Need help with my 440 problems. (new to BB)

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360Duster75

360Duster75

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As title says I have a few problems with my 440 in my 74 Duster. I got the car a few days ago for $3300 here in Colorado. The problems I'm having are as follow: Dieseling after key is turned off, can't go WOT fast have to roll on and even then cant go past 50mph or 25% throttle if that without it back fireing and/or stalling/losing power. Now as for dieseling the engine has an HEI distributer on it and will onlybrun with the power wire hooked to battery and only dies by removing it. And as for the power loss. If you step on the gas fast and hard like at a drag strip the car will back fire and stall. It idles finebut give it gas to fast it dies. I took a fuel pressure regulator off and it helped a little bit. Also I'm not sure of the carb it is an edelbrock I'm guessing 600cfm. Engine is other wise bone stock. It also needs new plug wires because #8 cylinder wire is melted from the old owner leaving it on the manifold I'm replacing it as soon as i can. My next guess is maybe timing?
 
Sounds like you have more than one problem working against each other. The wire is obvious and its easy to check timing. You may find it was advanced to "cure" a vacuum leak caused by a bad distributor advance diaphram or accelerator pump.
 
That's all possible I'm doing timing and all this weekend its not a big deal I got it as a project car and to cruise around the base and city on weekends. I'm gonna redo the whole engine when I get back from deployment.
 
Definitely get a timing light on it first , and then work on the fuel. Make sure every vacuum source is plugged or connected
 
Start with ignition timing followed by cam timing. Also, and often overlooked on cars bought with issues, run a compression test. A friend of mine once got a real good deal on a 67 GT with a 440 because every cylinder had very low compression. He finally got to fixing it and found that a custom set of pushrods were ALL too long...A set of stock rods fixed his issues.
 
GET... A... MANUAL! for your car/engine. If you have aftermarket parts (carbs, etc.) get the books for them, too. The internet is a cornucopia of free information!!! I am guessing that if you got the car for $3300, it's not chocked full of top dollar hardware. You should really start from scratch...

All the advice here is good stuff. Start by making sure your foundation is sound. Do compression and leak down tests first. You don't have anything if you can't squeeze the juice and hold the bang.

After that, I would perform a complete overhaul on the ignition and fuel systems.

On the fuel system, start at the tank. Check tank cleanliness (lot's of radiator shops will boil your tank), blow out hard lines, make sure hoses at tank and fuel pump are not collapsing... matter of fact, just replace the rubber lines, fuel pump and filter so you are starting with a decent foundation. ID your carb. Rebuild it with quality parts if it will work with your combination. People over-carb. Do the math and get the right one if it's too big. Let shivvy guys do that stupid crap and talk smack. The math don't lie.

Check to make sure your charging system is working correctly. Chrysler's design isn't what I would call ideal but is workable if it is in decent shape and is not overtaxed. Replace old, crispy, hacked harnesses (best money I've spent when freshening up a recently purchased car!).

Electronic ignition... and don't bother with the Mopar conversion kits. They're Chinese junk now. Get the wiring harness (lots of options here... find one that works for your rde and how you want it set up) and piece the system together using a FireCore Distributor and FireCore Wires (8mm MSDs, if you have to) and a Rev-N-Nator ICU. NGK plugs. I have this ignition on a 512 stroker with a .630" Hughes cam and heavily modified 6 pack and it runs H-A-R-D... and I mean H-A-R-D.

Check to make sure the converter is stalling where it nees to for the carb, cam and gears. If you've got a big motor, cam and steep gears a 1800 stall speed is not going to work.


Probably not telling you anything you don't know but it is fun to listen to myself type! HAHAHA!!!
 
Lol yea I got this as a project so nothing that's going on is in expected just wanna get it half way decent for some weekend drives. The Engine is bone stock minus the carb. The more I tinker with it the more I'm thinking ignition timing is off.
 
Yeah - it's called debugging. If it was me, I'd start with the fuel system - visual checks, replace what you don't like. Then ignition. Check the wiring and switch to get it to start and stop with the key. Then look at the brakes (the rest seems a little iffy so I'd look at them at least). Once those are figured out you can start basic stuff with the engine. Replace the wire, pull the plugs and do a compression test, etc. Then move to timing setup, and finally the carb.
 
All the advice given above is good. Personally I would do the compression check and then start with the electrical part. Why doesn't car run unless ignition is hooked direct to battery? You may find that thru voltage drops etc that the ignition isn't getting enough power to function as it should, even going direct to battery. But that's just my thoughts. However you go about it, I would get a notebook to track what I've done and set a path and stick to it. A lot of people bounce from one thing to another. There are a lot of people here more than willing to help, but it makes things very hard to follow thru posts when things are getting bounced from one thing to another. Again this is just how I would go about it. Good luck and enjoy it.
 
Does it have headers? If so look for a burned wire as well as what the others have said. What year is the motor?
 
Just a couple things to throw in that may be worthy and costs nothing.

Check and recheck the firing order from the distributor to the plugs. Seen a lot of 5 & 7 plug wires swapped. They can run but lack power.
Run the engine in the dark and look for any arching from the plug wires and cap.
 
Mechanical fuel pump? Check the pushrod for the pump to see if its excessively worn.
Even a stock 440 will breath much better with a 750cfm carb.
 
73AbodEE said:
Definitely get a timing light on it first
Click to expand...

^^^^ THIS!!!

Going from Colorado to Louisiana, may be the jetting is really lean.

Timing first! Don't drive it and set it at idle in the 15-20 range and see if the idle and dieseling problems resolve.
 
Car is staying in Colorado with me. It came up from Arkansas. I'm going tear into it this weekend and do all the small things.
 
*update* adjusted carb and now I have more power and can drive it now but still need to regime it. It is a night and day difference with just getting fuel right.
 
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