start and tune the car.


When you say "the carb has never been open" you mean the flaps on the inside that turn when the gas peddle is pressed?
 
OK, great, making progress. You can just leave that as it is now so long as the connection you made is good (like not just a jumper wire with bare ends). I is a ground so there isn't any worry about sparks and such, but there is of corrosion and the wiring losing contact so you should have good ends at least crimped on (I crimp and solder all of my wires).

What do you mean by "so what do I do now what is wrong here"?

So now onto trying to get it to start and run; first thing you need to do is check to see if the carb has fuel, you do this by looking into with a flash light (definitely NOT an open flame like a lighter); with your hand work the throttle lever (part connected to the cable that moves when you push the gas pedal). You should see some gas squirt into the carb. If you do not, then the carb is not getting gas, if you do then of course it is and you can move on.

Understand that these old Mopars all have personalities to a degree, some like a lot of fuel to start, others not so much. The carb has a choke on it (little plate on the on the inside of the carb near the top), when the car/engine is cold that plate should be closed or near closed (this causes the engine vacuum to draw in more fuel to start and run when it is cold). You can actually simulate this by placing your hand over the carb when it is cranking (either someone else turning the key or using a remote starter button).

As I said before, everything is a system and in order to get the engine to run, it must have air, fuel, spark and compression. If the carb is getting gas, then its a matter of determining if it is getting enough. Normally you would put some gas into a bottom or small can and pour some into the carb (right now the top). You should not need a whole lot but not a few drops either, probably something like you think of would be a "mouthful" if you were drinking something. If you put too much the engine will be flooded and you will need to wait and let it evaporate or in come cases you can hold the gas pedal to the floor completely opening the choke and crank it and sometimes they will start. You can also pull the spark plugs and crank it over a little which pushes the air/fuel out the holes and makes it dry out faster; personally I would just wait.

Assuming you are getting fuel and it still doesn't want to run, you will need to turn to the spark side of things, but lets not get ahead of ourselves since it has run previously I suspect that this is just a fuel issue at the moment.

Just for fun, you need to pour some fuel down the carb as I mentioned before messing with the filter or anything else. If it fires but will not run, then you can start to try and figure out why it isn't getting fuel and at that point the filter would be the first stop.


I determined its getting plenty of fuel per your instructions. It squirts fuel and i tried pouring that amount of fuel into the carb so what do i need to do for the spark side of things lol this beast needs to perk upp?
 
^^^ I agree, let it sit there and idle for 30 minutes and watch the temp. gauge or better yet put on real mechanical gauge. If the radiator is weak and about to have pinholes it will show.
Remember engines must have fuel, spark, and compression, all of which you can check.

I think spark and compression are the only two things I havent went through yet. How do i do that?
 
@RamCharger TEXAS

Have you made any progress ?


I made attempts at progress but here's where i am at now.


1. I cleaned and rebuilt the carb ( it looked pretty clean when I took it apart.) using the correct kit this time ^_^

2. All parts of the carb move freely

3. Gas squirts out of the carb pretty good.

4. I took off and inspected the Fuel pump on the passenger side cleaned it but it looked like it was in good condition(any way to verify this?).

5. Put on a fuel filter since it didn’t have one.

6. I tried pouring gas into the carb to see if it would start to no avail.

7. I failed to mention I have a good clean gas tank on the duster with no leaks in it.
 
With the key in the "run" position, unplug one side of your ballast, and probe the wire with your test light, if that wire has no power, unplug the other side, if that side has no power there is a wiring issue,, if one side has power but the other does not, then it's a bad ballast. if both sides have power, then plug it back in, and check for power on the "+" of the coil. If the coil has power then, crank it over and check for spark at a plug wire.

I am on the far northeast side of Houston. If you need help I can load up some tools and parts and we can gat that thing running.
 
Is this the easist way to get the rings to seal ?
Rings have to have oil on them to prevent them from wearing out; that's the whole purpose of the oilscraper rings, to scrape off most of what the rods are squirting up there, leaving just the right amount.
Raw gasoline or ether dilutes the film and the rings scrape it into the pan.
Do a compression test dry, then repeat with oiled cylinders. I have seen differences of anywhere from 30% to 50% ..
Your lawnmower might start at 60psi, even 30 with an auto-decompressor and a big flywheel,lol.... but not your V8.
Is this the easiest way to get oil in there? It's gotta go in to the topside of the rings.Since you can't aim this oil to go where it needs to be,so the rings can distribute it around the piston and from there to the cylinder walls, you just put way too much in there, to start with, and blow the excess back out with a few revolutions of the starter. Yeah it makes a mess, so you do what you gotta do to minimize it. You gotta blow it out, cuz if you don't, it will just short out the plugs and still not start, driving you crazy.
It may not be fun, but if low-compression pressure is the cause of the failure to run, then,the results will be instant.
Same goes for an engine that has sat for a long time; oil it up, and hit the key, and hope the guides have not yet nor will, seize.

The pistons do not suck the air in.
Atmosphere goes from a high pressure area, to a low pressure area. The throttles are closed while you are cranking to start. The piston assemblies have to create the low pressure area. With a long-period cam , and it's resultant late-closing intake, the piston tries to create the low-pressure area, but then pushes half of what may have just come into the cylinder by BDC, back out the still open intake valve, up into the plenum, and with no ring seal, what ever is left over, the oxygen molecules are too far apart to support combustion, or even find a gas molecule small enough to react with. You gotta have a decent ring seal on the intake stroke.

Or do what I do, if you dare.
Start with a fully charged battery to ensure a good cranking speed. Then sit on the radiator, and with a windex spritzer loaded with at least 5% 2-cycle oil in one hand, and the other holding the throttle wide open; have a helper start cranking. Tell him not to stop cranking, no matter what, until the engine is either running or 1 minute has gone by, or the battery is giving up, or you yell fire!
When he starts cranking, you start spritzing.
Keep your face away from the airhorn, cuz if it "Backfires" you don't want your prime bodyparts in the line of fire. And it will backfire. And your helper better not stop cranking, cuz the best way to put out that fire that is bound to occur with you still spritzing,and the intake full of atomized fuel, is to suck it on down into the engine. But if your hand is on fire; #1 you shouldda put a glove on, and #2 yell fire! This is a key word to your helper to stop cranking and hit you with the fire extinguisher. You did bring an extinguisher didn't you?
This is the easiest way,
but I don't recommend it; and
you didn't hear it from me,
got it?
I would say lol, but working with open gasoline is like riding a ticking time-bomb, and you don't know when the ticking will stop.
Have I done this? Of course or I wouldn't know about this method. More than once? Sure, or I wouldn't have reminded you to bring the extinguisher. Did I ever get burned? You better believe it, and I smelled burned nose hairs for several weeks. And my friends had a good laugh over my missing eyelashes, missing eyebrows, and frazzled hairline, which the burned stuff had to be cut out of the rest. That was a for sure lol.
Will I do it again? Probably yes, it is the fastest and easiest method. Besides practice makes perfect; I'm getting pretty good at finding the extinguisher with my eyes closed; I don't got no helper.
BTW; when it starts firing, close the secondaries. When it starts running, keep the primaries WOT until the rpm comes up, then stop cranking; and slowly begin to close the throttles, so as not to exceed about 3000rpm. When it's hitting on all 8, you can put it on the fast-idle cam, and maintain 1500 for a couple of minutes, then see if she's ready to idle yet.
Now, remind me, about who told you this easiest method. It for sure wasn't me. I have seen the results of underhood carfires; not mine, nor any I have worked on, but it couldda been. You just never know what gasoline can do until you see it.
 
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^^^ Sorta like above. I have had some pretty much woreout slants that have sat for years, and compression very bad. So I pulled the plugs and squirted in good amount of motor oil and marvel mystery oil mixture, rolled it over several times, let it sit for a while. Why don't know. I then poured quite a bit of motor oil down the carb, I mean poured. How much? Don't know. Cranked it over some where the oil got down into the cylinders Then I cranked a bunch while I hand feed it some gas. The oil gave it gas till it started and run. I forget the compression figures but there were low. Always started and run thereafter. Not strong but ran.
I ain't fancy lie AJ I have no fire "extinguisher!" ( That's how AJ spelled it!!)
 
Hi there. I've seen a lot of good ideas posted to you but forgive me as I haven't read them all so someone may have mentioned this, but I noticed in your pic that this is a manual trans car. You have to push in the clutch pedal to get it to crank. I believe this is correct for the 73 model year. You can look under the dash to see if you have wiring up there. Hope it helps.
 
With the key in the "run" position, unplug one side of your ballast, and probe the wire with your test light, if that wire has no power, unplug the other side, if that side has no power there is a wiring issue,, if one side has power but the other does not, then it's a bad ballast. if both sides have power, then plug it back in, and check for power on the "+" of the coil. If the coil has power then, crank it over and check for spark at a plug wire.

I am on the far northeast side of Houston. If you need help I can load up some tools and parts and we can gat that thing running.

Okay I just checked it and the coil has power on both sides of it - and + my test light came on with the ignition turned to the on position. The distributor cap thing has a rust hole on it the big cap where the spark plugs come out is nice and dry and looks good underneath.

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That is the vacuum advance for the distributor. A member here, Hallifaxhops rebuilds dist. and sets heir curve for your application.

I mentioned these books before, "automotive troubleshooting and repair manual" and auto mechanics fundamentals" probably can be fond us heap on Amazon.
 
No need..The hole in the distributor cap, and the vacuum advance canister are both vent holes. They are both fine. Roll it over and jump a plug wire to ground,and see if it has fire.
 
No need..The hole in the distributor cap, and the vacuum advance canister are both vent holes. They are both fine. Roll it over and jump a plug wire to ground,and see if it has fire.


So the distributor cap turn it over and jump a wire from one of the metal points To a good ground on the body and see if it sparks?
 
That is the vacuum advance for the distributor. A member here, Hallifaxhops rebuilds dist. and sets heir curve for your application.

I mentioned these books before, "automotive troubleshooting and repair manual" and auto mechanics fundamentals" probably can be fond us heap on Amazon.
Thanks!
 
Hi there. I've seen a lot of good ideas posted to you but forgive me as I haven't read them all so someone may have mentioned this, but I noticed in your pic that this is a manual trans car. You have to push in the clutch pedal to get it to crank. I believe this is correct for the 73 model year. You can look under the dash to see if you have wiring up there. Hope it helps.
I'll try this I'll keep the updates coming!
 
Rings have to have oil on them to prevent them from wearing out; that's the whole purpose of the oilscraper rings, to scrape off most of what the rods are squirting up there, leaving just the right amount.
Raw gasoline or ether dilutes the film and the rings scrape it into the pan.
Do a compression test dry, then repeat with oiled cylinders. I have seen differences of anywhere from 30% to 50% ..
Your lawnmower might start at 60psi, even 30 with an auto-decompressor and a big flywheel,lol.... but not your V8.
Is this the easiest way to get oil in there? It's gotta go in to the topside of the rings.Since you can't aim this oil to go where it needs to be,so the rings can distribute it around the piston and from there to the cylinder walls, you just put way too much in there, to start with, and blow the excess back out with a few revolutions of the starter. Yeah it makes a mess, so you do what you gotta do to minimize it. You gotta blow it out, cuz if you don't, it will just short out the plugs and still not start, driving you crazy.
It may not be fun, but if low-compression pressure is the cause of the failure to run, then,the results will be instant.
Same goes for an engine that has sat for a long time; oil it up, and hit the key, and hope the guides have not yet nor will, seize.

The pistons do not suck the air in.
Atmosphere goes from a high pressure area, to a low pressure area. The throttles are closed while you are cranking to start. The piston assemblies have to create the low pressure area. With a long-period cam , and it's resultant late-closing intake, the piston tries to create the low-pressure area, but then pushes half of what may have just come into the cylinder by BDC, back out the still open intake valve, up into the plenum, and with no ring seal, what ever is left over, the oxygen molecules are too far apart to support combustion, or even find a gas molecule small enough to react with. You gotta have a decent ring seal on the intake stroke.

Or do what I do, if you dare.
Start with a fully charged battery to ensure a good cranking speed. Then sit on the radiator, and with a windex spritzer loaded with at least 5% 2-cycle oil in one hand, and the other holding the throttle wide open; have a helper start cranking. Tell him not to stop cranking, no matter what, until the engine is either running or 1 minute has gone by, or the battery is giving up, or you yell fire!
When he starts cranking, you start spritzing.
Keep your face away from the airhorn, cuz if it "Backfires" you don't want your prime bodyparts in the line of fire. And it will backfire. And your helper better not stop cranking, cuz the best way to put out that fire that is bound to occur with you still spritzing,and the intake full of atomized fuel, is to suck it on down into the engine. But if your hand is on fire; #1 you shouldda put a glove on, and #2 yell fire! This is a key word to your helper to stop cranking and hit you with the fire extinguisher. You did bring an extinguisher didn't you?
This is the easiest way,
but I don't recommend it; and
you didn't hear it from me,
got it?
I would say lol, but working with open gasoline is like riding a ticking time-bomb, and you don't know when the ticking will stop.
Have I done this? Of course or I wouldn't know about this method. More than once? Sure, or I wouldn't have reminded you to bring the extinguisher. Did I ever get burned? You better believe it, and I smelled burned nose hairs for several weeks. And my friends had a good laugh over my missing eyelashes, missing eyebrows, and frazzled hairline, which the burned stuff had to be cut out of the rest. That was a for sure lol.
Will I do it again? Probably yes, it is the fastest and easiest method. Besides practice makes perfect; I'm getting pretty good at finding the extinguisher with my eyes closed; I don't got no helper.
BTW; when it starts firing, close the secondaries. When it starts running, keep the primaries WOT until the rpm comes up, then stop cranking; and slowly begin to close the throttles, so as not to exceed about 3000rpm. When it's hitting on all 8, you can put it on the fast-idle cam, and maintain 1500 for a couple of minutes, then see if she's ready to idle yet.
Now, remind me, about who told you this easiest method. It for sure wasn't me. I have seen the results of underhood carfires; not mine, nor any I have worked on, but it couldda been. You just never know what gasoline can do until you see it.

I am gonna let this marinate probably will need my dad to do this on the weekend or Monday after work
 
I will mention this again, go to Feebay or Amazon and look for a few good books on the basics of auto mechanics, like auto troubleshooting repair manual and auto mechanics fundamentals. I know this is the old fashion way but.........
Spark???, pull a plug wire off and while turning the motor over, see if you get a big shock!????????????/ NO MAYBE BETTER NOT!!! Might kill ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK so I admit I am an OLD smartass!
 
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