mikeringland

The vacuum hose was not taken off of the distributor and capped off. I forgot to do that. I have the vacuum line for the distributor coming off my carburetor. Is that correct or should it come off the intake manifold? The port I'm coming off the carburetor with does not have suction at idle. Also in regards to the harmonic balancer, it is original and has definitely slipped. It now lines up with the #3 cylinder with the timing light rather than #1. I'm basically timing it by ear now till it runs the smoothest.

I inspected all of the spark plug wires. they all had great resistance values, but the #1 had a tiny hole in the insulation, so I replaced it. In terms of a tune up, the plugs, wires, cap, rotor, points and air filter are under a year old. The next thing I checked was the points dwell and timing. I put new points in back in June. I set them to 28 with a dwell meter. I checked them today and it was at 11. I hardly drive the car, how did the dwell change so drastically already? This is why I've never been a fan of points. Timing seems to run rough when at 0 or advanced at all. I have the timing retarded now and that's producing the smoothest idle. Not sure what to think about that. The next thing I'm going to look at it the vacuum advance. I took the car for a quick ride, it seemed a little better, but lurches and pulses when enough acceleration is applied, I'm thinking if the vacuum advance doesn't solve it, maybe running too lean? Thoughts?

By vacuum leak at the distributor, do you mean the vacuum advance? I attempted to replace that at one point and it almost looks like it was riveted to the body of the distributor. The replacement one I had looked different, so I never replaced it. Any thoughts on that? I just replaced the points and condenser and set the dwell and timing over the summer. I'm thinking maybe the distributor bolt isn't 100 percent tight and the distributor turned.

I have a bone stock 350 4bbl in my '72. I took it for a ride over the weekend and under acceleration it was stumbling awfully and if I gave it too much gas, it would backfire. When it's idling, it runs perfectly fine, only in gear under load it's doing this. Any ideas?? Mike

What's everyone using for mufflers? My '72 is bone stock, stock manifolds. I have 2 1/2 dual exhaust with dynamax mufflers that a local shop insisted were perfect for my car. I don't mind the exhaust tone at idle, but driving I'm less than impressed. My '70 Monte had Mangaflows and sounded awesome, but that motor had work done to it. I like Flowmasters too, but I don't want my Monte to sound like every Silverado driving down the street. What's your thoughts on this, does it not matter much since the engine is stock, or is there a clear difference? I don't want single chamber Flowmasters, too loud. Mike

I believe all 4 speeds work. I think it goes slightly faster as you increase the speed switch. It does work on high, so I believe the relay is good. I also believe that vacuum door is operating correctly. When I turn on the A.C. I can hear the door open and i can hear it close when I turn off the A.C.

Hey guys, I wasn't sure which forum to post an A/C question, so I figured electrical was good enough for this one. I recently changed my A/C compressor and clutch and had a local shop vacuum out and recharge my system. It comes out cold, but the air flow seems weak, even on high speed. Granted, my daily driver is a '13 Tacoma in which the A/C is strong and ice cold, so it's hard to compare the two. The guy at the shop said my blower motor could be tired or my evaporator could be clogged with debris though too. My plan is to inspect and most likely change the blower motor and maybe even the blower motor resistor. My belief is that these parts may be original. The original owner kept decent records of what he did and don't see these ever being replaced. I would also like to clean the evaporator while I'm there. What's the best method to do that? Can I remove the black plastic evaporator case to get at the evaporator to clean it? Is there a certain cleaner to use to clean the evaporator? Can I accomplish all of this without having to empty out my refridgerant again? I am a novice when it comes to air conditioning, so any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks Mike

Great, thanks for the advice guys.

My 72's engine has never been touched from what the original owner told me. The valve seals and possibly valve guides are worn. I'm looking to have the heads redone. I'm not looking to really add any performance, just stock. What is my best choice: Remove the original heads and have a shop rebuild them? or Buy new stock heads and bolt those on? Mike

Great, thanks for the info!

My first question is can I delete that plastic vacuum cannister and the 3 vacuum lines from it on my '72? Will I see any chance in how my car runs or drives? My second question is, what is the metal cylinder that has wire going to it and a plunger on the other end on the front of my quadrajet carb? The plunger expands and appears to push my throttle linkage to create a high idle, though it seems like mine gets stuck and my idle ends up being 1100 all the time. Can I disconnect it until I can replace it? Thanks guys, Mike

Well it was a lot warmer today, so I tried using it and it appears to be working. I did not vacuum the system, I'll just wait till next time it breaks to do that I guess, haha.

When I purchased my '72 last year, the previous owner told me that the A/C had been working, but the clutch seized and he simply took the belt off. I finally got around to looking at it. The car was converted to R-134A in March of '99. I decided to just buy a new 4 Seasons Everco Compressor/Clutch and replace the old unit entirely. I swapped out the unit and went to recharge the system. There was very little pressure on the system before I removed anything, so I figured there is a leak somewhere. I bought one of those self recharging kits from Autozone and it states that the system should be recharged to 40 psi. I attempted to recharge the system and could only get it to about 30 psi. It simply will not take any more, but seems to hold steady at 27-30 psi. Of course it's 45 degrees out here today, so I also can't really tell if it's truly blowing as cold as it should be. I have 12.5 volts going to the compressor. I also cannot really tell if the clutch is engaging when the A/C is turned on. My question is, does anyone know what the psi level should be for this car? Is it 40 like the recharge can says, or is it 30? I wasn't sure if maybe older cars had a lower psi value than newer ones. I'm going to get around to looking for the leak. I didn't want to just take it to some shop and spend endless amounts of cash for air conditioning. Thanks, Mike

Well I ended up bypassing the vacuum cannister and put the vacuum advance directly to the vacuum port on the carb the the cannister comes from. Problem solved. Car accelerates perfectly now.

I didn't check the timing with the advance hose plugged and capped. I guess I should start with that first. Thanks

Yes, it's a Rochester Quadrajet carburetor. The stock one that came with the car. I'll have to look into the air valve and see if that's the culprit.

No change once the engine is warmed up either.

It is an auto trans, and it is all stock, so I think it's just a manual hot air choke.

I've noticed when I accelerate from a stop there is some initial hesitation when I step on the gas. It's a very slight stumble and I almost have to feather the gas pedal on that initial acceleration. The stock 4 bbl carb was rebuild last year and the idle mixture screws have been adjusted appropriately, accelerator pump working great The timing is correct Just installed the Pertronix ignition conversion kit (stumbled before the kit was installed) new air filter vacuum is fine at idle plugs and wires were installed last summer Once the car is moving, acceleration is fine, the engine actually runs very well for it's age. I was going to focus on the vacuum advance next, but wanted to get some of your opinions first. Anything else that it could be that I'm missing? Mike

Yeah I have it running, it's all ready to go if the weather would cooperate.

I think I figured out what it is. I think it's the oil pressure sending unit. My Monte only has an idiot light for the oil pressure, and it still works so I guess I have nothing to worry about.

Ok so I ran a new ignition wire from my fusebox to the positive lead of the coil. I removed the 2 wires that were crimped under one fork connector. My guess is one was the 12 volts ignition power and the other was the resistor wire. Does that sound right? Also, there is a 3rd wire that comes off the positive lead and goes to a small cylinder that is in top of the intake manifold behind the distributor. What is that, and should I leave it connected now that I have 12 volts at that lead rather than 6.5 volts when the car is running?

Good to know, thanks for the tip.

I have an essentially bone stock 350 4bbl in my '72. My question is should I put in a bottle of lead additive/substitute from time to time? I've read that engines 1972 and earlier should have lead in the fuel to help lubricate the valve seats and guides. Is it worth the few bucks here and there or does it really not matter?

Turned some? It's like waaay off. How do I set the timing if it has?