thanks, everyone. thanks for josh for walking us through some trouble spots on the phone.

reed, switching to a 'new' carb system right now is WAY out of my ability, finances what they are. kid needs shoes, friend. when the time comes, i will consider your advice.

instead, we got a rebuild kit (not obsolete after all), headed to wc winks for a spring, which we found, modified and used successfully. *the carb rebuild kit does not include that spring. my friend dismantled the carb, soaked it in cleaner (vintage, ha!), scrubbed all the crap off of everywhere, and did a great job. the bowl *did not leak.* we used one bowl gasket, no sealer. yeah, that was nice. there were a lot of things wrong with my last rebuild, any one of which could have caused the issue.

we checked the vacuum again after the carb was replaced, and it went to 25 at rev and settled around 18, which was up from 16. the fuel spray was excellent & consistent, so i hazard it weren't mah gas tank, not that that does not remain an issue. my friend says he'll drop & replace gas tank after gresham radiator gets their paws on it for a boil, $95.

NO STALL. NO LAG. good power, quick response, and oh. so very fun. performance hugely improved. i could not be more thrilled. OH...and she starts!

also replaced: heater hoses, volt reg, ignition box, intake manifold gasket and pickup coil. clamped and metered just about everything else. all good across the board.


that's lola and her new desoto friend. she's worth every moment of grief (and they were manifold, no pun intended) to not drive a sh**aru. thanks for the boss car, wildcat!

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1962 dodge lancer GT

I love a happy ending. -Kip

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1965 Valiant wagon Turbo slant (work in progress)
2000 Chevy 155" cargo van - The Abductor
1970 Newport convertible
1996 Buick Roadmaster Wagon
1966 CruiseAire motor home
1990 Toyota 1 ton box truck TURBO slant (scraped)

amend: she started great after we adjusted the points (it's a rotor, don't care right now if i got the term wrong at this point, no pun) with the right gauge last night. test drove her, went back, off, start again no prob, drove her home from west portland and off, started again fine. wouldn't start this AM. opened choke with screwdriver, nothing. but there is plenty of fuel (no she wasn't flooded, i did intermittent start checks to give her time to off-gas).

i can't think of a damned thing that could be amiss. we checked and double checked EVERYTHING.

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1962 dodge lancer GT

Why did you open the choke?

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50 chrysler,54 Plymouth, 64 Valiant conv 4 speed, 66 Valiant V8 wagon, 70 Challenger R/T 440+6 conv 4 speed,80 Colt, 98 Neon ACR,84 Honda V45 Magna
Taking care of 57 300C conv,48 T&C conv. Missing my 67 GTX and 36 Ply coupe

be cause in some instances it has made a difference. i gotta try everything. i went up to majhor murray's this AM for advice, and they offered to tow her up and do some troubleshooting on her as a kindness. so we'll see what they have to say...dan was spot on about the accelerator pump a few days ago. hopefully he can help with this. so BIG PROPS to MM's, if only for being willing to help and doing what they can. verdict in later this morning.

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1962 dodge lancer GT

If I read you last few posts correctly, it sounds like the carb and possibly timing and/or points were the problem. It sounds like you got the carb rebuilt it ran great, you did a few hot shut-downs and restarts, but when you let it sit overnight and it cooled off the motor wouldn't restart.

My first suspicion would be the choke setting. You say you opened the choke with a screwdriver and it still wouldn't start. How far did you open the choke?

The choke is supposed to close completely when the motor is cold. Once the motor starts, the choke pulloff diaphragm opens the choke 1/8 of an inch to 1/4 of an inch (varies depending on carburetor type and emissions package). As the motor warms up, the choke is slowly opened by the choke pulloff spring in the exhaust manifold. As the choke opens, the fast idle cam is slowly moved past the fast idle screw until the cam is completely out from under the fast idle screw and the idle is controlled by the curb idle screw.

My second suspicion would be a slow internal leak letting the fuel bowl drain into the intake manifold when the engine is shut off. This (a) floods the engine and (b) drains the float bowl, requiring you to crank the motor a lot to refill it.

I would let the car sit all day with the choke blocked open. Then open the hood, remove the air cleaner, work the throttle once by hand holding the choke open, and see if you are getting an accelerator pump shot down the throat of the carb. If yes, then you don't have an internal leak into the intake manifold. If no, then you might have such a leak. In either case, hold the throttle open enough for the choke to reset itself (close all the way and put the fast idle cam under the fast idle screw) and then try starting it up. If it doesn't start immediately on its own, crank for about ten seconds and then pump the gas a couple times while continuing to crank. If it doesn't start or at least cough and try to start, go back and make sure that you have gas in the carb by checking for a pump shot.

If you are getting gas at the carb and it still isn't starting, then you either have a big vacuum leak somewhere, the choke is misadjusted, or you aren't getting spark.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

thanks reed...she starts great cold right after her points are adjusted. doesn't necessarily mean she starts again after a test drive, even if she's warm. i've had a major crash course in my carb over the last few days. everything checks out with it. choke is set properly, opens properly, everything. getting a nice strong fuel spray.

we've had on again off again spark response, and the vac is good, it's all been tested over and over. i was reading up on the rotor and settings, we've set it right. timing should be good, checked it several times as well. i have a new TC and TC gasket. absolutely everything under my hood is rebuilt or recently replaced, checked, set, etc.

i would never have gone to ask MM's if i wasn't at the end of my rope.

edit: MM's just did a quick check, i'm not getting any spark. he did admire the carb job though. said it was working like a champion.

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1962 dodge lancer GT

OK. Good luck. If they find out what is wrong, please let us know. I am curious.

As far as swapping carbs, maybe you can work out a deal with someone on this site who is switching to a two barrel carb to get their old parts cheap.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

i have a set of aluminum pistons (good) and an intake manifold (also good) to swap. i really need a wheel drum though, which takes priority over a better carb. i've got the sixer leaf springs i need, all i have left to do is wheel bearings driver side, wheel drum passenger side, leaf springs, pitman arm, front end alignment and gas tank boil. then onto body work (which isn't too bad, except in the deck).

if i get my terms mixed up, bear with me, i'm pretty stressed right now. i often know what i'm talking about but can't remember what it's called. my brain is funny like that.

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1962 dodge lancer GT

majhor murrays went way above and beyond with lola. they ripped the valve cover off and fixed the lash job 'the last person to work on my car' did, it was WAY off, which is why my compression was so bad. he had lashed it totally out of order. they tested and reinstalled my distributor, which he had also put in wrong. it was throwing the pickup coil off, among other things, hence the increasingly bad stalling issues...not to mention the carb rebuild he did was janky at best. bent butterfly valve rod, no spring on the diaphragm (so it stretched), it goes on. they tut-tutted at the wiring job 'the last person to work on my car' did. we still have a bit of intake manifold leak, which shouldn't be too hard to fix, hopefully without removing the IM.

lola is spending the night in the MM parking lot, and will be put back together in the morning. the reluctor was fine. they liked the new carb job quite a lot, did a couple minor adjustments. i'll update on performance when i finally get to drive her again...it should be a LOT better with the correct valve lash.

basically, right now i'm fixing the fixes that were supposedly fixed since i first bought her.

and oh so grateful to MM's for this intervention. i only went in for advice. they towed her in and had a good time doing a bit of charity work. BLESS THAT!

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1962 dodge lancer GT

Yay! Great news. This sort of story is why I strongly recommend that anyone who owns and wants to drive old cars like ours regularly purchase the factory service manual for their vehicle and learn how to do the work on their car themselves. You just can't trust anyone else to do it right.

Glad you got it all sorted out.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Yes do ALL that you can do your self! I started with motorcycles and had one hell of a bad experience after work was done at a good bike shop (that I just don't want to get into, I don't want the bad memory). The shop people are no better than you or me. Not one car, truck, motorcycle that is mine gets touched by ANYONE ANY MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! some shops don't know what the Hell they are doing.

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1930 Jordan Great Line "90", 1951 Chrysler Saratoga,1953 Plymouth, 1971 Honda CB 500 "4", 1973 Honda CB 350, 1975 Honda CB 500 twin, 1988 Honda Shadow 1340, 1975 Dodge Dart Custom, 1992 Dodge 2500 turbo truck,1975 Schwinn Collgate 5sp.

the last person to work on my car was not a shop...it was my ex. lola's never been in a shop. i'm being delicate about who it is because he has been high profile on this forum before his recent adventure to prison for DV.

the first shop she's ever entered as MY car is MM's. and they did all this work for free. which is GREAT, except everything they and my friend GBOF have done has been to repair HIS crappy work. if he had done the job right, i wouldn't be dealing w/this crap. much to learn about lip service, no? <3

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1962 dodge lancer GT

I totally agree! As I remarked before, this isn't brain surgery or rocket science. Working on your car requires a basic set of hand tools, access to a manual and slantsix.org, and lots of patience. Work by following one logical step at the time, then anyone can be an expert mechanic on his/her own car.

Olaf

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Aspenized

SUPER AWESOME advice, but, i DO have to think about filling my gas tank and buying my kid shoes. so these acts of kindness and charity performed by TOP NOTCH mechanics? well, i can live with that, for now. with immense gratitude.

i am on a huge learning curve, and as soon as i can afford tools i will have them. for the nonce, the best i can do is to live, love, and learn.

and to be grateful i am no longer being belittled for my lack of mopar knowledge. i've learned more in three days than i have in 8 months, thanks to a patient friend.

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1962 dodge lancer GT