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The flashes will change speed and timing may be affected if the engine speed is not steady. You can check valve action with a compression test, which I would suggest you do. Compression pressure readings should be within 10% from lowest to highest. It's possible the timing light is not working correctly. The distributor shaft bushings can wear enough to allow the shaft to wobble slightly, which causes the point gap to change enough to affect timing. The shaft that the rotor attaches to should move freely with no discernable side play. A problem with the mechanical advance unit could cause the same problem. Broken or weak springs in the mechanical advance unit could cause erratic timing. * I'd double check the plug wires to make sure they are all seated correctly and in the correct firing order. It's easy to mix them up.

I believe the initial timing should be set at 5 to 7 degrees before TDC with the engine idling smoothly at about 500 RPM. At a faster idle or with a rough idle, it may be difficult to set the timing correctly since the mechanical advance may be coming into play or slack in the timing chain could cause erratic timing.

I was never able to get the HF timing light to work on my 54. It would trigger even if not clipped to the plug wire. I ended up using an old school one that plugs inline into the plug wire.

As far as the district, pop off the cap and see if there is excessive side to side play anywhere.

I haven't had much time to mess with the Super this week, but I did go ahead and order an old school timing light to see if I could dial things in better. But it came dead on arrival, so that was exciting. I'll pack it up and send it back.

I was able to get some better readings on the HF gun by putting the clip on the exposed connector between wire and plug. I set it to about 9-10 degrees. Vacuum advance disconnected and plugged for the adjustment. The car seems to run smoothly at high idle (cold), somewhere between 800-1000 RPM. When warm it drops down below 600 and it runs rougher.

I took it out for a few mile drive and it seemed to do okay, but I've attached a video that shows a few things:
1). The gear shift (or something in the trans) makes a tapping sound and shakes slightly when under load. No sound at all when I let off the throttle. You can hear it some in the video. It's louder in person.
2.) After the drive and the engine fully warmed up, I could hear definite stumbles in the exhaust. The engine was shaking too.
3.) On the positive side I'm able to start off in 1st and drive in 1st without any touching of the throttle.
4.) I also adjusted the rear brakes (took forever) and now I can lock up the wheels when I brake hard. Much better than it ever was in the past.



-Kevin

Had nice weather a couple days ago, and I had to move the Super from the lift bay back to where it normally sits. I had finished some painting on the Panama and now had the space back to park both cars normally. I took advantage of the sun and took the Super out for a quick 3 mile drive to warm it up. Started fine and ran fine. I'll need to do some fine-tuning when the weather gets warm again. For your viewing pleasure I also took a POV video of some of the drive. The car is super dirty, so sorry about the glare on the windows.



The rear leaf springs squeak quite a bit. How should I go about lubing those?

There is a rather prominent clicking coming from the transmission when it's under load. When coasting in gear or not hard on the throttle it is quiet. But when giving it some gas (accelerating or going up long mild inclines) the clicking is very noticeable. Follows the speed of the car. Coming from the trans and migrating up the shifter. You can hear it in the video between the 3:00 and 3:40 mark. I can get a better video if needed. What could it be? Trans oil is full and clean.

-Kevin

If the transmission clicks in lower gears, it could be a chipped or broken tooth. If it does it high gear, or all gears, it's probably something else, like a main shaft bearing. Or, it may not be the transmission at all. It could be a u-joint issue or even a chipped tooth in the rear axle. I'd look over everything externally first. Look for a dented clutch cover, worn or loose clutch linkage parts, loose u-joint bolts, anything that could be contacting the driveshaft, etc. Does lightly riding the clutch make any difference? Does applying light pressure in various directions to the gearshift make any difference? Can you feel a "twitch" in the gearshift lever?

It might be a good idea to check all the lug bolts for tightness, too.

Is the engine / transmission snubber still in place? I think those years/models had them.

TxGoat - I don't notice it in 1st gear at all. I notice it in 2nd and definitely in 3rd when giving it throttle. The gear shift lever has a very defined shake to it in rhythm with the clicking from the trans.

I have not checked riding the clutch lightly. Will do that. I haven't noticed any difference moving the gearshift lever around. At first I thought maybe it was contacting the floorboard, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

BigKev - Where would I find that? I'm going back through my memory of putting the engine back in the car and I'm not recalling anything besides the front engine mount.

Search for Engine Snubber. But there are a couple service letters about it and it's also shown in the parts plates.

Here is one Service Letter that shows two different things about it:

You might have a u-joint issue, probably the front one. None of the transmission gears are loaded when running in high, which suggests the problem is elsewhere. Synchronizers might be able to cause the symptoms. I'd take the clutch housing cover off and rotate the engine and check that all of the clutch cover to flywheel bolts are secure, and look for anything else that might be out of place. The snubber and all motor mounts need to be in place and secure. A u-joint with a dry bearing or defective bearing can cause a "kick" every time the driveshaft revolves. This is usually more prominent under load, and may cause an annoying vibration at higher road speeds.

I took a quick look under the car before work today. Found the snubber on the driver's side of the transmission. Looks to be intact, but I will need to lift the car and go through all the bolts on the tranny to be sure they are tight. I've been reading through other threads, and I'm not getting any shuddering in 1st gear so it doesn't seem to be the clutch. Just feels like something is out of balance.

TxGoat - I'll also check the u-joint to see if anything obvious shows up. I don't remember the car shuddering like this when I last drove it (close to 10 yrs ago) and nothing has been done to the drivetrain since then. And it hasn't driven any more than maybe 100 miles (that's being very generous) since then as well. So I'm not sure what would've happened with a u-joint that has sat dormant.