Re: Return to forever... the stalling issue!!!

Posted by Packard Newbie On 2018/6/10 21:03:41

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the suggestion! I will check it out. I have had a guy helping me with the car who I consider to be extremely knowledgeable and he is absolutely convinced it is a fuel delivery issue. I am not convinced, as I had changed the carb for an out-of-the-box rebuilt when I bought the car and it did not make a whit of difference in the stalling.

Since 'David' has been helping me, we have pulled the gas tank (again; I had done it once before) and we found the pickup tube would not hold a vacuum. We also found that we were getting air pressure build-up in the fuel line. We remade the pickup tube out of copper and reinstalled everything. We also replaced the steel fuel line which, as far as I could tell, looked like it was original. It had crap in it and we found sediment in the carb that had gotten by the inline filter. 'David' suggested that maybe the rebuilt carb had gotten plugged up from this containment in the fuel line and that was causing the stalling. I have ordered another carb at considerable expense and now, with the re manufactured stainless tank, new pickup, new pump, new steel AND rubber fuel lines going to an out-of-the-box rebuilt carb, I figure if it still stalls (which I think it will) I/we can rule out fuel supply/delivery/carburetion.

After that, all I can think of is two things (unless there is something extraordinarily weird inside the engine) and that is valve clearance and distributor. If I can explain my thinking... if the valves were set cold with the clearance they were supposed to have when they were hot, when they DID get hot, they would be too tight and would not seal when they closed - thus the stalling after the engine is put under load and lack of power. (car bogs and won't 'go' in 3rd gear on a flat piece of road) and as far as the distributor goes, my thinking is if it is advancing with the centrifical weights under load and not returning quickly enough, the car could stall.

I am going to try the new carb - then investigate the valve clearances and then the distributor (which I have changed by the way, for a NOS unit that had never been installed before) and then I am going to dump the car and get out of this hobby altogether as I have never had such a long, convoluted, frustrating time trying to get something diagnosed and repaired in my life and if this is 'classic cars' it ain't for me!!!!