Just got the Duster back on the road about a week ago, and it had been running fine until a few days ago. First it acted like it was flooded when it was hot and didnt want to start right away, but now its doing it whenever its cold. It will turn over, and it will just sputter a little, sometimes it will shoot smoke out of the carb, and the other day it backfired out of the tailpipe. It only tries to start when you let off the key, and you have to play hell to get it running, and it runs pretty rough when it does run, its lacking on power, and bogs on accel from idle and when you push the gas down to pass. I have been doing a lot of highway driving (about 20mi) a day at around 2500 rpm. The timing chain has a little slack in it, so I dont know if maybe it jumped time or somthing. I did the GM HEI ignition on it about a month before I parked it in decmber, and I also put a brand new holley 2280 carb on it. Just checked the time again today, and it bounces between 4-6 degrees at idle

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'74 Duster 225 Super Six w/904
14" Cragar SS wheels

Take a look at your float level, then set the valves. See if that helps.

What does the tail pipe look like? If it looks like it's coated with soot, you have a rich burn problem. If it's backfiring, you may have timing issues, but I would suspect your valve lash needs revisiting. Bouncing could be related to the loose timing set, but is more likely a loose spring perch in the distributor, or vacuum advance coming in from ported vacuum that is unstable. This can be effected adversely by valve lash issues.

A place to start. It's really hard to diagnose something that's not right in front of me.

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Check voltage at the coil. You should see 12 volts or more....if not you have a grounding problem with your HEI or not enough juice going to it. Let us know voltage with the key on start and also after you get it running. Let us know.

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Aggressive Ted

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74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG