slant 6 has little to no power but seems to idle fine

[72Dartvicbc]

hey guys first time poster i recently purchased a 72 dart swinger with a slant six in it I seem to have little to no power it revs like normal and shifts gears but i cant seem to get any juice out of it throttle linkage to pedal seems a little loose and I have a small leak in the fuel line right below the carb I know these are things I will need to fix asap ( as in tomorrow) but could it be my head is "borked" or maybe something I don't even know about

oh and my gas pedal dose seem really close to the floor don't know if that has something to do with that loose linkage from throttle to pedal in engine bay

thanks dudes and dudettes

 

[3404speed]

Fix the fuel leak first. Check the throttle opening by hand at the carb with the engine off, make sure it is opening fully. The throttle cable should be able to slide freely to its stop at the bracket. There is a nut clamping the cable down, 7/16 wrench to adjust it.

 

[wjajr]

Check the throttle opening by hand at the carb with the engine off, make sure it is opening fully.

If throttle cable is maladjusted where pedal is too close to floor hand operation of carburetor throttle won’t show problem. You will be able pull loose cable enough to fully open throttle plate. Try this; get a friend to push accelerator pedal to floor, and you look down carburetor observing angle of throttle plates. Any position but full vertical dictates a cable adjustment.

If you have a stock carburetor, then a simple cable adjustment is probably all that is needed. If you have an aftermarket set up, in addition to cable adjustment you may have to shim the accelerator bracket away from the floor to get a little bit more cable travel. I ran into this problem with a Holley 390 on my 67 Dart, and because I work alone, took quite a while to figure out what was going on.

 

[BillGrissom]

Ditto. Get a helper to press the pedal to the floor while you view down the barrel (holding the choke open), or put a concrete block on it. Does it downshift to 2nd when you floor it? If not, it will feel pretty sluggish.

 

[memike]

Lets not forget about the heat riser being stuck, it is in your exhaust
manifold , see if you can move it by turning it..

 

[wjajr]

Often maladjusted valve lash, base timing, and or sticking governor weights will cause sluggish performance as well.

You need to do a little sleuthing.

 

[72Dartvicbc]

thanks for all the help guys! looks like its my head gasket (as its leaking a butt ton of oil) and exhaust leak from the manifold so iv gone ahead and got a whole top end gasket kit and will be doing it this weekend. Hopefully I will have all my ponies accounted for by next Monday

cheers!

 

[HemiPar]

Another thing to think about. What type of motor are you used to driving? When I bought my 71 Swinger with a / i had been driving my Hemi powered Ram and 360 powered 75 Power Wagon. So if you are used to more power you may just be feeling the difference between the / and other motors. just a thought.

 

[72Dartvicbc]

I can't get past 10 mph :wack:

 

[HemiPar]

Since you can not get past 10mph I would say there are a few things you may need to fix or adjust. From fuel pump to timing, and you already read bout carb adjustment and valve adjustment.
How long have you had the car? Good luck.