slanty surges at stops?

[cam.man67]

The last week or so I've noticed the ol' girl hasn't been enjoying coming to stoplights and all that. The car drives perfect, and it idles and park and neutral just fine. But idling in gear at a stop or something causes sputtering, missing, and eventually, stalling. Usually it doesn't happen until the car is warmed up good.

A mechanic was looking at it a few weeks ago for an unrelated ignition issue and he told me the carb gasket wasn't any good. Could it be possible I've got a poor seal there? Would that cause what I'm experiencing?

TIA

 

[BillGrissom]

Sounds like you have a lean condition. When it does it again, close the choke slightly by hand (air cleaner off) and see if it smooths out. Another test is to flow propane (not burning) around the suspect air leaks and see if it helps. That never worked for me when my slant idled bad, but my problems were in the Holley 1920 carb.

I don't understand why the mechanic is speculating. Why didn't he/she fix it right there? It takes ~5 min to change a carb gasket and I don't think the gasket is specific to your car, so should be easy to get.

 

[cam.man67]

Thanks! Turns out it was running lean (even with a Holley 4bbl!) at idle. 3/4 turn on each adjustment screw and it idles like a champ now.

 

[BillGrissom]

Glad you fixed it, my 69 Dart drove me nuts for decades thru ~3 carbs. 4th carb fixed it, so it was the carb. You may find that you are your best mechanic, and certainly the cheapest choice.