Fed up with the set up !!

[75LandYacht]

Good evening fellas, if there's already a thread on this topic please redirect me..

I'm fed up with my OE distributor, carburetor and manifold set up on my 75 New Yorker with a stock 440, no lean burn, no catalytic converter. I'm tired of running back-and-forth to Napa auto-parts nickel and diming Her to death.. What I'd like from you guys is a short and sweet "what's work for you" with replacing / upgrading these components. I want to replace the OE distributor with an OE in appearance modern electronic one. I'd like to replace the carburetor and manifold with a current and more efficient one. I've seen in multiple threads members who have changed their manifold and carburetor's with Edelbrock units. So I think my heart is set either on the Eddie 1406 or 1806 carburetor, which manifold do you guys prefer with either of those carburetors? And which modern electronic distributor has work for you guys?
I don't want this thread to get all complicated, so short and sweet to the point works for me..

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

 

[thrashingcows]

I have an Eddelbrock performer intake, with my old thermoquad....but a matching Eddy 750 would probably work well. My ignition is a OEM Mopar electronic ignition system....works way better then the petronix I had in there before.

What problems are you having the electronic ignition....they are a pretty bullet proof system.

 

[66Newyorker]

If you are looking to just replace your distributor go to rockauto.com. I just picked up the Spectra Premium, for $60.00 all in,not too bad. If you really want to improve your ignition go to FBO Ignition, Distributor tuning and Carburetion Professionals, FBO Ignition systems, Ford Ignition, Mopar Ignition, Ford Distributors, Mopar Distributors, Ford distributor curving, Mopar distributor curving, HEI Ignition, MSD ignition tuning,. You can go all in and buy the complete package from them. They with set up your distributor for your vehicle. I bought the module and coil package. Very pleased! As far as carburetor and intake. Edelbrock would be a good choice, any where around 625 - 650 cfm. Intake manifold you might find a good used dual plane, that's what I did. Just a word of advise your a/c brackets may give you a bit of a fight with and after market intake. Hope this helps.

 

[cantflip]

Good evening fellas, if there's already a thread on this topic please redirect me..

I'm fed up with my OE distributor, carburetor and manifold set up on my 75 New Yorker with a stock 440, no lean burn, no catalytic converter. I'm tired of running back-and-forth to Napa auto-parts nickel and diming Her to death.. What I'd like from you guys is a short and sweet "what's work for you" with replacing / upgrading these components. I want to replace the OE distributor with an OE in appearance modern electronic one. I'd like to replace the carburetor and manifold with a current and more efficient one. I've seen in multiple threads members who have changed their manifold and carburetor's with Edelbrock units. So I think my heart is set either on the Eddie 1406 or 1806 carburetor, which manifold do you guys prefer with either of those carburetors? And which modern electronic distributor has work for you guys?
I don't want this thread to get all complicated, so short and sweet to the point works for me..

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

More information would help me give a better reply. Stock Mopar electronic ignition was about as good as it got IMO, the major weakness has been the quality of replacement parts. GM and Ford ignition modules of the era failed too, but without the regular maintenance of points, you should be pretty good here. $50ish replacement distributors when on the road makes me feel pretty secure.

Plugs, cap and rotor and eventually wires are normal maintenance of the era.

Ethanol fuel is tough, that may be related to fuel issues. I still haven't gotten around to trying out my 1406, but I imagine it will run better than the TQ which has been subjected to whatever crappy fuels were available at refills. I blame poor fuel quality on my sending unit failure too.

Look for ethanol free in your area, a carbureted car will be much happier, but my 99 knows the difference too.

 

[Turboomni]

What are you fed up specifically 75LandYacht? Performance or hot starts ,idle problems? I still run and will continue to run points cause that's how my car came. It does just fine with points. I know your car did not come with points. But I do run a 1406 Eddy on my 440. Although only 600 cfm I read the data and if your not going to be reving your 440 at or over 6000 rpms and expecting more and more power you will be fine with the 1406. For me 5500 is my limit on my stock 440. I only honk on my Omni! Curious why you want a new intake manifold,is it because it is a lean burn??

 

[Dobalovr]

Lots of good advice ...heres my setup:

Eddy 1806
Eddy 2191 Performer Intake
Mopar Performance Dizzy and orange box
Mopar Performance wires
Champion RJ12YC plugs

Runs the best yet on this combo but believe me nickels and dimes are a regular occurrence

 

[75LandYacht]

What are you fed up specifically 75LandYacht? Performance or hot starts ,idle problems? I still run and will continue to run points cause that's how my car came. It does just fine with points. I know your car did not come with points. But I do run a 1406 Eddy on my 440. Although only 600 cfm I read the data and if your not going to be reving your 440 at or over 6000 rpms and expecting more and more power you will be fine with the 1406. For me 5500 is my limit on my stock 440. I only honk on my Omni! Curious why you want a new intake manifold,is it because it is a lean burn??

I am a mechanically handy kind a guy however not having much knowledge on these older cars has got me a handicap. She is a stock for 440 top to bottom inside and out. Due to distributor issues last summer I swapped out the OE distributor for one from NAPA. I also replaced the coil cap, wires, ignition module, resistor and regulators. After all that she ran OK, I kind of narrow down the performance issue to the carburetor needing either a rebuild or an upgrade. I just thought since I've had my heart set on replacing the carburetor I should do the manifold as well. If you were saying just a carburetor swap on the OE manifold will work fine and that would save me some money. With the current TQ call starts are an issue as it spits and spiders and stutters until it warms up. I recently replaced the thermal choke on the left side of the carburetor and that did seem to help a little bit, but not enough to ease my frustration. Hot starts are sometimes an issue too. And then there's the general overall performance of the engine, it just doesn't seem to run as smooth as I think it should. The timing is set where it should be, the spark plug gap is where it should be, and the carburetor just tired, So I thought swapping out to a current distributor and module and a nice electric choke Eddie carburetor would put me at a maintenance free performance level other than the regular tuneup's.

 

[75LandYacht]

What pushed me over the top with frustration was attempting to moving the car further up the driveway prior to the snowstorm we just got on Thursday. I uncovered her and fired her up on Wednesday to move her so I can get my snowblower out on Thursday since I knew I would need it. After idling for 10 or 15 minutes, I put her in drive and when I stepped on the gas it's stalled and would not restart, engine turnovers yes, but never started again to the point where I ran the battery down attempting too. She's getting fuel because I could smell it, and no I didn't flood it. So my suspicions led to the distributor, coil, or something electrical. No soark maybe, After working a double that day I didn't want to fiddle with checking the distributor, coil or any of that for power, so I just covered it back up and left or was she sat. Thankfully there was enough room for me to get my snowblower down to clear the driveway, sidewalk. So here I am...

 

[75LandYacht]

I have an Eddelbrock performer intake, with my old thermoquad....but a matching Eddy 750 would probably work well. My ignition is a OEM Mopar electronic ignition system....works way better then the petronix I had in there before.

What problems are you having the electronic ignition....they are a pretty bullet proof system.

I don't know that any of my issues are related to the OE distributor I swapped of my local parts store. I'm just frustrated with the whole thing. I thought swapping out the distributor, carburetor and manifold with current stuff would be the better option. Which is why I came to you guys first before spending any unnecessary money.

 

[Dobalovr]

The TQ is where I would start but being a spreadbore carb it is unlikely you can install the Eddy without an adapter on the original intake so if it was me it would be intake and carb replacement. The Eddy has an electric choke so that will eliminate the tstat choke setup you have now. Things to consider will be kickdown linkage setup and vacuum fittings but the factory equipment will all cross over. The electrical is likely ok being reasonably new. That's my $.02

 

[cantflip]

Stick one of these in your tool box.

You can position it somewhere to see if you have spark from the driver seat. $5-10 tool that will save you many guesses.

A $10-15 vacuum gauge or better a $25-40 vacuum pump (which has a gauge on it) would be my next tool recommendation.

I like the pump better, even though it has a crappier gauge, because you can also use it to check the various vacuum diaphragms on things like you vacuum advance, choke pulloffs, EGR... makes it a more useful tool.

Vacuum is a good indicator of how well your engine is running, don't get crazy with specfic scenarios and look for strong steady idle of 17-22", snap throttle should not fall below 5" as you open the throttle it should stay steady and slowly go away as the throttle opens more. You shouldn't get to 0 in park. If you get ambitious a long piece of vacuum line would let you watch it on a test drive. If you do, engine load will dramatically change the vacuum, but never to zero unless WOT or extreme load conditions.

I'm sure the FSM has vacuum testing info if you are interested, and you know we will always give at least a zillion possibilities here.

 

[GregG48203]

Cars of this era ran much better with a functional heat riser. Check the valve on the passenger side exhaust manifold. Otherwise, the carb could be getting too much heat: try a carburetor spacer.

 

[twostick]

If you can smell gas, chances are it's flooded.

Confirm that you have spark and assuming the gas isn't years old and if it still smells like gas, not likely old, charge up the battery or boost it and try again.

Make sure the choke isn't stuck and try to start it normally seeing as this is a day later. If it doesn't go, hold it on the floor (make sure the choke opens) and spin it until it clears itself and starts. This should take 15-20 seconds tops. If it doesn't at least offer by firing, blowing the mufflers off or starting a carb fire, pull a spark plug and see if it's fuel soaked. If it is pull a few more if you're feeling lucky or pull them all and dry them with compressed air or a torch or lighter and try again.

As to the rest, you've already changed the only thing I would have. I'd confirm the timing (vac adv disconnected) and make sure the mechanical and vac advance function correctly and call it good. You could tinker with the curve a little by installing some lighter advance springs to speed up the advance but that's about all there is to do there.

There's a good chance the heat crossover in the intake manifold is plugged so I'd address that as it can cause no end of cold engine issues. The manifold itself is a good piece and more than capable given the cam and heads (stock). TQ intakes don't start to fall off until around 5800 RPM which is well over where a stock cammed 440 has already gave up.

I like TQ carbs but they have a bunch of adjustments and they all have to be set up EXACTLY so if some screwdriver jockey gets at them, chances are the carb runs worse and then gets the thermobog junk label.

If you have the time, talent, special tools and a FSM you can set it up or rebuild it yourself or send it to Scott Smith at Harms.

Services

I think he took over from Demonsizzler as far as TQ work goes.

At $399 it's not cheap but neither is a new carb that out of the box won't be perfect either.
When he's done with it it will look like new.
I've not seen one negative post about him on Moparts and those guys will ***** if their ice cream is cold. He's also a member there.

The only other thing I would add if you haven't already is a good 2.5" dual exhaust and call it a day.

Kevin

 

[70bigblockdodge]

That lean burn TQ is probably part of the problem, I am a TQ fan but they can be tricky and need some work to bring around drivability.
The other issue is the vacuum advance on a lean burn TQ does not have ported spark advance so I'm not sure where you have that plumbed. That not going to help you in your driveway so you have another issue somewhere.

 

[75LandYacht]

Thank you for all the great input
fellas.. all great and Valid starting points. She is not a lean burn car, so I'm sure the issue is something simple but aggravating nonetheless. She also is not a DD, but I do call on her from time to time when I need to go somewhere and the wife is at home with the truck. And it seems to be those times that she says "hell no I'm not going".. lol

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Was it not a lean burn before the conversion?

 

[75LandYacht]

Was it not a lean burn before the conversion?

Never was a Lean Burn.. no conversion. It's a 75. All stock.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Hmmmmmmm.

 

[75LandYacht]

Hmmmmmmm.

That's what I say.. HMmmmm. Lol

 

[Turboomni]

What years were these cars lean burn?