I own a 1965 fury III with a poly 318, when I bought the car it would not start at all due to the Carb being bad. Well I replaced that with a Holley 2 barrel ( I know a Stromberg would be a ton better but this is what I have ) Anyhow, from there it would idle just fine but when I put it in gear it had a really bad dead spot before it would kick in and drive ( The dead spot almost made it stall ) Then it sat for a few months (With me only starting it, not driving) and now it still starts up and idles just fine but when it gets warmed up I put it into gear and it doesn't go at all I mean I give it the littlest bit of gas and it stalls . I have changed the spark plugs, the wires, made sure the timing was good, everything! But it just won't go, I mean it will but I have to barely and I mean BARELY give it gas. A lot of people have told me that this sounds like the Vacuum advance was going bad and now it is totally bad, but I wanted to ask the experts first before I go and change it. I forgot to mention I have checked extensively for leaks and while the PS exhaust manifold has a FEW leaks it's no where near enough to cause this much trouble. Thanks for any help/suggestions I can get.
Don't guess...diagnose! There are many things that might affect your engine. first, be sure your tune up parts are fresh...you said plugs and wires, but are the car and rotor good? How about play in your distributor shaft? No cracks in the coil...sparking while it's running (check it in the dark) Points and condenser new? If not, could be a cause. I'd exchange it for a later 318 Dist. if there is any doubt....get an electronic ignition one, and a new module and forget the points! It wouldn't hurt to do a compression test, but I wouldn't necessarily go in that direction yet. It still points to your carb, or maybe a weak coil. Can you see a jet of gas when you open the throttle (engine NOT running)? If not, bad accelerator pump. Do the idle screws do anything when turned in and out? If not, check the other things, and then rebuild the carb. Check for vacuum leaks...spray water around the carb base, throttle shafts, and intake to head gasket area. If the idle increases, you've got a leak in that area.
Check the hot wire INSIDE the dist, these engines are known for bare spots that contact metal when the breaker plate moves (which is the cause in the first place) with the vac advance. Had two of them do this, a '55 and '64. Good luck.
Accelerator pump or stuck choke. I remember this vaguely - why didn't you rebuild your Stromberg, again? You may consider dropping a few bucks on a stock, $60 Mopar electronic distributor from any auto parts store and getting a $100 Craigslist MSD box (6AL). Then you can pretty much kiss all your ignition issues goodbye. I've got a rebuilt, never run Stromberg WW if you're interested. ~Jason PS - according to what you posted here, yes: get the timing right! Also, did you check to see if you had a dual diaphragm fuel pump with only one of the diaphragms intact? One pulls the fuel from the tank, the other pushes it to the carb - when one's busted, sometimes it WILL idle (the fuel pressure is like .5 PSI), but when you goose it the float bowl doesn't fill up fast enough to compensate and it dies. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=266437 "I am having a problem with my poly 318. When I got it, it would not stay idled at all. I checked the carburetor and instead of rebuilding it, I bought a re-manufactured Holley 2 barrel for it. Now here is where the problem lies.. It would STILL not stay idled. However I got it to over the weekend, by turning the idle screw all the way in, and then it idled great. The problem is, I took it around the block a few times ( running just fine) and eventually it got to the point where when I gave it gas, it would bog down and try to stall although it idled great (With the idle screw screwed all the way in) Any guidance on any of this would be GREATLY appreciated. I have no idea where to look now. I do know there is a small exhaust manifold leak on the right side and also I was thinking that it may need timed? I am just out of ideas on what to look for."
This is more of the '57 - '66 318 Poly variety, not the earlier Poly. The 318 Poly uses a regular, old small block (LA) Mopar distributor... ~Jason
Yea I will post a picture of it, thanks for all the suggestions. I will try out some. Noone thinks it may be the vacuum advance?
This is the only picture I have but I will take some more tonight. May I see a picture of your Fury, also Abomination, how much would you want for it?
It's gone, unfortunately. A body guy came along and offered to COMPLETELY de-rust, strip, and paint my basket case '50 F2 for it. I couldn't refuse! ~Jason
Try hooking the vacuum advance hose directly to intake vacuum. And get that lousy Holley off there! There are millions of Carter, Stromberg, and Ball and Ball carbs out there that will work perfectly on your 318, why mess with Holley **** that was never intended for that application? (You may infer from that tirade that I am not a fan of Holleys.)
No I meant how much for your Stromberg? Wouldn't want to trade a new holley 2 barrel for it would ya? lol.
So it runs good until in gear? How is the choke set.... Disconnect- wire it open and try driving when engine is warmed up did ya tighten down the dist? Need to set the idle higher! Its droppin when pulled into gear. Automatics are set higher in neutral than manual trans. See the book! The dist vacuum is hooked to the correct port? Make sure the park brake is off and the car will easily roll! Good luck
drlector3, Any luck on this issue? I am having some similar issues with my 66 Fury poly 318. Same situation- problems with the stromberg and replaced with a Holley. Replaced timing chain/gears, plugs/cap/rotor/points/condensor ect and adjusted it all. Mine idles fine but I have a bog/hes***ation if i goose the trottle from idle- I get a backfire in the carb sometimes. Trying to drive it the car feels like it is laboring or missing- just doesnt really want to go. And smells rich. Do these sound like similar syptoms to yours?
Are you disconnecting the vacuum advance and plugging the line when setting the timing? The only thing I can think is possibly you are setting the timing at idle with the vacuum advance hooked up and the vacuum line is hooked up to a "vacuum at idle" port. The vacuum would drop when the gas pedal was applied, retarding your timing... Possibility? What about yanking the vacuum advance line off and plugging it, resetting the timing and trying it?
The factory, and over the counter replacement timing chain sprokets for that motor have nylon teeth on the cam gear. After a good many miles they quit and the chain jumps a tooth or two. The result is a poor running motor(if it runs at all) that gives you all kinds of signs of timing and carb issues. Turn the crank shaft forward and backwards by the 1-1/4" head bolt in the crank that holds the balancer on. Watch distributor rotor, or even better, pull a valve cover and watch the rockers and pushrods. If there is more than a few degrees of crank movement before the cam moves i'd suspect the timing chain is junk. How many miles on this motor?
Another thing to consider is where you are getting your advance vacuum from. Get one of them vacuum hand pump things they advertise to bleed brakes. They come with a gauge on them. Remove the vacuum that goes from the dist. to the carb and measure the vac off the carb at idle. It should be almost nothing. When the rpm goes up, you should see the vac gauge climb accordingly. I inherited an old dodge that ran for **** when hitting the accelerator. Turned out the last numb nut that worked on it accidently plumbed the vacuum advance to manifold vac instead of venturi vac. Switched lines and she ran like a champ. This was after about a dozen previous mechanics failed to find the problem. When I am working on a new carb setup, I always get that little vacuum thing out and plug it into the various ports till I find the right vacuum source. Just a thought. Johnny
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