I would first check the distributer. Chech the clearance between the reluctor and the pickup coil. Should be about .008 on all points of the reluctor.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Sorry! Voltage Regulator. I had a solid state one and I went back to a mechanical one. Square back alternator.
I haven’t tested all plugs yet. I got a different tester that will show the jump distance of the spark. The plugs are new, champions, but at the time of the video / post we’re not properly gapped for the coil / distributor. I just gapped them to .055.

I haven’t confirmed the valves are properly set.

The timing seemed advanced - however, all the marks have rusted off. I confirmed TDS using a screwdriver to feel for the #1 piston dwell and made a white mark. Got a timing light, but the markers on the adjustment plate are j readable. The white mark was a few degrees past the plate - seemed high. Just adjusted the distributor to pull it back - it’s about to the edge bottom edge of the market plate.

Also the timing mark bounces around - not consistently at the same spot under the timing light. Variance of - guessing here - 3-5°.


Of course the idle isn’t right at the moment. But when I give it the gas and hold it, it still sounds like it’s dropping out.

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//DRATS

Excuse my inexperience here - would this be the same for an HEI distributor? This is what I’m running - brand new from these guys : https://performancedistributors.com/pro ... ributor-2/

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//DRATS

My personal view of that system is "it is a crock of $#!+". All advertising puffery. To the best of my knowledge it is just a Chinese copycat of a stock slant six distributer. Except it does not have any vacuum advance. With no vac advance you are giving away fuel economy. The module is just a copy of the GM HEI module. The coil-, I have no idea.
You could build a similar/better system for (I would guess) about $100.00
So, my original post is still valid, check the distributer. I have seen several "copy-cat" distributers with bad pickup coils, and even bent shafts. If the shaft is bent it can cause the reluctor to wobble, and change the air gap. So start with that.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Adjust the valves. Also make sure of top dead center. Just feeling with a screwdriver will not get it done. Use a piston stop (easy to make from an old spark plug). Make sure no Vacuum leaks

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Adjust your spark plug gap to something closer to .035-.040 till you get things sorted out. You really need to find TDC and timing marks so you know what it is set at. Bouncing around a little at idle is not the end of the world. No vacuum advance is not helpful as Charlie said.

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Yike. That's a lot of intake manifold and a very, very overbig carburetor for a street-driven car.
I can't speak to the coil, but the other items on this list are not known for working well or dependably. You could have had a considerably more dependable, equally-or-more-performant ignition system for a fraction of this money.
Dutra Duals are a better pick than headers, for sure, but a 2.5" pipe is larger than optimal.
Yumpin' yiminy! Who said you needed to spend $300+ on a starter? If you really needed a new starter, you could have had the same light weight, small size, and high performance for a small fraction of that price.
Back up a few steps. How did you choose all these parts? Whoever is giving you parts-selection advice has eyes a whole lot bigger than the stomach of a car that gets used the way you describe, around town for fun. To wind up with a car that runs well and works reliably, the right way is to choose parts only after figuring out, in close detail, what you want the car to do (and not-do, and do differently than it presently does), then run that list by experts and get guidance, then filter that through your budget (for money, time, and effort), get more guidance, and then buy parts.

The parts list for a high-budget drag racer is very different to the one for a fun street-driven car, for example. Just picking out the sexiest, biggest, flashiest, most expensive stuff and throwing it at a car is a well-guaranteed recipe for deep disappointment.

I don't mean to piss in your Wheaties or on your project, but over a whole lot of years I have seen so many cases of chronic heartbreak that start out just like this what you describe. The heartbreak does not end until the owner either gives up in despair and mothballs or offloads the car, or starts all over again from a more reasonable, thought-through starting point.
You are talking here about the voltage regulator, which is part of the charging system. The voltage regulator bears consideration when you swap in an electronic ignition system, but not the way it sounds like you've done here.

You said you don't know much about working on cars, and that puts you in a position of spilling money, time, effort, and tears and getting nowhere. You can get good guidance on here, but there is no substitute for even just a minimum amount of first-person understanding, so as soon as you can, get the three books listed in this thread and start reading.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I got the base parts list from this article from MotoTrend.

https://www.ttiexhaust.com/Classics-Ex/ ... 208pgs.pdf

They explained everything simply and it was pretty easy to follow - and broke down the performance effect of each step.

The guy at the shop in Texas I got the durtas from recommended I get a gear reduction starter and that’s what Summit Racing had and I liked the chrome ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I had a factory spec distributor on the car before and we were having the same issue. I got the hei from Performance Distributors as a replacement to see if it helped. Also tried a MSD Blaster 2 coil with the old dizzy thinking maybe it wasn’t making enough fire and it didn’t help. So I pulled the trigger on the Performance Distributor Tri-Power. Is it really cheap Chinese crap? They say they are all hand built and I waited 20 weeks for it to ship.

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//DRATS

That kind of eliminates the distributor and the coil since you had the same problem with two different ones.

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

That’s how I got to maybe the ballast resistor was the issue. The new coils were not getting a full 12v.

More facts:
When I got the car back from my mechanic, it was doing this very badly at low speeds (does it sound like sputtering? I’m not sure what to call the poor performance?) much worse. Around 15/20 mph, would hold there not gaining any speed for 5-20 seconds, but when it lapped last 20/25 mph it would kick in and accelerate perfectly. This was the first issue I was trying to diagnose.

Following the service manual / YouTube rabbit hole lead me back to think it was an electrical issue. In that process I discovered the ballast resistor was never bypassed and the coil was only getting ~7v when it needed 12. The Motortrend article jumps it inside the resistor. So to test it I disconnected the 4 wires and spliced them together.

The result was the car performed better - pick up was more constant - it did not sputter as bad at all - but it never got smooth after that.

I was considering maybe the issue at this point is timing - but maybe a short - or perhaps the fuel pump. The psi may be too low for that carb.

I originally replaced the 1bbl with at 1901 500cfm but we were having issues with the electric choke. So my mechanic bought a new carb to install a manual one - it was the 1905 which is 650. I know that’s a lot. I can return it still and install a 1902 which is the 500cfm with a manual choke.

Also, the manifold is 4 holes and the carb is square bore. There not an adapter - maybe adding that will help a possible vacuum leak around the carb?

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//DRATS

I think you need a different mechanic on this project. The last edelbrock/AFB carb I dealt with had an electric choke. I am curious how it is even possible to mess that up. A couple wires and 3 screws to loosen/tighten for the adjustment, then expect years of trouble free auto choke.

Yeah. He’s a good mechanic and has worked on my cars for years. But, he owns his own business now and I think he’s less hands on. Got other people doing the work.

I think the issue wasn’t the carb, I think it was whatever this thing is I’m chasing down. If there is an electrical issue with voltage flying around may have made the electric choke perform erratically. Im
Going with the 1902 because the choke pull has already been installed.

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//DRATS

Get the 500 carb if you can send the other one back. But you must figure out if you have a vacuum leak anywhere first. That will affect everything. Plus you have to know if your getting fuel pressure.

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Ok, will check for vacuum leaks. My mechanic said he did a smoke test and found none, but, if I'll check after I change out the carb. I'll look up how to do one. The new carb comes in Wednesday. I got a little fuel pressure gauge on the fuel like that was reading abt 4 or 5 last time I checks, which is low for the 1905, and a little low for the 1902. I went ahead and ordered a Carter Mechanical Fuel Pump M6866 that's rated for 7psi and got a Fuel Pressure Regulator.

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//DRATS

There is a lot of info out there and a lot of it is wrong. Honestly, I have run 500 & 600 Edelbrock 4 barrels on everything from bone stock Slant 6 engines to low 13 second race engines. I used stock fuel pumps for years without a single pressure related problem. And I never ran a higher pressure pump and a regulator. It just adds another failure point were it is not needed. I honestly think 4-5# is probably fine for fuel pressure. You are only running off the 2 barrel 99% of the time anyway.

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6