Distributor and other trouble...

[tarifachris]

On my last 1300 miles trip I had very positive experience like my Edelbrock 1904 Carburetor...

But after 450 miles down the road on the I 10 in El Paso (for 20 miles no emergency lane!!!) my engine just cut out.

I don't wish anyone this to happen on this part of the I 10 - traffic jammed - 5 lanes and my 35 foot rig is casting without
power. It did roll still 300 yards, but to change lanes to go on the ramp to exit the I 10 was adventure. If you keep in
D gear you will have still power-steering and brakes - but slower than 10 mph you have no assistance! Man this thing
to steer without power steering is no fun. I run out of rolling on a little parking space on the side of the street but my toad
was still on the street! No way to start the engine... I tried 20 minutes nothing...

My first thought was I was running out of fuel for some reason, because I could not start the engine again.
Since my mechanical fuel pump is brand new - I thought the electric pump went south...

Disconnected my toad drove to O'Reillys and bought an inline electrical fuel pump which I put in place where the inline fuel filter location is.
Worked... I could start the engine, but at acceleration there was hesitation and misfire.

Since I had now fuel, I thought I must have had a bad sparkplug somewhere... changed all 8 spark plugs on the side of the boardwalk...
Aaaaand the same, but this time my RPM tach went crazy up and down at acceleration so I knew that the distributor went south.
Meanwhile it was to late and I had to stay overnight on this place where my rig stopped. Next morning I went again to O'Reillys
and right in front of my nose was the MSD Street Fire Chevy V 8 HEI Distributor for 154 USD...
Installed it and worked since then like a charm. I still have to check my timing since I didn't do it then.
But all good and my trip could continue.

After 750 miles I had hesitation uphills at full throttle - no way that 2 different things happen at one trip!

I had to search for a fuel leak and found it - the fuel pressure regulator inside the left frame rail leaked!
Now I understood that my rig didn't want to start with the mechanical fuel pump alone if it is sucking air into the fuel line.
There was an inspection hole in my hook-up compartment to change the fuel pressure and to see the fuel leak!
It looks like it is an adjustable Holley Fuel Regulator, I just sealed the leak with Epoxy and it worked for the rest of my trip.

After 1100 miles my left exhaust manifold gasket leaked - still pending to replace, as well to change out the fuel regulator (I have
to drop the fuel tank for this).

The positive thing is how easy you can fix these old rigs, but you have really to consider that 30 year old parts will fail!!!

[Rickf1985]

If you can get the four screws off of the regulator then you can replace the diaphragm and spring. Make the hole bigger if you have to. If the pump in the tank was working then you would be shooting gas all over the place, epoxy or not so you can bet that is not working. It could be electrical so check that angle before condemning the pump. You may get by with the one you put on the rail but they are not designed to pull fuel all the way from the tank so I would not depend on it for too long. And if you have the 1/2 inch line which you should, then the mechanical pump will not build enough vacuum with the short strokes to pull fuel all the way from the tank. The pulses are just absorbed by the air in the line. Once it is primed and the line is full of gas it will maintain flow but if it gets air in the line it will die.

[tarifachris]

Thank you Rick,

good points to check... You are just a great asset to this forum.

The electrical fuel pump is not priming the line when the ignition is on. It only works when there is oil pressure and the engine
is running. It is humming, but I have to check if it is working.

Good idea to change the parts from the fuel pressure regulator if the pump is working... It is a Holley Avenger fuel pressure regulator.

[Rickf1985]

It may be that regulator but that one does not look like either of mine. It probably use the same rebuild kit though. I wrote up a thread on it a while ago and I think there are others on here also.

[MotorPro]

Except for the chrome plating instead of blue anodizing they are the same.

[CapnDirk]

Rebuild parts for the regulator are the same, cheep, and easy to find.  Make sure you use the same color spring (two in the rebuild kit).  Next, you have the same chassis as many of us and you may have an issue with the fuel pump relay.   Do a search on my posts for what I found and the repair on that subject. 


You're obviously capable if you can do roadside repairs 

[tarifachris]

Checked my timing...

10 degree initial advance at 600 RPM without vacuum advance + 22 mechanical advance at  3500 RPM...

Didn't change it because I wanted this.

Important to use the vacuum advance stop plate from the streetfire distributor... I set it to 10 degree vacuum advance stop
(>20 degree crankshaft advance). If not the overall advance could be to high,  the vacuum advance can give 17 degree (34)...

This vacuum canister is very soft - with just 8 hg ported vacuum at 800 RPM in Park with connected vacuum advance
idle is 24 degree advanced at the crankshaft....


I have to figure out why I have vacuum at idle at my ported line...
My manifold vacuum is 19 hg at 800 RPM - I thought there would be zero vacuum at the ported line at idle!

[Rickf1985]

The reason you have vacuum at the ported  line is because of the vacuum mapping for the emissions which all goes through the TVS switch on the thermostat housing. If that switch is working correctly the ported vacuum will change as load and temperature change. My main question is why are you running a modified distributor on ported vacuum? If it is working well for you that is great, leave it alone. Most people are running manifold vacuum. I have gone both ways and as of right now I am on the fence as to which is better. My mileage is pretty much the same either way with a very slight lean toward the manifold vacuum side of the fence. I am still dialing things in though so not completely done there.

[legomybago]

Try backing you idle screw off more, at 800 rpm's your throttle butterflys could be open just enough to allow vacuum at your ported port, doesn't take much. If your idle feels a bit lazy after doing this, bump your timing up a touch.

[tarifachris]

Thank you all... this makes totally sense with all my emission things. It is working well, so I use ported vacuum.

I will lower as well my idle RPM's...

This distributor came standard with 22 degree mechanical advance - good thing is that they had the vacuum advance
stop in the package...

10 initial + 22 mechanical + 20 vacuum > 52 total

I will report back in the long run how it worked and influenced temp, mpg etc...