My wagon does have much power at all anymore, I am not sure what is wrong with it. Its never had as much as I thought it should, even with the 3.55 gears but its worse now. It bogs down when you take off, and even with your foot on the floor it feels like you could run faster. I don't know if its a cam timing issue or what. It has had the head shaved a bit when i had the head rebuilt, that may effect it some. It may also be the point type ignition. I don't think it burns anywhere near as hot as the electronic ignition in my 76 and 79. It has always had a pretty violent shake when you rev it up with no load on it, mainly when cold. I don't understand that either. And it sort of makes a "farting" noise (for lack of a better term) when I let off the throttle to shift. Does this stuff sound like cam timing? Or what? I think there may be some carburetor issues (that is causing the bogging on takeoff) but there are other issues as well. The "farting" sound i thought was from the muffler since it was braking apart at the seams, but I just put a new exhaust on it and you can still hear it. Its also making small quite backfire sounds at idle. Just like if it had a burned valve or something, but the head doesn't have 5,000 miles on it since it was rebuilt. They replaced any valves they found that had any flaws at all in them.
I have a spare Duraspark II 2.3 distributor, the adaptor to connect it to an MSD 6 series ignition, some MSD plug wires, and an MSD blaster 2 coil, but dont have the MSD box yet.
Sounds more like carb issues. The retarded cam timing will reduce low end power but shouldn't cause any of the other issues you describe. The dura spark will be a great upgrade as well.
Thanks for the reply. I wasnt really planning on upgrading to the duraspark system, but its an idea. I do have a couple spare DS2 boxes from my 76 when i thought i kept frying them, but it turns out its a bad connection somewhere since the boxes test good and usually unplugging the box and plugging it back in fixes the problem for a while. I dont have the connectors and wiring that goes between the distributor and the DS2 module and i dont have the wiring diagrams for the 76 to figure out how to wire it in. Otherwise i agree it would be a good idea to change it out. I dont think too much of that points type ignition system.
Quote from: 71pintoracer on April 26, 2009, 07:59:41 PM
Sounds more like carb issues. The retarded cam timing will reduce low end power but shouldn't cause any of the other issues you describe. The dura spark will be a great upgrade as well.
I agree about it sounding like a carb issue. Have you ever rebuilt or replaced it? If not I suggest rebuilding it. You are in luck as the Holley 5200 is an easy carb to rebuild.
The carburetor that is on it is a professionally rebuilt carb that was on it when I bought it in mid 2006. I have had the top of it off a few times and didnt replace the gasket, but it didnt tear or anything so I didnt figure it had to be replaced. I did not remove the power valve (I assume thats the rod with the diaphragm that had 3 screws in it and sticks to the bottom of the carburetor top piece. I didnt remove the accelerator pump either, and it still gives a good stream of fuel when you work the throttle lever. Could it just be that gasket I didnt replace? Ill go ahead and order a kit, but its not been that long since this carb WAS rebuilt (Id rather just go EFI, LOL)
If you had the top off at all it's possible the carb might just be out of adjustment. The accelerator pump could also be bad, but I would try adjusting it per the repair manual first. If it's out of adjustment it will act like you describe. It's up to you whether you trust someone else's work when it comes to the carb being rebuilt professionally. At any rate it might not be a bad idea to get the rebuild kit since it has the gasket you are referring to, as well as the power valve and accelerator pump. Just make sure you take the number off the carb if you get a rebuild kit. That will make sure you have the right kit for your carb since there are some differences.