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Stupid question: Do you have a good gas cap? An improper one will not let air into the tank to displace the vacating gas. Just a thought.
Bob J.

I believe that rigging up the fuel pressure gauge so that you can observe it with the car running on the road is the best way to determine if the fuel delivery system is performing as it should under actual driving conditions.

It won't tell you much of anything about the carburetor. For instance you could have a problem with the float level setting or a sticking float valve or power valve, and the fuel pressure would not reflect that.

But if the fuel pressure collapses when the car starts stumbling and dies, it points directly to an issue with the fuel delivery.

Some good news to report for once.

Talked it over with an old time mechanic, and he was thinking the coil may have been at fault. He said that a bad coil could be totally fine at idle, but then cut out when it overloads under demand. So I replaced it with the same one from Napa.

Also checked my gas cap and it is not plugged. There was a small section of rubber fuel hose that I had missed before, so I replaced that for good measure.

I did several small loops of about 5 miles total and the car never died under power like it did before. It did however die several times when coming to stop not in gear.... When the engine dropped back down to idle. It started immediately again. I adjusted the idle speed screw to a higher idle and it helped some but didn't solve it completely.

My electric fan is working as it should. The engine stays between 170-175 and the fan is quiet.

The engine still is not running as well as it should. It misses and stumbles a bit, and is inconsistent. Vacuum gauge is at 20, but dips at the same time there is a miss/stumble.

Everything on ignition is new except the plug wires. I don't think my bending the arm on the carb to adjust idle did any good. I think I may have made things worse by doing it. All the pictures I've seen of Super 8's so this carb have it bent/set the way it was. Not sure what to do there.

Didn't get a picture today because we are covered in smoke. But here's a nice one from this last weekend.

Kevin

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That's great news! Glad you're making progress.

Hi Kevin...Perhaphs make the mixture a bit more rich? Check to see if your points are clean...Miss Prudence gets grumpy when her points are not clean! Ernie in Arizona

My 46 Clipper started doing this stumbling and misbehaving last week. It was the condenser. I changed the condenser and the problem went away. I tested the old condenser and it checked out fine at 17 Microfarads. Maybe it was just not earthed properly. I dunno but condensers are a pain to change on the 1605. I have a 1603 and it has no current issues (touch wood!). I would disconnect the fuel line at the carby and eliminate fuel supply as an issue, then chase the Ignition side.

Question on condensers....does a 12V car require a different condenser? I'm seeing conflicting information online.

Also, a 12V coil with internal resistor....is it just regulating the current (amps)? It doesn't drop the voltage down to 6V for the distributor, correct?

-Kevin

It just reduces the voltage to the input ignition system. They are typically just wound resistors.

Not sure about condensors, but when I did my car I used the condensor that was specific for a 55 Delco system.

Haven't had much time to mess with things lately. But I did tackle something yesterday in my efforts to improve the running of the car. A good friend of ours who is well-versed in old cars mentioned the plug wires as possible culprits.

To my knowledge the plug wires have not been changed since the car was originally restored (maybe 15-20 years ago?). The black insulation on the outside was cracked in several places and the wires were stiff. My concern was that the current was jumping to other wires and throwing things off.

I made new wires from 7mm metal core wire stock (including the coil wire). New connectors and new boots. I routed the wires away from each other (still need to find a good solution to organize them). I didn't get time to do much testing, but the initial findings are positive. The car seems to be much smoother and I was able to dial in the timing and idle more. I hope to get time to road test this week and see how it does.

So now everything in the ignition system is new, except for the distributor itself.

-Kevin

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Did my longest test drive tonight, only 4-5 miles though. Too busy with other obligations so that's all I could squeeze in.

Car seemed to perform well. Or at least it didn't die on me at all, or leave me stranded. I'll count that as a win.

A couple of notes:
-Fuel gauge is inoperable. I haven't taken the time to track down where the problem lies. Probably with the float I'm sure.
-Electric fan is working great. Can't hear it from in the car at all.
-Brakes are meh....Fronts seem to be adjusted right. Rears not so much
-The shifter shakes a good amount during a certain RPM range. I don't know if they all do that or not. Transmission has full fluid and is clean.
-General driving characteristics seem to be okay...but I have nothing to compare it to. I've never driven anything from the same era, and certainly not something so big and heavy. I have no idea if the characteristics (acceleration, power, noise, etc) are normal or not. I have no reference.


The car has an overdrive installed (from Lloyd Young). I have no idea how to operate it. I used it once but that was nearly 10 years ago. My dad knew how to use it, but he's no longer here. There is a knob on the side of the steering column. And a light on the other side. My guess is that it's similar to the factory-equipped overdrive, where the knob is pulled out, let off the gas, and overdrive engages. I have no idea if the disengagement is the same as factory.

Also, there is a sticker on the dash with conversions of actual speed vs dash gauge due to the overdrive. I thought it was only with the overdrive engaged, but now I'm thinking the speed is off all the time. What shows on the gauge is slower than what I'm actually doing, by a good amount.

-Kevin

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