hi- Ive been posting alot lately thanks everybody- a few more questions!

OK so I put in a 225 with headers and 2300 model two barrel holley. Been sitting a couple months at least. It is supposed to have big valves, cut head, and a cam, but I haven't done any detective work other than driving, and all I know is that it is already much faster than the 198 and it needs much tuning.

I was able to limp home from where I did the swap, but it was running poorly- wanting to die at idle, wanting to die in D with the brake on, not idling below 1300 without wanting to die... lots of popping into N for stops and massaging the gas to ease into D without dying/ beating up trans...

So I am trying to tune this thing, and I thought timing would be a good place to start. I squeezed off the vac. advance tubing, and the motor wouldn't start at all, just backfire thru carb! I figured that if it will run bad (but start easy in winter cold) with vac advance, and not at all without, it must be way retarded, and it was already at maximum adjustment in the distributor hold down slot.

I popped the distributor body up and moved a tooth counterclockwise (advanced, right?). It is still not perfect, idles at around 1200rpm in N and 600 in D, albiet a little rough, but pretty steady.

My timing light is borrowed, and my buddy got the plug wire clamp wire on the light caught one time (might matter?) and I wasn't able to get a good reading off it. I painted the mark with a silver sharpie, and at my high idle it seemed to spin erratically counter clockwise instead of staying put. Im thinking that the light might be beat, because I can't see a worn timing chain or distributor shaft making the mark do more than waver a little, not spin around...

I got best results with the two idle mixture screws backed out about 1/8 turn, with no drop in idle when they are totally closed. Could be because my idle is so high Im bypassing the idle circuit? I ordered a rebuild kit and a power valve protector kit from holley overnite delivery- Im not taking my carb off until it arrives, but I suspect a blown power valve, because the carb has a huge flat spot from 3000 rpm up when accellerating. Also, when ideling and looking in the carb while goosing the throttle, I see gas dumping and dripping, not spraying and atomizing. (rebuild time?) I also sprayed carb cleaner all around the manifold to head and manifold to carb and throttle shaft, etc, no changes in rpm. so no leaks found.

So in my future I see:
a carb rebuild/investigation to see what shape it is in and check on jet size etc, and a new timing light, maybe with dialback. I also plan to remove the valvecover to adjust the valves, it made a world of difference in my old 198 and I hear a little more ticking than I like.

Also my head is the (later?) kind without sparkplug tubes. What does this mean in terms of sparkplug choice, or other considerations?

Thanks
Kevin

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madam im adam

oh and im also going to check the dampner mark versus true #1cyl tdc too while I have the valve cover off.

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madam im adam

Do you have a Holley carb number stamped on the air horn...it sounds like you may have a reverse Idle screw version which is not going to work too good unless you make some mods...

You also will need to get the timing light so you know where that is at and how much advance 'is' going on there...

Also you need the cam specs, since you can't trust that the 'mystery motor' has had a valve lash done to it in a while so that can be part of the problem there too...

-D.Idiot

also I would recommend switching to the motorcraft 2100 or the 2150 carb it has a 2 piece body (just the main body and top plate so less chance of a leak) and it was made by holly also it has incorporated the power valve blow out protection & it is so simple to tune and it is so simple to find one and to tell the size. I recently switch my car over from the carter and my car has never run so smooth also at idle you can barely hear it run and a rebuild only takes about 10 min you don't even have to pull it off the manifold

As for distributor adjustment, there is a screw on the underside of your distributor that limits the adjuster, you would have to take the distributor out to see it. Moving that can give you more rotation, unless of course its already at maximum adjustment. If thats the case, then you are probably off a tooth.

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Excuse me, does this smell like chloroform to you?

Yeah, bought a dialback timing light yesterday- after moving ithe dist. advanced a tooth the night before and fiddling by ear, it now turns out to have steady 17deg at 1300. not too far off. Im going to get a new 2300 holley carb today because the store near my house has onw in stock and I know it will fit the adaptor on my intake for bolt pattern. Also gonna do my valves today.

motor pulls 23 steady needle on vac meter at cruise, around 20 at idle in N. idles a shaky 600rpm in drive with the brake applied, with needle shaking at 10 inches. Mean anything to anyone?

thanks again for all the help so far

Kevin

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madam im adam

Seeing that you do not know anything about the cam, you will have to "find your way' into a good lash setting.
Start by charting where the lash settings are to begain with, write them down.

As you know, the factory settings (stock cam) are .010 In. & .020 Ex.
Any "custom cam" will most likely need more lash clearance so I would bet that you will have to open the lash on all valves. I would try to go + .010 additional on what you first find. If it start to "tick" loud before adding .010, add less.

Note, most HP Mopar cams lash at .028I & .032Ex.
Comp Cams lash in the .016 to .022 range.
You will find that the engine runs smoother as you add lash clearance, add as much as you can until loud ticking starts, then tighten back down .003 or so to stop the ticking. You will have to use some judgement on this.
DD