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So with the wind gusting to 25-40 mph yesterday I decided to work on my Buddy's car and save the bike ride for Sunday.
He purchased a 65 Valiant wagon 273 V8 factory air in good condition but this thing would not idle below 1000rpm for more then 30 second and then quit. So I break out all the old equipment, feller gauge, Dwell meter, vacuum gauge etc. Set the points @ .017, check dwell, perfect at 30. Running a little better but still would not idle.
The carburetor (Ball & Ball) 2 barrel looks recently rebuilt and it takes an adjustment so I know it's in fairly good shape but I decide to see if a rebuild kit is available for it and to my surprise Auto Zone has one in stock for $12...woohoo!
Pull it off, disassemble it and low and behold I only get 1 check ball out of it, the 1 below the power valve is missing!!!! Clean it up put it back together double check all the adjustments and this thing fires up with 1 pump and runs great!!!! This thing is no speed demon but I forgot just how much enjoyment it is to work on these simple projects and the stupid things you run across!!!
I drive it back to my Buddy's shop and rev it up so he knows I'm there as I knew he was painting a car and i didn't want to enter. He comes out and couldn't believe it sounded as good as it did, he didn't recognize it because it was always sputtering and idled like crap.
The guy he bought it from said it needed a new engine and several garages in the area said they couldn't find the problem. I guess it was TOO SIMPLE for them!!! LOL
He purchased a 65 Valiant wagon 273 V8 factory air in good condition but this thing would not idle below 1000rpm for more then 30 second and then quit. So I break out all the old equipment, feller gauge, Dwell meter, vacuum gauge etc. Set the points @ .017, check dwell, perfect at 30. Running a little better but still would not idle.
The carburetor (Ball & Ball) 2 barrel looks recently rebuilt and it takes an adjustment so I know it's in fairly good shape but I decide to see if a rebuild kit is available for it and to my surprise Auto Zone has one in stock for $12...woohoo!
Pull it off, disassemble it and low and behold I only get 1 check ball out of it, the 1 below the power valve is missing!!!! Clean it up put it back together double check all the adjustments and this thing fires up with 1 pump and runs great!!!! This thing is no speed demon but I forgot just how much enjoyment it is to work on these simple projects and the stupid things you run across!!!
I drive it back to my Buddy's shop and rev it up so he knows I'm there as I knew he was painting a car and i didn't want to enter. He comes out and couldn't believe it sounded as good as it did, he didn't recognize it because it was always sputtering and idled like crap.
The guy he bought it from said it needed a new engine and several garages in the area said they couldn't find the problem. I guess it was TOO SIMPLE for them!!! LOL
