Anti-project: The Cheap b*st*rd

[King_V]

Nope, not a trick question. I actually do want things in place and intact. I tend to take pride in my classics not only being (more or less) compliant, but also having an inexplicable tendency to do extremely well on emissions tests.

My proudest moment was the 1972 Buick Skylark I had with 103,000 miles, and all factory original, still running points ignition, yet with emissions so low that it passed with around 1/10th of the level of emissions that would've been the limit for a mid-90s car.

My 1972 Olds 98 (455), and my 1974 Dart Sport (318), both passed easily within the 1975-1980 model year emissions standards. I think even my 1972 Delta 88 convertible (also 455) that had NOT been maintained well by the previous owner, and ran a bit funny, managed to make it into the 1975-1980 category.


And, I admit, when I go for power, I prefer to get more power AND better fuel economy AND cleaner emissions... where possible, anyway.

 

[Intragration]

Ha ha that's cool. I can relate to keeping a car stock. I guess I have an "alternate reality" view of stock, one in which the EPA doesn't exist. In your case, once you have that hole in the canister patched, there might be a filter that needs to be replaced in it. I once bought a car that had a canister, and it came with a replacement canister filter. I threw them both out.

 

[King_V]

D'oh! I could've used that canister (well, maybe. Different engines, different canisters, etc)

And, um, yep, on the 1974 Dodge, I actually bought a new filter for the canister and replaced the existing one! This was back in the early 90s.


I definitely was proud of that Skylark, though. Bone stock, 350 2-bbl with 103,000 miles on it, and it passed with:
15ppm HC
0.09% CO


(and of course yesterday I got lazy and neither patched the canister, nor investigated the speedometer, which I swear I heard slight clattering behind the dash below the speedo, perfectly in proportion to whatever speed I was driving - I guess the cable end just popped off the speedo)

 

[King_V]

Idle circuit (?) starved for fuel?

All,

Ok, no fuel leaks, new wipers, and sealed off the charcoal canister (no more vague fuel aromas anymore).

Now, something odd has happened. The car has always run great when NOT idling, but idled like utter crap, very irregular, and would stall out easily. I strongly suspect that it's starved for fuel (might even be a little lean when not at idle).

I let it go to high idle cold, and it gradually warmed up, but I did NOT tap the gas. So the choke was open, and it was idling high. Then I started spraying in carb cleaner. Most cars I do this, the engine speed drops, this one would actually rev faster when I sprayed it (not full on spraying, but still). I've never seen a car do that before.

I also noticed that if I let it go to idle, but partially closed the choke, the RPMs would come up, and the engine would smooth out impressively. When I let the choke open, I'd notice the engine would recover if I'd jiggle the accelerator pump a little, giving it more gas (without moving the throttle).

Finally, it seems completely insensitive to any changes of the idle mixture screws. I had them in as little as one turn out, and as much as 5 turns out. Zero difference. I set them to about 2 turns out right now.

Right now, the only thing I can think of is replacing the fuel filter. Ugh, haven't done a Rochester fuel filter in forever - isn't there some sort of a nylon gasket or somesuch involved with this as well? Doesn't seem to have come with the new filter, and the parts stores don't list it. But I remember something like that from about 2 decades ago (yeah, it's been that long since I've changed one of these)

But if the fuel filter doesn't do the trick, what should I do? Suggestions? Thoughts?

 

[Intragration]

Maybe a vacuum leak? Throw a vacuum gauge on manifold vacuum and see what it's reading.

 

[King_V]

Might be tough to do - it'll stall out if I let it idle. I don't recall hearing any hissing indicative of a vacuum leak, but with all the other noises and such, I imagine just "listening for a vacuum leak" is not exactly a viable technique!

Eh, once I find those nylon gaskets, I'll change the fuel filter and see if that makes a difference.

I should've also been clearer on the carb cleaner - I sprayed into the carb, not around it.

 

[BPTTONE420012]

was reading and that sticky undercoating crap sucks... i had ordered a gallon of this rubbermaid super degreaser, works wonders at cleaning parts, and i found using that stuff to clean my hands n arms after working on my car, works the best... i didnt know what color i actually was till washed with that stuff...

 

[King_V]

Speedometer woes, and another leak...

Ok, so found yet another fuel leak, this time near the fuel pump, yet another half-petrified fuel line. Just took care of that. Still runs rough, so I guess I don't get to be lazy and procrastinate on the fuel filter too much longer.

Speedometer - I'm a little baffled. I removed it. So, I used an allen-wrench inserted into the back of the speedo to see if it would turn. It did, though at first it seemed a little stuck. But then it started turning, albeit with a little bit of resistance, reduced somewhat by use of lithium grease, and WD-40. I was able to then use the allen wrench to spin it a bit, and get one or two tenths of a mile more on the odometer.

Jack up one wheel of the car, run it, put in drive.... the end of the cable that plugs into the speedo has a thin, squarish rod at the end of the cable, and it spins.

Attach it to the speedometer... nothing.

I *suspect* that the speedometer got stuck, slightly, just enough so that the cable's rod end spun inside. Either the rod-end of the cable is stripped slightly and smaller than it should be, or the inside of the speedo itself was damaged a little and has rounded a bit. In either case, I guess the rod end is spinning freely inside the speedometer.

A bit of help - anyone nearby have a speedometer that plugs right onto the end of the factory cable, that I can test out? Or who has a good cable lying around that I can plug into my speedo and attempt to turn manually?

I'm trying to figure out whether it's the cable end, or the speedometer itself, on my car that is damaged.

Or any quick-but-fairly-permanent fix suggestions for this? At least ones that don't involve permanently bonding the cable to the speedo!

Thanks in advance.

 

[BPTTONE420012]

i used a pair of small needle nose pliers to pull on the square inside of the cable and it moved out a little more, just enough that when i stuck it back on my speedo it was able to connect enough to make the speedo work... all that said n done, mine no longer works, the cable must of moved a little and isnt completly spinning the speedo cause now when doing a steady 60-65mph the cable will catch and my speedo will jump from 0 to 50 back to 0 up to 60 back to 0, kinda distracting... lol also, you should be able to see if the square part of the cable is rounded off at all... i know i can see mine is... just havent gotten around to buying a new cable

 

[King_V]

Updates:

Speedo: Tried pulling the rod end out a bit with pliers, barely budged. No luck with that technique. Best I can tell eyeballing it is that the rod is still more or less square, but it's still hard to tell for me. I suspect the damage is in the speedometer - might try to come up with some sort of sleeve to make up for the wear or rounding off (that I suspect is inside the speedo) - otherwise, maybe a junkyard speed and junkyard cable.


Fuel delivery: Changed the fuel filter. Old one looked bad. Still, no appreciable difference. I did notice when I had it on high idle though that I'd hear slight crackling through the carb. Looking into it as it ran, I noticed that, even though it was running too lean (ran WAY better and WAY smoother, when warm if the choke plate was about 3/4 closed), fuel would dribble onto the throttle blades.

So, the throttle blades are almost closed, hence there's a tiny gap between the circumference of the throttle blades and the venturis. The crackle noise would be when the droplets of fuel would it, and thus suddenly and very briefly block the air flow and get sucked past that little gap.

Isn't the fuel supposed to be coming more like a mist, or tiny droplets? ie: not enough to be visibly dripping and causing that noise? Or is that actually normal behavior on a factory carb? It seems wrong to me (will have to run my 260 in the Cutlass to compare).

Does this suggest any particular problems? Carb needs rebuild? Fuel pump not providing pressure nearly as steadily as it should? Some other thing I'm not thinking of?