Carburetor for 1966 383

[FrancoFonseca]

That Edelbrock coil might be the source of your woes. You DID use a GOOD ballast resistor with that coil, right? It occurs to me that an ignition coil, poorly ballasted, (mismatch) might work well for about 20 miles, get hot, have its resistance increase too much, causing it to sputter. I think you have multiple problems, with one overriding one for the moment. See if you can obtain another Stromberg WWC or Holley 2210, rebuilt, bolt it on and so forth. I suspect the fellow who did yours needs his hands removed, as a warning to others. What he perpetrated on the choke is inexcusable!

I had the problem prior to the new coil, so I have to think that is not the issue. But I will check the ballast.

 

[CBODY67]

Yep! Whether coil due to impedance mismatch, or ECU due to poor ground, the OP describes a CLASSIC overheated electrical component situation. I'll amend my advice about the fellow who bent his choke plate: SANDING his hands to nubbins would be better for such an outrageously STUPID act. I've seen similar idiocy on expensive piles of junk that occur here when some ignorant coke puppy swills a few cases of Buttwiper Light, then takes some Abhor Fright Toolz to a high tech rolling wreck they own....

Now, we all know how much pride some mechanically-inclined humans take in "having pieces left over, obviously not needed". When, if they'd known what they were doing, everything would have fallen right into place with no theatrics, drama, or anxiety. LOL In some cases, these humans might even have been "us" or our friends, in our younger (learnin' 'bout things) times. Hopefully, WE learned how to do things better, as time progressed. END RESULT was that we learned to do more for ourselves when these things happened, generally!

Sanding his fingertips might lead him into other lines of work, which might eventually result in "secured" accommodations?

FWIW,
CBODY67

 

[Gerald Morris]

Now, we all know how much pride some mechanically-inclined humans take in "having pieces left over, obviously not needed". When, if they'd known what they were doing, everything would have fallen right into place with no theatrics, drama, or anxiety. LOL In some cases, these humans might even have been "us" or our friends, in our younger (learnin' 'bout things) times. Hopefully, WE learned how to do things better, as time progressed. END RESULT was that we learned to do more for ourselves when these things happened, generally!

Sanding his fingertips might lead him into other lines of work, which might eventually result in "secured" accommodations?

FWIW,
CBODY67

True enough bro! If it was a youngster LEARNING how to work on a carb, then my heart goes out to All Concerned! Yes, as an adolescent sans any training, I made such horrid mistakes, and actually scourged myself a couple times after enduring the disastrous consequences. Literally.

One of the things that compelled me to a life of owning and driving cars which I CAN fully understand and work on is the fact that I NEVER TRUST ANOTHER TO DO MY OWN WORK! Even the mechanic we hired last year for the head replacement screwed up almost too much to warrant payment, but since he JUST did the minimum job he was hired for well enough to drive his work home, I took it. Babushka and I both though marked his shop with a "Never Again" though....

 

[Gerald Morris]

I had the problem prior to the new coil, so I have to think that is not the issue. But I will check the ballast.

OK, then it likely isn't an impedance mismatch causing that trouble. If the ballast resistor circuit rings true, then replace that carb. Autoline is a brand name which does alright, and sometimes NAPA reman carbs do alright. Find some octogenarian carb guru to do this for you for now, and find another carb to rebuild yourself. I have my Aged, Revered Wizard, an old boy in his upper 80s who rebuilds carbs for me, to excellent result! Our now deceased transmission mechanic also was in that age bracket. If you find such a treasure, DON'T LET HIM DIE ON YOU!!! I'm still working on how to enforce THAT though....

A wonky condenser also will misbehave as you describe. It will start the engine fine, and run it until it warms up enough, or vibrates enough, to short out, and then you're stuck! DO you have a breaker point ignition, or is it solid state? If the latter, is it a Mopar electronic ignition, or some after market conversion? ALL these factors vary diagnosis, and treatrment.

 

[FrancoFonseca]

No condenser or points. It’s a Mopar electronic ignition

 

[CBODY67]

No condenser or points. It’s a Mopar electronic ignition

Do you know how old it might be?

 

[Gerald Morris]

No condenser or points. It’s a Mopar electronic ignition

OK, then, check how well grounded it is! I recall when installing my after market one, the maker EMPHATICALLY insisted on a GOOD ground between the body of that ECM and the sheetmetal body. Use an extra bonding wire on one of the two bolts or big screws holding that module to the body, and run it to either the battery negative terminal, or another large grounding wire, like that near the carburetor return spring bracket or the firewall ground.

Do you have a simple 2 pole ballast resistor, or a double one with 4 connections? I suspect its a 2 terminal resistor. Is the ECM orange colored, or silver? If its an original Mopar box, its old. When cold, that resistor should be between .5 to ,8 ohms. DO check the impedance of the Edelbrock coil, though, as you say, since the problem existed prior to its installation, it may be matched well enough for a Mopar setup. DO check though.

Ideally, the hot resistance of your ballast should be about equal to the hot resistance of the primary side of your coil. This divides the coil primary voltage to about half of the system voltage, thus, prolonging the life of the ignition components. Of course, too MUCH resistance will result in poor spark, while too little will burn up the ECM. Note its temperature after a nice little 15 minute run. That will tell us much.

 

[FrancoFonseca]

Do you know how old it might be?

Just put it in

 

[Sixpactogo]

I'm betting on the high resistance at the ECU. Did you check it?

 

[CBODY67]

Just put it in

Thanks. I suspect that means it is one of the recent items, which allegedly are not as good as the prior decade models, which were produced by an actual Chrysler facility. Originally, "Proform" sold shiny chrome items for cars, not of the best quality from what I could tell back then. Now they do the Chrysler ign kits and such, plus most of GM Perf Parts chrome/shiny items. Hence, their apparent loss of OEM quality control . . . from comments of others in here. On the other hand, if any OEM licenses their name and products/blueprints to another company to produce the items, it has to meet those OEM standards, by contract. BTAIM

I put one of the earlier kits on my '67 Newport back in the 1990s. Back when they were about $125.00 for the kit. Nice install, as expected. Replaced and hid an NOS MSD-5C box rather than the Chrysler orange box.

KEY thing is to ensure the control box case has a bullet-proof ground, plus good grounds in other areas, too. Being a newer item, might get a normal control box to try, for good measure. Might also check with Rick Ehrenberg for some possible troubleshooting recommendations. He also has an eBay store where he sells quality Chrysler ignition parts and kits. If you don't already have one, a decent volt-ohm meter might be an asset.

Take care,
CBODY67

 

[Gerald Morris]

Just put it in

Ah HAH! THERE'S THE SOURCE OF YOUR WOE BRO! Did you buy it as part of a kit? What brand? Is it made by good makers, or by sleazy asiatic con artists who shine up the exterior of their wares and put the absolute cheapest junk they can find inside, using hyper-exploited women to hand solder circuit elements together quickly, with zero regard for the health of the workers or the quality of the product? THIS MATTERS TREMENDOUSLY!

If its a good, reputable brand, then CHECK THAT GROUND! Did you knock the paint and dirt off your sheetmetal behind the ECU to assure GOOD contact? Run your engine from cold to failure, check the ECM temperature when it fails, note the time it took to do so, and the temperature it reached.

Even if your work on the sheetmetal is good, be aware that body sheetmetal isn't necessarily a good grounding path. Make a bonding jumper as suggested.

Also, do you use the traditional Mopar Hall Effect reluctor and magnetic pickup type distributor? These work well, when well made and installed. Is this also brand new? Hmmm

 

[Gerald Morris]

Thanks. I suspect that means it is one of the recent items, which allegedly are not as good as the prior decade models, which were produced by an actual Chrysler facility. Originally, "Proform" sold shiny chrome items for cars, not of the best quality from what I could tell back then. Now they do the Chrysler ign kits and such, plus most of GM Perf Parts chrome/shiny items. Hence, their apparent loss of OEM quality control . . . from comments of others in here. On the other hand, if any OEM licenses their name and products/blueprints to another company to produce the items, it has to meet those OEM standards, by contract. BTAIM

I put one of the earlier kits on my '67 Newport back in the 1990s. Back when they were about $125.00 for the kit. Nice install, as expected. Replaced and hid an NOS MSD-5C box rather than the Chrysler orange box.

KEY thing is to ensure the control box case has a bullet-proof ground, plus good grounds in other areas, too. Being a newer item, might get a normal control box to try, for good measure. Might also check with Rick Ehrenberg for some possible troubleshooting recommendations. He also has an eBay store where he sells quality Chrysler ignition parts and kits. If you don't already have one, a decent volt-ohm meter might be an asset.

Take care,
CBODY67

Rick-O sells good stuff! My /6 zips along very well indeed with the kit he sold me. If I wanted historic authenticity, I would have bought my wares from Hoppy, but Rick-O sells probably the best "kit" on the market of new made parts.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

@Gerald Morris said: Even if your work on the sheetmetal is good, be aware that body sheetmetal isn't necessarily a good grounding path. Make a bonding jumper as suggested.

I agree. I had a recurrent Vreg ground issue that I fixed by running a ground wire direct to the battery.

 

[FrancoFonseca]

OK, then, check how well grounded it is! I recall when installing my after market one, the maker EMPHATICALLY insisted on a GOOD ground between the body of that ECM and the sheetmetal body. Use an extra bonding wire on one of the two bolts or big screws holding that module to the body, and run it to either the battery negative terminal, or another large grounding wire, like that near the carburetor return spring bracket or the firewall ground.

Do you have a simple 2 pole ballast resistor, or a double one with 4 connections? I suspect its a 2 terminal resistor. Is the ECM orange colored, or silver? If its an original Mopar box, its old. When cold, that resistor should be between .5 to ,8 ohms. DO check the impedance of the Edelbrock coil, though, as you say, since the problem existed prior to its installation, it may be matched well enough for a Mopar setup. DO check though.

Ideally, the hot resistance of your ballast should be about equal to the hot resistance of the primary side of your coil. This divides the coil primary voltage to about half of the system voltage, thus, prolonging the life of the ignition components. Of course, too MUCH resistance will result in poor spark, while too little will burn up the ECM. Note its temperature after a nice little 15 minute run. That will tell us much.

When I get a chance I will check it out. Busy at the office and leaving for a trip to Utah on Thursday. Probably get to it next week.

 

[FrancoFonseca]

I'm betting on the high resistance at the ECU. Did you check it?

Haven't had time. Maybe next week I'll get to it.

 

[66furys]

I agree with the coil argument. I think heat is a potential problem, either with coil overheating that will kill the engine, or perhaps even vapor lock.....more evident on starting than running, but something to consider. A friend with old comet was overheating his coil and he knew it....very hot and quitting on the road. But, he found that the regulator was allowing an overcharge....he was running at about 17 V instead of 14.5..... Regulator fixed his problem, with new coil....his third in this event. Probably aint the carb imo. One final to consider is the choke, and carb richness.....IF you are running the choke for a few miles on a really lean setup, you could see problems as choke comes off totally, but you can determine this with a bit of warming and review with choke open before it quits. But, if as you said, you have fuel and accel pump after running a while, it aint the carb or fuel.