Hi guys,
New to the forum. Early this year, I bought a 1980 Chrysler LeBaron with what I believe to have 52,000 original miles. The car sat for some time. Minimal to no rust, completely stock(?)*
Since I've owned the car, it's never run properly. With the original equipment, it would barely stay running and make an intermittent "squealing" noise at idle, frequently stall when put into gear, and die when pressing on the accelerator.
I rebuilt the original Holley 1945 and rebuilt a core from eBay, no luck with either carburetor. I discovered the exhaust manifold was warped, and I was looking to drop the 1945 for a better carburetor, so I opted for a new Dorman exhaust manifold, Offenhauser 4BBL intake, Edelbrock 1904 500CFM carburetor, Lokar throttle/kickdown cables, and Remflex gaskets.
After completing the modifications, the car still had somewhat of a rough idle, but had improved, and the car was now drivable. I believe idle vacuum was 22 inHg, but rapidly fluctuated. I drove it for the first time and put in a fresh tank of gas. Seemed to drive okay while feathering the throttle, but lacked power all around and bogged at heavy throttle. Tried driving it the next day and it wouldn't stay running. Sounded like a tractor, stumbled, and stalled at mid-WOT both at idle and in gear. Idle vacuum was 15-16 inHg, needle rapidly fluctuating +1/-1 inHg.
Initially, the engine would also intermittently "hitch" and the vacuum would drop 2 inHg or so due to what I'm assuming was a sticking valve. The oil level was just under the fill line and black. Changing the oil and adding Lucas Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer appears to have fixed this.
I replaced the original ignition coil as it was leaking oil, ballast resistor, spark plug wires, spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor, PCV valve, etc. It looks like the previous owner installed a new distributor pickup, so I left it in place, but I bought an extra. The ignition module and voltage regulator were also replaced by the previous owner.
Last night I connected a timing light and checked the vacuum. The timing jumps between 16 and 10 degrees BTDC, but would periodically smooth out at about 12 degrees BTDC. 8 degrees BTDC causes the engine to stall. Vacuum advance disconnected. Vacuum was 5 inHg, rapidly fluctuating. Idle is set to roughly 800 RPM, fluctuating between mid-low 700 to mid-high 800 RPM range. Tuning is extremely difficult given the constant fluctuation for all variables.
I'd imagine it's possible, but unlikely the valve guides are worn as the vacuum fluctuation would indicate, although that would be unordinary at this mileage. I haven't adjusted the valve lash and I haven't verified TDC on the balancer yet to find out whether or not the balancer has slipped or the timing chain has skipped a tooth. There is quite a bit of smoke that comes from the crankcase breather that I'd imagine would otherwise be eliminated by the PCV valve.
I intended for this car to be my daily driver while I paint the frame of my 1988 Dodge Dakota, but I can't seem to figure this out. Vermont winters are brutally cold, and I don't want to have to put this on hold until spring, especially since that would mean exposing my truck to corrosion for another season. All in all, any help in diagnosing this engine would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
As an additional detail, this car has some parallels with the 1980 Dodge Mirada Concept in this article from BangShift.
https://bangshift.com/general-news/car- ... -show-car/
- The VIN does not follow the standard Chrysler VIN format for 1980 as the year is represented by an "A" rather than a "0".
- I have the same Creative Industries, Inc. keychain. Creative Industries was known for building a number of concepts for the Big Three auto manufacturers.
- I bought the car without a title from an individual who claimed to be the original owner. Assuming the vehicle was a concept, or subject to an auction via Chrysler, no title would be present.
- Minor differences at first glance compared to the 1980 Chrysler Factory Service Manual.
- Custom interior door panels are present on the Mirada Concept. My car's door interior panels are missing. The previous owner claims they were stolen. (If anyone has panels, I would be interested in buying them.)
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