New to the Mopar scene.. got 68' cuda need help.. new motor...

Hey guys... im new here and looking for some help and to learn as much as I can.

I just got a 1968 Cuda notchback. It has a 440/727 combo, aluminum edelbrock heads fully port matched with intake/exhaust, headers to 3" exhaust, 1050 Race Demon carb, Weisco piston's, 10.2:1 compression (just lowered story to follow)...

i bought the car about a month ago and when it was delivered to me the motor started up but instantly started Knocking... i opened up the heads and found the carb airstud in the cylinder... long story short the guy left out of town and left his son in charge of meeting with the transporter... kid swapped out parts for his buddy's car and dropped the stud in there but replaced it so everything looked normal... guy was GREAT and paid in full for repairs... in doing so i dropped the compression down to 10.2:1 to run on pump gas..

all parts back to normal and got the motor back, all parts the same as when the guy owned it and it did run great.. my bro in law up north checked it out in person and gave the OK and said it ran like a bat out of hell...

leads me to today... got the motor in yesterday and took it for its first drive down the street... and its HORRIBLE...

at idle its cool and sounds healty and fresh but once you put it under load its like a 4cylinder beater.. spark is kinda weak and i checked voltage at the Coil and its only 6.0volts... whats wierding me out is that it has an electronic ignition but is still running through the ballast resistor.....

another thing is i have the timing set at 14* and it cranks smooth but i notice the vaccum line from the carb is capped off... so i dont know what my total timing is (gun isnt adjustable and no timing tape on the balancer)

so im coming to the conclusion im not burning the fuel...

ive been out of the muscle car scene for about 5 years and im getting back in the swing of things so im curious to hear any suggestions as to why its lagging like a dog?

Thanks

here's a vid clip i made of the fireup yesterday :toothy7:
http://www.jzepeda.rchomepage.com/Cuda.wmv

JOe

pic of the engine showing the coil/dist setup

Welcome to the forums Kingofthehill. Mopar Electronic ignition is designed to work with a ballast resistor, this preserves the coil at idle, good for street motors. It may be possible that your distributor is set with full manual curve and that is why the vacuum advance is plugged. I would think you have a timing issue. Have you checked the spark plugs?

Thanks for the welcome! :thumbup: the plugs look good but i did find somthing else.

well in more investigation i put an edelbrock 750 thats on my buddy's 440 and no change..

i then convince him to let me use his Distributer and OMG! there's the power..

he also brought over his timing gun with the knob to advance it and i wasnt getting any advance on my timing even at 3500rpm's... it stayed at 14* the whole time and never went up from there..

so i set his dist on mine and timed it at 14* and as the RPM's went up to 3500 it took up the total timing to 34*.... took it for a spin around the block and that was the ticket...

so now i need to order a new dist... this ones all funky and i dont trust it.. has some wierd grinds in it and 2 different springs and 1 is pulled so the spring doesnt do anything...


JOe

Somebody tried to do a recurve and might have it bound up. The oval end of the one spring is normal. If you notice the springs are different strengths. If the end of the stronger one wasn't a slot the weaker one would do nothing.

I was going to say from the video...The sound and slow rev says retarded timing to me. (retarding timing gives more sound in the exh than advanced timing does.) Also, a little safety note. dont ever...EVER look into the carb while revving the throttle. It's a fast way to loose any facial hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, and possibly your sight. Especially on a car that's not tuned right! I've never lost more than hair, and that was a long time ago. But it's one of the most common "whoops" things I see..Second after not using jack stands...

moper said:

I was going to say from the video...The sound and slow rev says retarded timing to me. (retarding timing gives more sound in the exh than advanced timing does.) Also, a little safety note. dont ever...EVER look into the carb while revving the throttle. It's a fast way to loose any facial hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, and possibly your sight. Especially on a car that's not tuned right! I've never lost more than hair, and that was a long time ago. But it's one of the most common "whoops" things I see..Second after not using jack stands...

Click to expand...

hahaha.. gotcha... it was just the camera over the carb.... ive lost lots of hair too :angel9:

JOe

Finally getting somewhere...

i played with the distributor more today... took it apart and was just flicking the counterweights in an out...

the light spring was SO LIGHT that i could spin the shaft with my fingers and make it advance... and the Thick spring doesnt do anything because of the build up in the slot to limit travel... so basically once the car starts its already on the top of the timing curve...

so i got a bag of springs and started playing... now im at 14* startup and 26* on the top at 3500rpm's... i have more springs that will work better but right now im currently on hold due to melting the shifter cable...

oh and BTW i now have HUGE blisters on my feet due to this problem... hahaha... took it for a test drive around the block and when it melted the cable the Neutral safety switch was stopping it from starting... so i had to get out and push it off the road and when its 100* outside being barefoot on black asphalt is not a good thing... damn it hurts... never do that without shoes again...

JOe

Test driving in bare feet? sigh....
The lightest springs bring the curve in way fast. great for a drag car, not the best for a street car on pump fuel. You want about 1* more total in it. Is a heavy spring limiting the centrifical advance? or is the plate? If it's the plate, I'd swap it or grind the slots a little longer. If it's the heavy spring with the oblong end, you can re-form the oblong end to get more advance out of it. I like at least 18* initial, sometimes as much as 20* if the starting system and cam/compression allow it. With a total of around 35* or so with the vaccum disconnected for testing.

Kingofthehill said:

hahaha.. gotcha... it was just the camera over the carb.... ive lost lots of hair too :angel9:

JOe

Click to expand...

LOL, Also layers of skin on the feet. OUCH! Been there too. However, loose of hair due to age dosen't count...<J>

Anyway, your going to mess with the distributor you have now or get a new one?