Well today was by far the best day in terms of solving problems.
Here is what I did:
Installed a MOPAR cap and inline PCV into the valve cover and put in a new breather cap on the other end.
Installed the 4.5 Power valve and 61 jets.
Timed the engine to 16 degrees initial with everything plugged and the rpms bumping in around 800... (it was rough, and I had to back it down a little more, because when I pulled the rpms down to 800 the timing moved down 4 degrees...)
Adjusted the Air mixture again... I changed the drivers side needle because it was hard to turn, and put in a new one, and it was much easier to turn... it turned out to be bent very slightly not much, but some.
Set the rpm to 2400 and closed about half the carb mouth before it sputtered... I dropped each screw 1/4 turn and got it over to almost 3/4 covered there... (Thanks RED this works nice...)
Dropped the idle and let it sit for an hour... went inside and took a break.
So now it was all put together and tuned up.
I had let it run in at that 2400 speed for about ten minutes... I wanted to make sure there was some time to burn some oil, and test the PCV.
When I went out tonight, I pulled the line off the carb and it was clean.
I started it up, and held the accel for a few seconds... it idled pretty good at 800.
Then a big cloud of smoke poured out the back of the car... it was not black, it was white/blue like I had always gotten, it is not cold enough to have been the environment... after about 20 seconds it stopped completely.
Idle is getting better at this point.
I left the house and drove off around the hood for about twenty minutes.
It was great.
Here is what it did:
Stopped the vibrartions. it was starting to idle smoother, although a little rough but that is also the flowmasters.. they give the engine a tin ticking like sound at certain points around the car, but they hum nicely from inside and at good rpms.
No smoke after that first batch... There was still some oil in the carb base I cleaned most of it.. but it had some in there...
Runs better... has more power and the power is even, it had a kind of grind to any heavy throttle before, like a sluggish feel. really peppy now.
After about ten minutes it started to smooth out more, and the rpms went up it started to idle around 1000 at most stops... very smooth and sounds great. I pulled into a church lot popped the hood and put the idle down to 800 about 1/4 turn or so. It still had a good idle.
It runs cooler.
Smells better. Not so much gas smell as before.
Drove to the coffee shop and let it sit for twenty minutes.
Just came home, it fired up nice, drove great here, and turned of no problems... it was the best ride I have had yet. And the flat throttle at 3000 feels gone, I will try that one some more tomorrow.
BUT:
Now that the engine is burning cleaner, remember it has been getting oil in there since I first fired it up and has only just now gotten a clean stream of fuel.
I can hear a hiss around the carb, I could never hear it before, things were too loud and knocky. I got a hose down in there and it seems to be the adapter plate on the back side.
Here is my dumb question for the day.
Do you guys use any sealer on carb gaskets? I usually do not. I install them and torque them to spec, but I leave out the sealer.
Should I seal the lower gasket at least, since it will likely not come off? If you usually do seal these, I may have found the source of some other troubles.
But I think the oil issue was a major factor in the reasons it ran rough, smoked, and had some surge... also the power valve made a big difference on the hill at my house.. I can actually put it in 1st gear and climb that hill with the clutch all the way out, I had to ride it before or I would be in the backyard.
I am taking it for a highway drive in the morning, an hour out to have the exhaust tweked a little... should know better in the afternoon if this continues to improve.
I still think I will pull the valve cover this weekend and change the oil for the 500 mile mark. I will measure how far the vales are opening and compare that to my cam sheet, never hurts, and I have a digital micrometer now, so I can get them all listed.
