Rough idle low throttle surge

[Dinosport]

I had a chinese performance distributor that had the ring which activates the pick up coil come loose on the knurls. That caused me to reset the timing every few weeks and couldn't find the issue. Found the problem when the race car blew up a distributor so I put mine in and the car was losing a second a lap. I took a good look at it and finally noticed the problem

Chinese crap. Lol. I know my dist isn't right. I don't know if it's a Chinese one. I do know that they changed the springs, and put one of those adjustable vacuum advances. I haven't tried adjusting it but I know it's not set up right. The guys that had my car before me I can tell they tried but they didn't really know what they where doing.
I have another one I might throw in and see what it does. It's tough because its hard for me to find the time to sit there a few hrs trouble shooting. Night would be best but my neighbor had real small kids and the car is loud for me to be messing with it late. Atleast this is a 3day weekend coming so that'll help

 

[pontiacgp]

If you have an infrared thermometer and headers it's easy to see if you have a cylinder not firing by the temp of the header tube associated with the cylinder in caparison with the higher temp of the other header tubes

 

[soma]

since its never really run right have you thought about the throttle shaft being loose?i know on quadrajets its a relatively normal occurrence and they have to be either drilled and new bushings put in.possibly a clogged jet?id check to see if your getting fuel from both barrels then of course gasket issues...possibly a worn or un-shimmed distributor gear if the timing is jumping around

 

[Dinosport]

Wow a lot to check. Lol. I have a thermometer on the truck I can borrow. I have almost everything since I sell them. Perk of being a tool dealer.

 

[64nailhead]

Timing is definitely on my mind as well. I know Ive had a few timing issues and the light seems to jump all over the place. I havent gotten around to turning the engine to see if there timing chain slop, I was told to try to power the light from another source because that can cause it to jump around.

Never heard of using a source for the timing light other than the battery. But if it is jumping around a lot when holding the rpm steady, then that's an issue and it could be causing all of your issue. If that's the case, then pulling the dizzy and checking the gear wear is the first place to start. A loose timing chain can also be a problem with simialr symptons, but chain doesn't stretch and cause a problem over a short period, but rather it get progressivley worse over a longer than 5K-10K miles.

 

[Dinosport]

Never heard of using a source for the timing light other than the battery. But if it is jumping around a lot when holding the rpm steady, then that's an issue and it could be causing all of your issue. If that's the case, then pulling the dizzy and checking the gear wear is the first place to start. A loose timing chain can also be a problem with simialr symptons, but chain doesn't stretch and cause a problem over a short period, but rather it get progressivley worse over a longer than 5K-10K miles.

From what I understood I could be getting interference for the car itself so use a battery on the ground or a jump box to power the timing light. Don't know if that'll make a difference. I do have another distributor a buddy gave me. I also have a vacuum advance delete kit that was given to me. It doesn't lock the timing it just doesn't use vacuum to operate it has a spring or something. I might try the outside power source just to see if it makes a difference. If it doesn't then I think I'm just going to drop in the other distributor. I trust the guy that gave it to me so that should hopefully rule that out. A couple of carb race guys I spoke to today kind of agree most likely I have a fuel issue. Either dirt blocking a jet or a stuck metering rod on the carb. I'll try that after the dist and see what happens I guess.

 

[64nailhead]

Checking dizzy gear doesn't mean you need to change the entire distributor. The gear is changeable. If you're not sure how to tell if it's bad by looking, then post a picture or two of it. Swapping a gear is a quick and low budget job. Like I mentioned, I've never heard of using a second battery, but I guess you could try it?? but I'm confident that it'll be somewhat of a waste of time. If it makes you feel better then give it a whack.

 

[Dinosport]

Checking dizzy gear doesn't mean you need to change the entire distributor. The gear is changeable. If you're not sure how to tell if it's bad by looking, then post a picture or two of it. Swapping a gear is a quick and low budget job. Like I mentioned, I've never heard of using a second battery, but I guess you could try it?? but I'm confident that it'll be somewhat of a waste of time. If it makes you feel better then give it a whack.

Thanks I'll post some pics of the dizzy. My only reason for changing is just because i already have it So I figure it would be quick enough to swap. I can always go through the original one and have it as a spare. Plus I don't trust the work the old owners did to it. I'm sure they meant well but they didn't know what they were doing.
As for the second battery. I agree, I've always done it using the car battery but I figure it can't hurt.
I can't tell you though when I was a mechanic how many times I've chased a problem to come back and find it was the stupidest thing I over looked. Today my time is very limited. So its easier sometimes to just swap out the part than to sit there and play with it

 

[64nailhead]

Thanks I'll post some pics of the dizzy. My only reason for changing is just because i already have it So I figure it would be quick enough to swap. I can always go through the original one and have it as a spare. Plus I don't trust the work the old owners did to it. I'm sure they meant well but they didn't know what they were doing.
As for the second battery. I agree, I've always done it using the car battery but I figure it can't hurt.
I can't tell you though when I was a mechanic how many times I've chased a problem to come back and find it was the stupidest thing I over looked. Today my time is very limited. So its easier sometimes to just swap out the part than to sit there and play with it

I much prefer to find problems and resolve them - I find satisfaction in it! If your current dizzy and gear are good and curved correctly, then swapping a used unit in with an unknown curve could actually create another issue or two was the point I was trying to make.

Issues like you're having are a process of elimination to identify. From rereading your original post still leads to me to think that you have an issue with a vacuum leak, but your comment about the timing wandering might only be a secondary issue, but it is an issue, maybe not the one that was the reason why you started this thread. Time will tell.

 

[Dinosport]

I much prefer to find problems and resolve them - I find satisfaction in it! If your current dizzy and gear are good and curved correctly, then swapping a used unit in with an unknown curve could actually create another issue or two was the point I was trying to make.

Issues like you're having are a process of elimination to identify. From rereading your original post still leads to me to think that you have an issue with a vacuum leak, but your comment about the timing wandering might only be a secondary issue, but it is an issue, maybe not the one that was the reason why you started this thread. Time will tell.

Vacuum hmm. Think I should start there? Then move on to fixing the other things? As for the dist I know for it isn't set up right anyway. But if I find the issue before I mess with it then I won't change it and try to just get it right.
Thanks for advise