51 has me stumped

The engine on my 51 V8 is not stuck, but it's running like crap. It idles fine, but does not enough power to keep from stalling when placed in drive. The funny thing is, it ran great once or twice, even drove it a bit, then like crap again. So far, I've:

Rebuilt the 2 barrel, even swapped another known good carb. rebuilt fuel pump, tried a electric pump replaced the plugs, points and condenser replaced the coil Checked for vacuum leaks

Anything else I should try before I pull the front of the engine off to check the cam and timing gear ?

Reply to
John Poulos
Loading thread data ...

Crap in fuel line/tank?

Bob40

Reply to
Bob

I doubt cam gears in an intermittant issue, I also suspect fuel quality, try running off small fuel supply known to be good (i.e. gas can, etc.)

Bob wrote:

Reply to
oldcarfart

Reply to
John Poulos

I had a similar thing with my 51. It would idle but thats all. It was the tube inside the gas tank that bends down to the bottom of the tank. There was just enough there that it would let it thru but not enought to keep it going at any speed. Just a thought. .

Reply to
studeluver

Try looking at the intake gaskets to the block Last Champ engine I had off was warped to the hilt and had bad vacuum leaks, especially after things warmed up a bit. Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Rice

Rotor, distributor cap, wires, vacuum advance???

JT

John Poulos wrote:

Reply to
Grumpy AuContraire

Good possibility there...

JT

Bob wrote:

Reply to
Grumpy AuContraire

Reply to
John Poulos

Reply to
John Poulos

You might try running it at night. If you have a light display you'll know you have a cross-firing problem. Paul Johnson

Reply to
Paul Johnson

Or, if the exhaust manifolds glow red, a blocked exhaust.

Reply to
Dave's Place

John, I picked up a post from another group that might relate to your high rpm problem. Does the car have an oil bath oil cleaner? If so, try running it with no air cleaner (or a paper element). Years ago my '53 was very sluggish. I took off the oil bath cleaner and tried it with no filter- huge difference. I have run dry cleaners ever since. I found a small FLAPS air cleaner that fit the 90-degree neck and cleared the hood. Later I found a NOS air cleaner with element at Standard Surplus for $5.95 when the elements alone were $9.95. Paul Johnson

Reply to
Paul Johnson

Reply to
John Poulos

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.