Re: 1938 Super 8 1605 - adventures with a newbie

Posted by TxGoat On 2023/8/16 7:53:58

If the engine is getting enough fuel to move the car 30 MPH, it should be getting enough to idle properly.

The poor idle suggests carburetor or ignition issues or perhaps an air leak in the intake.

Timing needs to be set according to the manual, with the engine idling smoothly at the correct speed.

A number of problems can affect the distributor and carburetor that affect how the engine runs.

Valve clearance needs to be set properly and all valves need to seat properly for the engine to run as it should.

Any issue with the ignition points can make an otherwise perfect engine run very poorly. If you have a dual point distributor, it needs to be set up correctly.

Don't overlook things like plug wires being out of order, or cross-firing, or suppression type plug wires that look like new yet do not function properly.