71 Dodge Dart Swinger in England

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Ignition stuff can be a pain to sort out. Sometimes its a process of elimination. How badly is the reluctors raised tabs nicked up? If not too badly, and if at a .006" air gap you get a good solid pull from the magnet pickup when each reluctor point passes the pickup then the reluctor is prob ok. I'd look at the magnetic pickup with an ohmmeter making sure its not shorting to ground thru its mounting bracket, and that its reading the correct ohms thru its 2 wires.
 
dizzy out again and checked reluctor location on shaft, all seems ok the rollpin is aligned with the arrow on the reluctor. Must admit until I checked today I was sure it was on the opposite side and had read that was the location for a BB engine, hence thought this was the problem. I've tried a different coil to no avail. reset the air gap to .008 and checked the pickup resistance at 270ohm and shorts out each time the reluctor passes the pickup. still no joy!

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Well, if the pickup is in good health, and has a clean signal, then that eliminates that as an issue. Any headway on your GM HEI conversion
 
Need to make a heatsink, might mock something up tomorrow and try. I'm also going to check the ECU wiring. My car was originally a slant six engine, so in 71 would that have had an ECU or has this been fitted along with the v8 engine? Just wondering if its been wired in correct if the loom for ECU has been added if it was originally on points
 
Mopar had electronic ignition as optional equipment starting in 1972, standard equipment in 1973. ECU was same part for 6 and V8. It only records the pickup pulse to fire the plugs.

Yours is a 1971 , providing you really gut instinct feel this is an electrical related issue, i would strongly recommend going to www.mymopar.com and printing a copy of your wiring schematic, then dewire the added in electronic ignition wiring out of it. Then with a clean slate with all the stock wiring intact, and checked, then wire up the HEI conversion. I know thats what i would do.
 
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TBH just had the same thought, for now I'll slave in the GM HEI with a simple wiring loom to the battery. HEI on a heatsink that is earthed.
Something that is going through my mind is could the pickup coil be reverse wired? sure ive read that somewhere, the wires off it are black and gray. Can it be checked? I assume black pickup wire will go to pin G and gray to pin W on the GM HEI module.

Out of a elimination I may also buy a new pickup and reluctor.

re checked the timing and on tickover with vac off its 8 Deg, with vac connected its 22 deg and at approx 2500 rpm (ish) max mech advance ( with vac connected )its approx 44 deg.

Checked the phasing by drilling hole in old cap, seems to be about right , its not centred on the pin but only slightly to the side and retards back when vac attached. I might re check tomorrow to note the position either side of the cap post.
 
The HEI setup uses none of the mopar electronic wiring especially if your using a designed2drive mounting bracket. Thats why i said i would remove it entirely. Extra stuff to confuse you.

The factory mopar electronic ads in 4 wires in all coming from the ICM cannon plug. 1 to your ballast output which is ignition hot (this powers the ICM). 1 to your ignition coil (spark output) , and 2 wires that go to the distributor pickup coil. A 5th wire is unused
 
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Just been back out to the garage ( cold here and 10:40pm at night, burr!) took some photos of dizzy pickup wiring, seems to be gray and black at dizzy going to rubber connection and then the gray changes to brown and black goes to gray. looking at the wiring diagram it should be gray all the way to pin 2. Where as mine has swapped to brown at the connection and hence in pin 3 at the ECU. Im also sure I have the 360 LA dizzy as circled as it have the gray/black pickup wiring not orange and the green tag on the dizzy.





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Unplug it all and ohm the connections to see how they are connected, or may need to unwrap all the electrical tape and trace it out.
 
Yep that's a job for tomorrow. Its an outside chance the pickup is reverse wired from what I have just seen. It's worth a try before I slave in the GM HEI unit. BTW many thanks for keeping with me on this. I really do appreciate the assistance from many many miles away!
 
No problem. Even if thats the issue, the GM HEI setup will ultimately give it better performance and hotter spark
 
Also another thing to concider is a mini nippondenso starter from a 1994-1999 ram 1500 w V6, 318, or 360 (same PN#) will clear your headers way better than the stocker , and its waaay lighter, waaay smaller, and has more HP to spin it over to start it. I think your big dog 20 pound stocker is 1.6 HP, and the 8 pound mini denso is 2.25 HP Check rockauto for one. Its a direct bolt on. It will spin it over fast.
 
I saw your post on slow driving restoration about the steering feel. If yours has power steering, this is probably the main issue with not feeling connected from front wheels to the steering wheel. The problem with the power steering on these cars is the steering chucks are waaay over assisted. The pumps provide too much pressure. If your car has a saginaw pump "ham can style casing" its an easy fix. Theres a thread here on fabo where people add washers to the pumps internal pressure valve to drop the pump pressure down. From 1,100 psi to about 800-850 psi. This still gives enough low speed power assist for parking, but tightens up the feel conciderably. I think the thread is titled "pump it down easy" speedway motors also offers a saginaw valve assembly thats already rated at the lower pressure so you dont have to mess with shimming washers, just R&R the valve. Of course check everything under there for security and looseness as well.

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So dizzy phasing ok, swapped pickup wiring over, small improvement and fitted the GM HEI under the dizzy. Its back running again but still seems to have this vibration/misfire anything over tickover (might even be present at tickover). Its like I have a lead off or 2 cylinders crossed. My exhaust is fitted but i have no cross over pipe, could this cause it? I didn't think so but im questioning everything now. On a plus point it starts up now real easy with the HEI fitted. I've also tried the Blaster 2 coil off my GMC pickup to no avail.

The only thing left on the ignition that is original is the reluctor and pickup, are these the same for all 360 LA engines, might order a set from RockAuto.

Im also thinking inlet manifold leak? had that on a mates 63 C10 6 cylinder, sounded like it was running on 5 cylinders, yet we could detect spark and fuel, only found it when we removed the manifold and found a chunk of gasket missing.

and the firing order for the 360 LA is 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 ?

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not looked back through but have you tried a new dizzy cap and rotor? i had a similar missfire on a challenger years back (i had one when they were cheap to own :rolleyes:) which was just that. it looked good with no cracks but after pulling the heads etc that was all it was :(.
neil.
 
Hi Neil, fancy finding you over here! Yep had a new dizzy cap and rotor arm. However that was before the HEI conversion, so maybe try that too.
 
Plugs, Reluctor and dizzy Pickup on order from Rock Autos, should be here for weekend.

What plug gap would you run with the HEI fitted?

I'm also think now to check the valve gear, I have good cylinder pressure at 155 across all cylinder but maybe they are not opening fully? bad lifter, valve lash set incorrectly? bent push rod? Probably worth taking covers off and cranking engine over with plugs out, DOH should; have order rocker gaskets too!
 
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Did you try swapping the W and G leads from the dizzy to the GM module. Same premise as doing that w the mopar ICM.

Stock hydraulic lifters and valvetrain on a 318-360 are non adjustable. Waste of time checking that if your getting good cylinder pressure in all 8, unless you want to check for a bent one. I recommend reusable neoprene valve cover gaskets. Yes your firing order is correct. Clockwise 1 8 4 3 6 5 7 2. With HEI you can increase the gap from .035" to .040"
 
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I like your wing nutted HEI setup with home made mount plate. The HEI helps with faster starting. Swap W and G leads and see if that corrects your engine miss issue. Also did you get rid of the ballast resistor and connect the 2 ballast resistor wires together? HEI modules need a good 12v signal not 6V like the mopar unit. You may have a pickup module going out so getting one from "the rock" may help. They arent too terribly expensive. If thats not the issue at least you have a spare.
 
Well your making progress. Always a good thing. The thing about these old mopars is there so many people out there that think they are mopar "experts" that eff em up, and then guys like us fabo members have to unfuck them.

Could possibly be a manifold leak. Anything is possible. An easy check on that is with a can of carb cleaner. With the engine running, spray it where the intake manifold runners meet the heads. One runner at a time and see if the idle clears up for a few seconds until the carb cleaner evaporates. If the idle clears up then goes back to crappy where you sprayed it, then you have a manifold leak where you sprayed it. At that point order a gasket kit and change them out.

It can be a pain when buying something that somebody has done work to previously. Sometimes you just dont know how expertly something was or wasnt done, and you end up redoing it yourself for the satisfaction that its been done right.
 
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You're 100% correct with your last comment. I don't think the car did many miles if any since conversion to v8, 727 trans, Ford axle, larger brakes. In fact the alternative Instrument cluster with round gauges had 7 miles on the odometer. The front suspension still has manufactures stickers on. So someone invested heavily in this car. I'm pretty sure it's a fresh crate motor and rebuilt trans as there is no dirt or road grime on any of these parts. I'll get there just a process of illumination.
I bought it from a car dealer in Texas that trades in import vehicles such as bmws, porsches etc. He had no history and got it as a trade in. I suspect its a stalled restoration project?
 
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It looks like you got a pretty solid project to start with though and thats a good thing. Plus a bonus having a remanned trans, engine, and suspension with new components. I'm sure redoing all that would be fairly expensive over there. Are there many rebuilders in England that cater to American engines and transmissions, or is it a cottage industry of sorts? I imagine theres some pretty heavy duty V8 stuff over there running at Santa Pod. Plus Jensens used mopar big blocks.

I think one of the neatest things i saw over here was an early 70s MGB hardtop with a Rover 215 inch V8 and a 4 speed. Engine looked like a minature small block Chevy. A old friend of mine George restores Brit cars. Specialized in MGs but would work on anything. One day i stopped in, he had an early 70s Jag XKE vert. It was painted pearl white. First time i ever saw pearling in a paint job. Also had an early post war MG he was redoing. I did not know that the framework under the body was all wood on those. He handmade all the replacement wood pieces to repair it.

George had an old Chrysler dealership property he bought and made that into a shop specializing in Brit cars. He built the Rover engined MGB for his personal use. He told me those were all aluminum engines, originally designed by buick in the 60s, sold to Rover when GM couldent correct the issues with porosity in the aluminum castings. Obviously Rover figured it out.
 
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Yes I was very lucky to get this car, it has zero rust and no welding. 2 previous elderly owners and mileage is 33,000 miles, which might be original as it is in great condition. I'd love to piece together the history. Maybe one day I'll come across someone on here who knows the history.

I also have a 69 VW Westy camper that I bought from Thousand Oaks in Cali. I posted on a VW forum and got a reply from the Dealer who sold the camper new in 69. Jack Meaney Motors, the chap was in his late 80's, he even sent me a Reg plate holder with the dealership name on it, cool or what!

My Dad had a MG TC with ash wooden frame many many years ago.

There are a few suppliers in Uk dealing in american cars, some have shipping containers arriving every week and will do a £1 for $1 deal in shipping and import duties. But its not a big business and I'm jealous you can go down to a store and buy what you need like Pep Boys etc.

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