Technical 292 runs good/runs terrible

I saved this truck from rotting away in a field, about 2 years ago. 292 did not run, and I went through the whole routine to make it run...fuel tank, pump, lines, filter, carb, coil, points, condenser, cap, rotor, wires, valve adjustment, compression test (115-120), Pertronix igniter, repaired some rotted primary ignition wires. it went from running on 5 cylinders initially to starting and running very nicely. The problem is, after I drive it for anywhere between 1 and 5 miles, it starts to buck and stall. If I let it sit for 20 minutes or so, it starts and runs fine again. I replaced the points with Pertronix. still no love. I jumped the coil + side straight to the battery, suspecting the pink resistor wire might be bad. it ran, and didn't stall, but I just went around the block, fearing getting stuck again. I have tried to check the timing chain for slop, and the best I can tell without tearing it down is that it's fine. I have sprayed with carb cleaner looking for vacuum leaks and found none.
2 questions-
1) anyone have experience with distributor advance weights malfunctioning?
2) anyone have any experiences with the pink resistor wire and what happens when it goes bad?

 

Jumping the coil helped? Sounds like thats where to look.

 

Does it stall quicker with a full tank than with say a quarter tank? I fought what were supposed to be vented caps on my rig for a while until I got one that was actually vented. Parts store had several that were not vented but had the correct vented cap part number. Next time it stalls slowly open the gas cap and see if you hear air rush in and the sides of the tank pop back out.

 

Try another condenser.
Seen them bad out of the box.
Try an Echlin.

 

Since he installed an Ignitor module, the chinesium syndrome condenser problem shouldn't be an issue. It does sound like maybe a coil problem. Check for spark when this happens.

If you're running at least 1.5 ohm ignition coil you want to bypass the resistor wire anyway. Straight battery voltage full time.

 

Choke stuck shut?

 

No, mechanical choke is wide open

 

I'll have to check the resistance on the coil, and will just remove the resistor wire if it's got 1.5 ohms, which it probably does.

 

Well I should rephrase that. Which particular Ignitor module are you using? I, II, III? Sometimes peeps buy the wrong coil to go with, it's really about the amperage through the primary ignition circuit. The Ignitor I wants no more than 8 amps, for example.

 

Well, it ran no different after I swapped the points out to the ignitor. it's part# 1281. no I, II, or III
the coil is just an O'really 12V coil for a '62 292.
You think the contacts in the ignition switch could be bad? maybe burned or somehow not delivering full volts to the coil?

 

That was a thought I had too
I swapped out the Stant locking cap that is supposed to be vented with the known/marked vented cap from my '64 Comet. no change whatsoever

 

OK. 1281 is the first one. It wants to see at least 1.5 ohms in the primary.

It does sound a little bit like a defective coil. Or a heat related issue. Most times ignition coils are unnecessarily replaced. These days with all the junk parts I dunno.

 

Pull the distrubitor and lift out the points plate and check the wire underneath .. they are usally cloth wrapped and will have gone rotten with age..the wire can vibrate a bit when driving or sag when it becomes hot and touch thus shorting intermittant had this recently with a friends 312..

 

Yeah, well thanks for the replies, I hope I'm gonna get it narrowed down. running out of things to try. I still have the old coil, may swap that back in and get that resistor wire out of there.

 

I’m running Pertronix in my ‘50 flathead and my wife’s ‘67 Caddy with no problems. The instructions are specific - 1.5 ohm coil with no resistor.

 

The ignition parts need to be in good shape to be able to do that, full time battery voltage to the coil does raise the secondary or high tension energy. The points style distributors have closely spaced terminals.

 

Must run suppression wires with PerTronix Ignitor. Solid core will let it start, run then stall out.


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Starts running bad after driving with points or PTX. I am running suppression wires though.
things I haven't ruled out yet:
fuel pump eccentric worn, not stroking pump properly
ignition switch voltage drop
some sort of vacuum leak that is not apparent on cold start.

It's the damndest thing I've ever seen. purrs like a cat for the first few minutes. Can drive a 1/2 mile and it might die or I can drive ten miles and it may not miss a beat. shut it off at harbor freight, start it back up and it may not make it out of the parking lot. Got stuck on a busy street once, months ago-when I was still trying to get it running on all 8-had AAA tow it home. The tow driver put his hook around the tie rod instead of the axle and bent the hell out of it. not having much good luck with this truck.

When it stumbles/dies/restarts it may make it home, it may not

 

It does sound like something (coil?) is heating up and going South after you drive it for awhile. Since half of the world’s problems are electrical... Seems like you have checked most everything. Bet it will be something simple.



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You'll have to narrow it down between an ignition problem or fuel problem.

Usually it's safe to bet first on ignition. The next time it stumbles and grumbles take an extra plug you have with you and pull the #5 wire and connect it and ground it and check for a good fat whiteishblue spark. Or just pull the coil wire and check for spark. Those remote starter button hookup deals let you turn over the engine from under the hood.

As far as fuel problems. The in cab tanks are notorious for internal pickup tube problems, my truck would shutoff like clockwork at 1/2 tank. The fuel tube had a pinhole at that level, I expect, from sitting a long time. That kind of thing might be something worth exploring.

There is one short piece of rubber fuel hose right at the frame often overlooked below the driver seat, it might be sucking air by now. Another one at the fuel pump inlet. Replace these. Check for correct fuel height in the bowl, at idle.

 

I'm wondering if you're getting vapor lock. No one's discussed it. How are your fuel lines? Are your lines anywhere near a heat source? Also is your carb sitting directly on the intake or do you have a spacer?
One last thing you may want to try to run without the gas cap the moment it acts up. The cap even vented could still be a problem.

 

The first thing you need to know is , is it spark or fuel? When it quits crank the throttle linkage and look for the accelerator pump" squirt" . Does it squirt strongly as when running properly? If not its fuel delivery. Also hook up a timing light and stick it under a windshield wiper so you can watch it while driving, if the spark and ergo flash pattern of the light changes when it starts running poorly it's spark related. ....another thing it could be is collapsed exhaust or a rats nest in the muffler!..if the exhaust can't escape the motor can't breathe...

 

ok,
exhaust not plugged
got a carb spacer and installed it
removed wire from ignition switch to coil, ran hotwire from battery to + side of coil.
checked float levels on new holley 600
checked the stant vented/locking gas cap, verified it is indeed vented(sucked on hole)
starts and idles fine, can rev engine to 4000 rpm in driveway
drove to gas station, ran fine
drove around neighborhood, ran fine
drove out of neighborhood, ran fine until I got to about 1/2 throttle. Then it stumbles, bucks, wants to die. It sounds like it's running out of fuel. I look at the clear filter I have between the pump and the carb. it looks full, but could be empty. took off air cleaner and watched for squirt...it squirts, but with bubbles...like the bowl is empty, or very low. I dick around with the throttle and get it running again, drive it home easy, contemplate selling it, decide to keep it.
I was able to turn the fuel pump filter housing can about 1/8 turn tighter, and there was some fuel leak residue on it---sucking air under high demand???
going out next to hook up the timing light and watch spark as suggested.
to reiterate,
fuel tank-new
fuel pump, new
carb, new
rubber fuel lines, new-I even ran a line straight from the tank to pump(bypassed all hard/soft lines)
pertronix igniter, new
cap, rotor, plugs, wires, coil-new
valve adjustment, good
compression, good

drove with timing light zip tied to wiper---it never lost spark, but ran bad again with 1/2 throttle demand. The only thing I can think at this point is either I have a defective pump or the volume is insufficient. Half throttle drains the bowl and it takes stumbling, dying, and cranking to fill bowl back up again.

 

Fuel pump eccentric worn, perhaps?

 

Quite possible. gonna try and look at it with a light and mirror

pulled pump, eccentric has shiny line down the middle, and maybe a couple thousandths wear, nothing extreme...If I was putting an engine together I wouldn't think twice about using one that looked like this.

 

not sure if it has been mentioned...but is fuel cap vented or tank vent blocked ???...either can create a vacuum ??

 

In your description you mention ''checked float levels on new holley 600''.
Also was that a new, out of the box Holley, or a new Holley, new to the engine??
Did it have a Holley on it originally??
I had a similar symptoms/problems with the 600 Holley on my 350 chev, it would run sweet for a distance, then starve and almost die, let it sit for a few minutes, and all was good till a few more miles and it would start all over again.
I traced it to the phosphor bronze fuel filter in the body of the carb, I took it out and problem solved..

 

New out of the box. The carb that was on it when I towed it home from the ranch was a Carter Performance series AFB that I rebuilt chasing the problem. I'm looking seriously at the pump now. It is a NAPA unit for a 292 2bbl carb. I have no idea what, if anything, has been done to this engine as far as internals-cam, pistons, bore etc. Maybe the volume from a stock pump just isn't enough...or maybe it's just a bad pump.

 

Change your fuel filter(s). Sounds like you have one on the pump and another in line between the pump and carb. Might need to change filters often after flushing everything and new gas breaking things loose.
SPark

 

Buy a new set of bowl gaskets to have on hand. The next time it craps out, pull a fuel bowl off and if any crap comes out with the gas.