Carburetor for 1966 383

[FrancoFonseca]

I’m convinced the stuttering and dying of my engine, after driving about 20 miles, has something to do with the carburetor.

I had it rebuilt by a guy who came recommended, and he put the choke arm on upside-down and ended up bending it to make it fit. This hasn’t given me confidence in his overall rebuild, so I’m looking to replace the carb.

Which carb should I replace it with? My car is a 1966 Newport with the 383.

 

[CBODY67]

Our '66 Newport 383 came with a Stromberg WWC3 carburetor rather than the Carter BBD 1.5" (designation due to throttle bore size) 2bbl. I like the way the WWC3 ran, but when I upgraded it to a Holley 2210 2bbl (which started with the 1970 383 2bbls, so it's a drop-in replacement, other than fuel line configuration), off-idle throttle response and highway mpg went up.

The main thing about the 2bbls is that they are easy to rebuild. No issues if you just replace the gaskets, matching the old ones. When that choke linkage did not work, that should have been a red flag that something was not right.

When i the performance issue happening? Cold starts, cornering, quick take-offs, etc.? PM me if desired.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

@Woodruff Carb is a member here - he can help. They're in California.

 

[CBODY67]

(He moved from OH?)

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Oops - bad memory on my part. Lol!

 

[Sixpactogo]

If you can drive for 20 miles before it starts acting up, I would look at the fuel sock in the tank. Do you have an inline filter after the pump? If so, replace it and cut the old one open to see how much rust and junk is in it. If it is clogged up, you are gonna have to deal with the tank. 50+ years takes its toll whether you drive it or not.

 

[FrancoFonseca]

If you can drive for 20 miles before it starts acting up, I would look at the fuel sock in the tank. Do you have an inline filter after the pump? If so, replace it and cut the old one open to see how much rust and junk is in it. If it is clogged up, you are gonna have to deal with the tank. 50+ years takes its toll whether you drive it or not.

New tank a couple weeks ago. New clear filter. Those things are new. No issues.

It doesn’t make sense that I can drive 20 miles with no issues and then it just stops working.

 

[FrancoFonseca]

@Woodruff Carb is a member here - he can help. They're in California.

Do they have a shop?

 

[FrancoFonseca]

Our '66 Newport 383 came with a Stromberg WWC3 carburetor rather than the Carter BBD 1.5" (designation due to throttle bore size) 2bbl. I like the way the WWC3 ran, but when I upgraded it to a Holley 2210 2bbl (which started with the 1970 383 2bbls, so it's a drop-in replacement, other than fuel line configuration), off-idle throttle response and highway mpg went up.

The main thing about the 2bbls is that they are easy to rebuild. No issues if you just replace the gaskets, matching the old ones. When that choke linkage did not work, that should have been a red flag that something was not right.

When i the performance issue happening? Cold starts, cornering, quick take-offs, etc.? PM me if desired.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

Our '66 Newport 383 came with a Stromberg WWC3 carburetor rather than the Carter BBD 1.5" (designation due to throttle bore size) 2bbl. I like the way the WWC3 ran, but when I upgraded it to a Holley 2210 2bbl (which started with the 1970 383 2bbls, so it's a drop-in replacement, other than fuel line configuration), off-idle throttle response and highway mpg went up.

The main thing about the 2bbls is that they are easy to rebuild. No issues if you just replace the gaskets, matching the old ones. When that choke linkage did not work, that should have been a red flag that something was not right.

When i the performance issue happening? Cold starts, cornering, quick take-offs, etc.? PM me if desired.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

After about 20 miles. No problems until then.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

@FrancoFonseca - I am incorrect, Woodruff Carburetor's shop is in Ohio, not California. My apologies.

 

[CBODY67]

Those carbs don't have a time limit they will operate well for. Might well be an ignition issue.

 

[FrancoFonseca]

Those carbs don't have a time limit they will operate well for. Might well be an ignition issue.

If so, why does it wait for me to drive 20 miles before it quits working?

 

[CBODY67]

Just curious, what leads you to suspect it is a fuel issue?

In many cases, a fuel issue can be an ignition/electrical issue in disguise. How do we know conclusively this is not the case in this situation?

When you drive it for the 20 minutes of time, it starts acting up, have you pulled into a parking lot and checked for accel pump shot to see how much might be there? The accel pump feeds from the bottom of the fuel bowl, so if there's any gas in there, there should be enough for at least two pump shots (the first one will be from accumulation in the pump well, with the second one being supplied by what's in the fuel bowl.

Did the gas cap get changed with the new fuel tank?

"Conventional wisdom" would indicate that the clear fuel filter should be a good indicator of gas in the line, but I can tell you it is not as good of an indicator as might be expected? Why? Because our '66 Newport would be running fine with NO fuel apparent in the filter. Yet it ran just fine and never faltered. Other times, it might be 1/4 full or 1/2 full, but very seldom "full" . . . I watched it many times when the car was "just a used car". Which might well explain why Chrysler used the shiny silver filter as OEM equipment.

Just my experiences,
CBODY67

 

[FrancoFonseca]

Just curious, what leads you to suspect it is a fuel issue?

In many cases, a fuel issue can be an ignition/electrical issue in disguise. How do we know conclusively this is not the case in this situation?

When you drive it for the 20 minutes of time, it starts acting up, have you pulled into a parking lot and checked for accel pump shot to see how much might be there? The accel pump feeds from the bottom of the fuel bowl, so if there's any gas in there, there should be enough for at least two pump shots (the first one will be from accumulation in the pump well, with the second one being supplied by what's in the fuel bowl.

Did the gas cap get changed with the new fuel tank?

"Conventional wisdom" would indicate that the clear fuel filter should be a good indicator of gas in the line, but I can tell you it is not as good of an indicator as might be expected? Why? Because our '66 Newport would be running fine with NO fuel apparent in the filter. Yet it ran just fine and never faltered. Other times, it might be 1/4 full or 1/2 full, but very seldom "full" . . . I watched it many times when the car was "just a used car". Which might well explain why Chrysler used the shiny silver filter as OEM equipment.

Just my experiences,
CBODY67

It's 20 miles of driving. I have checked the accel pump and all is good. Fuel flows perfectly to the carb.

We have tried and checked everything expect replacing the carb. For me, it's much easier to replace and eliminate the carb as a possible source and get a fresh carb. If that doesn't work, I will start looking at electrical. No idea what to look for, but we did put a new Edelbrock coil. Checked the plugs and replaced the wires.

 

[Gerald Morris]

It's 20 miles of driving. I have checked the accel pump and all is good. Fuel flows perfectly to the carb.

We have tried and checked everything expect replacing the carb. For me, it's much easier to replace and eliminate the carb as a possible source and get a fresh carb. If that doesn't work, I will start looking at electrical. No idea what to look for, but we did put a new Edelbrock coil. Checked the plugs and replaced the wires.

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!

 

[Gerald Morris]

If so, why does it wait for me to drive 20 miles before it quits working?

Coil overheating from resistor mismatch. Don't use a big brand name item like that without properly checking the coil impedance. You should have about 1.5 ohms on the primary side of your coil. With this, a cold temperature ballast resistor impedance of ~ 0.6 ohms will do, provided its hot impedance is around 1.5 ohms. This makes a neat voltage divider at the coil, which is desirable. I suspect this may not be so on your ride this evening.

Now, inspect your distributor. Are the points gapped properly? Is the condenser good? How is the engine timed? Vacuum advance? MANY ignition components could have failed on your drive.

 

[garyh]

I have had decent luck with the Autoline rebuilt Carbs that Rockauto sells. They are rebuilt in Canada.

 

[Sixpactogo]

It does sound ignition related. Have you swapped out the points for an electronic ignition. If so, your problem could be a bad ground on the ECU. It has happened to a lot of people (me included) When I first upgraded my Sport Fury to the electronic ignition I had the same issue. The coil and orange box was too hot to touch. It ended up being a bad case ground on the orange box. I finally got it figured out after replacing the coil and the plate coil in the distributor.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Ignition component overheat.

 

[Gerald Morris]

Ignition component overheat.

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....