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Last week I asked how to go about getting the dwell setting done on the '67 Dart with the 225 slant 6. You guys were quick to answer so today my friend and I pulled the distibutor and got the points gap set, installed the distibutor, hooked up the dwell meter and fired up the engine. It ran great and the dwell was right about 41 so we thought all was well. Our next step was going to check the timing when all of a sudden the engine started running really rough and then died. It only ran for about a minute total and then never would crank and run long enough or smooth enough to check the timing that much but what little we did see it looked to be out about 5 degrees retarded so we tried rotating the distributor a little at a time but never could get the engine to run right. Pulled the distributor again and rechecked the points gap and it had somehow closed up too much so we reset the gap within spec and tried again. Once again the engine started and ran smooth for about 30 seconds, I mean it really purred like a kitten at idle and then suddenly started running rough again and stalled out. We tried several more attempts at advancing the timing and it seemed to want to run but we were out of adjustment so we pulled the distributor again and rotated the hold down a bit to gain more adjustment and we went at it again. Same story, the engine would start and run smooth for about 30 seconds or so and then run rough and stall out. We went through this scenario of pulling the distributor, checking points gap (which was still fine), trying the plate moving deal for timing (finally putting it back to our original scribe mark when we could no longer get it to start at all) and nothing ever helped. Same thing each time, it would start and run smooth for a short period and then mess up. After the initial smooth run and stall the engine never would start and run good again until it sat for awhile. If we kept trying to start it, it would either start and run very poorly or just not start at all, almost like it was out of time but if that were the case it would not have started and ran so smooth to begin with. Correct?
Now I am thinking that the problem may be in the fuel delivery, possibly with the carb itself or maybe just old gas. My reasoning is that my buddy never was able to put any throttle to it at all or it would stall out and this was the reason he was changing the points in the first place. He said it would start fine but would want to stall out when first taking off but would smooth out and run fine once it got going so he thought perhaps the points were in need of being changed. The car hasn't been driven but a couple of times in the last year or so and on very short runs at that, it mostly just sits under the carport. We did find and repair a bad section of fuel hose that was split and leaking where it connected at the fuel pump and thought perhaps that was the problem but that didn't help. Also, the gas didn't have the common stale smell to it but that may not be much of a guide to go by as far as bad fuel is concerned, I just don't know.
Any thoughts on what the culprit may be and what we need to check next? Al says he wants to get the old girl running again so he can start driving her around more often. We both spent a lot of time doing body work and rust repairs on this car a few years ago and I painted it for him. Turned out pretty nice (not perfect by any means) and it is a shame it just sits in the yard most of the time.


Now I am thinking that the problem may be in the fuel delivery, possibly with the carb itself or maybe just old gas. My reasoning is that my buddy never was able to put any throttle to it at all or it would stall out and this was the reason he was changing the points in the first place. He said it would start fine but would want to stall out when first taking off but would smooth out and run fine once it got going so he thought perhaps the points were in need of being changed. The car hasn't been driven but a couple of times in the last year or so and on very short runs at that, it mostly just sits under the carport. We did find and repair a bad section of fuel hose that was split and leaking where it connected at the fuel pump and thought perhaps that was the problem but that didn't help. Also, the gas didn't have the common stale smell to it but that may not be much of a guide to go by as far as bad fuel is concerned, I just don't know.
Any thoughts on what the culprit may be and what we need to check next? Al says he wants to get the old girl running again so he can start driving her around more often. We both spent a lot of time doing body work and rust repairs on this car a few years ago and I painted it for him. Turned out pretty nice (not perfect by any means) and it is a shame it just sits in the yard most of the time.

