Letting the wagon go... :(

Could be, or has a nice engine to go in it.

Yeah... we had thought about concreting it as well, but if I had it running and driving it would be in another part of the drive.

 

Tinkered more with the car today... had also been getting some advice from someone else on another board, which had given me a HUGE list of things to check, which is what I was really not wanting to do, which is why I had basically decided to sell it because I am not that mechanically inclined... my dad is, but he dont have much time to mess with this.

He took the air cleaner off and "choked" the car as I gave it gas with my foot on the brake and accelerating and the car didnt have that sudden burst of power, so someone said that may rule out the fuel flow problem. It seems like its getting plenty of gas... the exhaust smells kinda rich anyway... as if its getting plenty of fuel.

PLAN is I am going to start tearing the front of the engine off to try to get to the chain and reset it, or whatever I need to do. Unless someone decides to buy it first or has a wagon trade.

We have about decided that the imbecile that we had install the cam has probably got the chain off a tooth or something. The car is just not timing properly it seems. It shows the timing is dead on, but just not right. I took another video of the car and its behavior under a load. I had tried to take one the other day when I took that other, but the battery had went dead on the camera.

So... here we are, this video is the cars engine.... I start it, place in gear and slowly accelerate... you can hear the car start to miss and shake violently around 1/2 throttle.... then I have it to the floor before I let off. Its starts missing under a load and has no power sums it up...

click on pic below... a little woozy at first... lol.

 

Tony,

If you are going to go back to fire, I still would follow the suggestion I gave you first (#1 piston to the Top on the Powerstroke, Dial it in on the Timing Tab and take a Picture of the Distributor with the Cap off). You may be tearing apart the front end for nothing. I would go with the easier way first. The Distributor could be a tooth or two off (or more) and it's easy to reset really.

Bill

 

K... will do that first and report back... thanks!

(if its not sold first... couple of guys really interested in buying it - I have been stalling).

 

A lot of those old cars with the QJ.....the throttle would sometimes simply not open all the way or only a little. Sure sounds like that could be the problem here. If the secondaries don't open going up that hill it would be like trying to get up it with a Briggs & Straton carb trying to pull that big wagon. That's from my buddy that is a car building wiz. To me...that car is simply not getting enough fuel and/or air. I would still bet all I have that this problem is a simple one.

 

Could be... another note of interest is that the exhaust smells rich and kindof "gassy" when it does this.... like its getting too much gas, so I dont know.

 

Well....here's ONE of my previous posts above. Maybe the choke is just sticking?? Or it's loading for other reasons?? Again...I believe it to be something simple like that. This is NOT a complex car.

 

Hi, nope, once it warms up, the choke opens up completely. I am going to do those other things too that Bill and the others mentioned about the distributor when I get a chance. I will tell you, I have owned SEVERAL late 60s and early 70s cars... most were GM (Cadillac DeVille 1972, Buick Electra 1972, Olds Toronado 1971, Chevy Caprice 1971 (400 small block!), and my current Pontiac Grand Ville 1973, just to mention a few and have never had any engine problems with any of those, except for two... both were Chevy big blocks - my 69 Caprice 396 and this 72 Caprice 402 wagon.

I am afraid of them now... never again will I own another big block Chevy. I am not going through this again.

True, so simple, which is why I am so puzzled why I cant get it straightened out. My first mistake was letting that moron work on it.

 

Bill... I started to do this today, mentioned to my dad and he said they had already checked it this way and it was ok. They seem to think perhaps its the timing chain is off.

He said he would help me start to take the front of the engine off, but who knows when. He is really busy... may have to shell out even more $ to some shadetree mechanic to take a shot at it, if I dont end up selling it first. There are several interested here locally as a cash sale, but I really wanted to trade it for another wagon to a wagon fan that would fix it up, but there is no interest in it. Apparently, everyone with any other type of wagon I would consider trading for (73-78 Country Squire, or another 71-74 GM wagon) is happy with what they have.

 

Tony,

Finding someone to trade with is usually not an easy thing to accomplish. If the price is good enough, you probably will be better off with a cash sale.

Keep us posted.

Bill