I just got my 65 Belvedere.
It does have a sputtering, spitting sound out the tailpipe, and enough richness to burn your eyes! "Only at idle"
When I do hit the gas, it takes off, and runs well, just a slight miss, I think. Hard to tell.... No smoke!
But at idle, it has a slight sputtering or misfire, and smells like fuel very strong.
Is this in order for a car rebuilt?
I see the fuel filter is filthy. And of course the car is old, and was not used a lot.
Only 93K on it to this date.

You got to have good voltage to burn a rich mix. Check the coil voltage and spark. Your timing should be at least 10 degrees initial if not more on those old distributors because there was not a lot of advance. On my old 65 I would run 16 degrees initial and it did wonders. Along with some good plugs and wires and healthy coil. Sometimes the ballast resistor can rob a little too much voltage. If your only seeing 6 volts at the coil, change it.

How do the plugs look?

You might want to consider installing SL6 Dan's HEI mod. and his fuel line mod to get rid of all the rust in the fuel line after the pump. My old line was so corroded inside that the carb and filter would accumulate a lot rust...in no time!

Nice car!

_________________
Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


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

I seen in my owners manual, timing was supposed to be 2 1/2 BTC.
I didn't check it yet. I have to see what the tab looks like and understand where initial is on the timing tab.
I see someone put a new napa coil on it, and a new cap and wires.
I am sorry, I dont know what you mean? Should I adjust the timing to 16 degrees?
I have to pull the plugs. I will be starting tomorrow on my work on the car.
The points in my owners manul says, 17-23 gap. I wil check that too.
I did find it odd, the battery ground cable is bare! Its just strands of wires! The rubber is all gone! Kind of shocking!
I didn't see Dans HEI mod, or the fuel line mod. I will try and find it on here.
Thanks for the compliment. I really like this car. Over a period of time, I will make her right.

I would first check for an overrich mixture. With the dirt being in the fuel filter, it is likely that the carb is dirty/messed up and is just running plain rich. To check for this:
- Do you have carbon blowing out the exhaust? Look on the ground behind the tailpipe for signs of black carbon after idling for a few minutes.
- Run the car some then shut it off and right away, take off the air cleaner, and look into the carb and see if fuel is dripping down the throat.
- Pull the spark plugs and smell them for gas and see if they are carboned up with sooty looking black deposits.

If so, it well could be that the float and or needle valve have problems due to dirt and/or rust in the fuel, and alcohol in the fuel; that is common on these older cars that sit a lot. Or there is something related inside the carb is causing a rich mixture.

If it is flat out running eye-burning rich at idle, then it can burn some excess gas while cruising, so that paase of engine operation being OK is not a sign that the carb is necessarily in good shape. You really need to check the plugs, and fgire out why it is rich before messing with timing, etc. I.e.; figure the basic problem and fix that first.

It could be as simple as adjsuting the mixture screw for idele, or it might involve a carb rebuild. Also, change out the fuel filter and run it and see if it dirties up again. If so, there is crud/rust in the tank that needs to be cleaned out pronto. It will just mess up the carb over and over; standard fuel filters will not catch all of the fine crud in a fuel tank, and it will end up in the carb.

I will be on it tomorrow. I could swear my 71 Valiant did the same thing when I bought it. Hard to remember. I took the carb off, and dropped it off at a local shop, and they soaked it, and rebuilt, and the car run perfect after that.
I see he had an extra fuel filter not opened in the trunk. And the one thats on there, "see through", looks nasty!
I bet I am in for a rebuilt, and complete fuel system clean out.
Might be why the fuel gauge isn't working. The sending unit may be pooped up to!

Yeah, sometiems the sensder do get crudded up. Is the temp guage working? They both work from the same approx 5V source in the dash.

I will actually check the temp tomorrow. I think I have one, not sure. Still new to the car..lol

I will actually check the temp tomorrow. I think I have one, not sure. Still new to the car..lol

Okay, I did go back up and took pics and videos! Get the popcorn out..
The pipe is very black inside, Here's a short clip of the tailpipe, sputtering.
http://vid1345.photobucket.com/albums/p ... e39cfa.mp4
maybe a car rebuilt is in order, not sure yet. I didn't have enough time to pull plugs...etc.

Now, I was asked about my temp gauge, due to the gas gauge not functioning. I think someone is onto something.
Here's a photo of the car, not started yet.

Okay, now it sat idling forever, and had heat....etc. Waremd up completely.
Notice the temp gauge,. should it not be higher???
And the gas gauge did move "slightly", and I know there is at least half a tank in there.

Then....
I pulled the headlights on.
They worked. But the high beam, "little red light", was on the whole time.
If I put the high beams on, it stays on, but dimms down.
If I turn the high beams OFF, it gets bright. Ugh!!!!!
The dash lights do not work, unless I turn the headlight knob all the way to the position of the dome light coming on, then they work. This is nuts, I know!!!

You are getting some sort of back feed acting as ground path to gage cluster; it happens.

Most likely there is a bad ground path between gage cluster and negative battery terminal. In theory ground path for gage cluster is made via its screws securing cluster to dash sheet metal.

Two fixes; first make sure all screws are snug and in clean metal and all contacts on gage cluster are clean, and make up a secondary ground wire, say a 10 gage conductor, connecting to car's sheet metal under dash and gage cluster.

Gas gage ground path has one spot that often fails on these cars, that being the metal jumper strap connecting sending unit's fuel tube to metal fuel line leading to fuel pump. It often corrodes off, or becomes loosely connected, and or compromised by corrosion. Fix is to replace with aftermarket part or make a jumper out of wire and secure with a small hose clamp to clean shinny metal.

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Thank you. I did have that problem with my Valiant, at the tank.
I made a ground up back there. Fixed it.
My battery ground cable, "just got the car", is almost bare!
There rubber insulation is almost gone, and just a think band of corroded stranded wires are going from the battery to the block.
Maybe I better replace that first, and clean the areas up.
Then I will figure out how to remove this cluster, and do some cleaning, and put an extra ground on from the cluster to the firewall. Hope this works!
You just made it all sound easy!....

Me quoting me: Speaking of corrosion at electrical connections; I meant to say that any corrosion in a circuit acts like a resistor, in other words corroded connections will lower voltage in a circuit. Ohm's Law explains the relationship between voltage, resistance, and current. Once one understands this relationship, electrical circuits become much easier to under stand.


For now just think of corrosion as a voltage reducer, so a gage that requires 5v to work properly, will read low if only 4 volts are available for what ever reason. The other concept in automotive wiring or circuits is the ground path back to battery's negative terminal is the other half of a circuit, and can have excessive resistance due mostly to dirty corroded connections.


One more thing; any kind of resistance in a circuit be it a light bulb or some crud on battery cable connection generates heat, sometimes too much heat and stuff melts or worse the Fire Gods come for a visit...

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

And what do you suggest to do about corrosion on terminals. I have fell in love recently with dye-electric grease but would like to clean things better before applying the grease.

I will be on it all weekend, checking grounds, cleaning...etc.
I see corrosion on both battery cable, I am pulling every ground and cable I find, and clean it to heck and back.

Where did you buy your dye-electric grease???
Also, I use one of those battery terminal cleaners, and then on other stuff I use sandpaper, or a wirewheel, like on the engine block...etc.