I have a dune buggy with a 1974 2.0L Pinto engine in it. I have had some problems with it dying on me. Can someone help me with tuning it for a higher altitude. I live in Vail, CO elevation 8,150 ft. and take it up even higher on the forest service roads, about 11,000 ft. Right now I have it tuned to idle at about 1,700 rpms but I don't know if that is the fast idle speed or the regular idle speed because it needs to warm up for about five minutes or it dies when I take my foot off the gas. Any help would be greatly appreciated. :rolleye:
I'll be watching this thread... I've always wanted to take one ov my cars to Colorado and tool around in those mountains. I live right at sea level, the idea ov a big city at 6000ft, or a town at 10000ft or a road that goes to 14000ft is absolutely insane.
Quote from: nroberts119 on July 23, 2009, 12:51:09 PM
I have a dune buggy with a 1974 2.0L Pinto engine in it. I have had some problems with it dying on me. Can someone help me with tuning it for a higher altitude. I live in Vail, CO elevation 8,150 ft. and take it up even higher on the forest service roads, about 11,000 ft. Right now I have it tuned to idle at about 1,700 rpms but I don't know if that is the fast idle speed or the regular idle speed because it needs to warm up for about five minutes or it dies when I take my foot off the gas. Any help would be greatly appreciated. :rolleye:
first you have to understand where your tune yp is. My guess you are rich. Find a service place some where and get a reading on how rich you are from your tail pipe. Most likely you will have to reduce the number size of your carb jets.
It also sounds lke you have another problem however not being ther it is tough to read. it could be that you are so rich that it takes forever to get enough heat to warm up or you have a fast idle problem.
Quote from: hellfirejim on July 24, 2009, 06:29:48 AM
My guess you are rich.
Well... he DID say he lived in Vail...
Seriously though, there should be techs in your town, and there should be at least one old enough to have worked on carbed vehicles. I cant imagine 8150ft, but when i spent a week ripping around Calgary in my 440 Charger i had to re-tune the thing fairly drastically. And Calgary is only 3400ft.
Most of my time is spent between 5,000 ft. in the valley and around 6,000 ft in the foothills. I've driven up into the mountains here, and mine gets weak around 8,000 ft. but runs great here in the valley. Mine's a 78 2.3 with electric choke. Timing is set to 6 degrees before top dead and idles around 1200 on fast idle and 850 rpm after you kick it down. :)
Chuck :afro:
Good one PR! lol.
I just got that....rich... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Chuck :afro:
Thank you all for your help. :lol: I have been trying to adjust the choke and idle speed to make it run better but it still doesn't like to be driven. I have a new problem now as a matter of fact though. My radiator (i think) made this lighning bolt cracking sound and the buggy started lurching (like: rev stop rev stop rev stop) and so I parked it and towed it back home. Anyone have an ideas? Just the radiator? Or something more? Thanks for the help guys; this dune buggy has become quite the project, which I don't mind but I'd like to get it running well. ???
Does your buggy have a choke? a 74 Pinto engine would have had a thermal choke operated by the coolant. The later models use the same base for the choke, but the element is electric. My car had a problem with the splined pin holding the choke linkage to the choke body. The pin had worked it's way out enough that sometimes the throttle linkage would 'hook' on it and you couldn't push the gas down, and sometimes it would jam the throttle on! Nothing like sitting at a redlight idling at four grand! :fastcar:
I took the choke off and flipped it over, worked out the loose pin with a pair of pliers, applied Loctite (red) and tapped it gently back together. If you're not running with a choke hooked up, make sure you secure the 'butterfly' so it can't snap closed while you're in motion. (I had mine tied to the throttle linkage with a piece of wire)
As far as the bang, well...
What are you using for transaxle? VW with a PintoBeans type adapter?
Maybe clutch problem?
Is it just 'rev-stop' while you're trying to go, or at idle too? Check for vacuum leaks (including the base gasket), clean the float needle in the carb maybe, a new fuel filter would help too. What does the inside of the tank look (and smell) like? It will lurch and buck if there's a fuel starvation problem.
Lots of maybes...
Chuck
You can remove the choke butterfly completely when running w/o the choke components. Remove the two screws in each flapper and then the shaft pulls out once the rod is off. Did that on my 76...