My 71 Duster work in progress

Yep just read it, I have the same problem with the engine guy, I have to call again next week to see if he's ready?
 
The Duster didn't start last night. It popped back through the carb a couple of times but it's got a PV check valve. I don't know what changed, all I did was swap and then unswap the jets. I'm going to take the carb back apart tonight and look for anything that might have fouled up the works.
 
I got the stupid thing to fire tonight. The backfiring was due to me crossing #2 and #4 when I had the plugs out.

Note I said fire not run. I could hold the throttle at a certain point and it would just barely run, and the weird thing is I swear it seems the tach is working backward - I let off the gas and it slowed down until it died but the tach seemed to jump up. Weird. It made me think something is wrong with the coil.

With the key in run, there's 5.3v at the coil. I don't know why I've got a ballast resistor on this car, but the one on there shows 1.6 Ohms resistance. I've got an MSD coil that per MSD works with or without a ballast, so it's gonna be bypassed tomorrow.

Almost forgot - the coil read 1 Ohm and the spec is 0.7 but IIRC there's about 0.25 Ohm in the meter itself so I don' t think that it's bad, but it might be.
 
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I bypassed the BR but with the key on I'm still only seeing 9v at the coil. I get nearly a full 12 with the ECU unplugged. I changed the ECU and had the same result, 9v plugged in, 12v unplugged.

I'm about at the point of throwing the MSD 6AL that I'm not using on it.

The car fired up immediately before I screwed up and started messing with the carb. It could be the carb but the coil voltage confuses me a little bit so I think in reality I've got two problems going on here. The engine fires but won't run just stumbles around if I hold the throttle down a little bit and it never cleans up and dies as soon as I let off the throttle.
 
It was fairly simple to switch over to the MSD, but all that did was show me it's not working like I'd expect. There's no voltage to the coil, with it connected directly to the battery and the relay (hot) wire connected to 12v at the BR bypass. Bummer.

It is still doing the same thing it did yesterday and I am still stumped as to why it won't rev up. It kind of reminds me of a car that's flooded, but you can tickle the throttle until those clean up. This one won't.
 
I got it to run a bit. I've just been undoing everything I did. It still isn't right. This is basically the best it will do right now. It's hard to tell from the video but it won't rev up and is making no power.



Do you think the RPMs are actually increasing while the engine is slowing down at the end, or that it is turning > 1500? Me neither.

I wasn't able to get it to run at all with the tach unplugged. I can't say for sure if it's because it's so hard to get it to run or because there's some other problem - what that problem might be I don't know.
 
Geeze I wish I could say keep it simple man change that clogged fuel filter, but alas I'm at a loss, I've never heard anything like that.
Good luck in your hunt for the culprit!
 
Yeah I'm thinking it's the ECU but it'd be a strange coincidence that it would go out while I was working on the carburetor. I'm going to ring out the wiring and see if that tells me anything.

I checked that it hadn't jumped time and haven't changed anything in the distributor other than to pull the cap and look at it to try to scare it into working. I replaced the plugs too.

I could see the carb making it hard to start but once it's going I should be able to throttle it up, but nope.
 
I hope it turns out to be some stupid little thing that just eluded you for a while, don't want to jinx you with good luck, how bout break a leg!
 
I tried ringing out the ignition wiring and that turned into a joke. With the key off and the battery connected, everything has continuity with ground. That can't be right.

So I put the hood-to-radiator seal on. The two end clips should go into tiny holes right where the oblong hood pin hole is. The oblong hole looks like it's factory but I don't know. As an added benefit, the hood won't shut now. I just hope it pays off by helping some with overheating.

 
sounds like your day went just as bad as mine, maybe I'll go back to my HO trains, at least the problems are small!
 
Tonight I tried the 3rd ECU and the car started up. From looking at old photos this one came with the car. I replaced it with an old chrome box I had laying around. And I also plugged an orange box in. I need to throw away the ones that don't work and prevent future headaches.

I have the idle turned down so far it wouldn't keep running, but revving it up seemed to work a lot better this time. The tach was acting plumb weird, reading obviously low, zero, then jumping up, but never working right.

I also had to bypass the ballast because I was only getting 5v to the coil, but the ballast still reads 1.6 ohms so I don't think it's the problem. Part of me wonders if the power to the ECU is tied in to the coil, the ECUs are bad or marginal, and that's why the coil has such a huge voltage drop but that's an idiot's best guess because I don't really know anything about how the ECU works. I really don't need the ballast with the MSD coil anyway, it will take 12v constant voltage.

I'll pick up a parts store ECU - it won't be optimal but it will be new so it should work. Also I hate to do it but I think I should unwrap the harness to figure out exactly where the ECU ties in.
 
I think it might be over for now ... The starter just clicks. Standing next to it with a remote starter there's no mistaking the loud click is at the starter. It did it first last night, then I put a good charge on the battery, it's still in it, but CLICK.

There's no way to get the starter out wihtout taking the headers off. There's no way to get the headers off without pulling the engine. If I pull this engine I'll be danged if I put it back in, knowing what I think I've figured out about it.
 
I've found a Blueprint 408, with trans, TTI headers, and a Holley Sniper setup (I'd sell that). It's hard for me to swallow shelling out as much money on that as the whole car is worth though.

Or I can put full price down on a set of Schumacher headers and buy a set of Trans-Dapt conversion mounts, and stay with the engine and trans that I've got. Still have to pull the engine up to get the headers off/on though.

I still haven't beat on the starter with a lug wrench though - you never know that might help.
 
  1. I thumped the starter a couple of times and it turned over maybe once then CLICK again.
  2. I jumped it at the relay CLICK - not the relay
  3. I recently replaced the positive battery cable and yesterday put a different newer, cleaner negative cable on it but CLICK - not the wiring
  4. I jumped it at the starter CLICK
So the only things left to check is that the starter is tight and grounded and the battery cranking amps. I doubt the starter is loose since it was working before, and since it was cranking until it wasn't, I'm skeptical the battery failed out of the blue. (It would definitely be easier to swap the battery into the A12 and see if it cranks over as a test than to haul it out to the parts store to test it.)

I've been thinking about what it would take to lift the engine up high enough to get to the starter. That means removing the headers, and I'm not sure I'll be able to get the headers back on by myself with the engine in place and I'm not sure the engine will go back in with them bolted on. So I'm looking at alternatives for the headers to avoid half the fight by not putting those poor fitting tubes back on it.

Schumacher headers don't trap the starter, and can almost be stuffed in with the engine installed, but they're out of stock. TTI shorties say you have to lift the engine up an inch and a half to get the driver's side in so that's doable, but they don't say if they trap the starter, but it does say I can install a 4-speed if I use a $400 RobbMc starter. (using the 4-speed is part of the appeal of changing to a small block).

I've reached out to a guy who HAD a pair of Schumachers for sale, unused but not really discounted, but he quit talking to me before he gave me a shipping cost so I'm trying to find out where those stand. I don't know if the TTIs are available or not and they only sell through dealers so I'm holding off bugging anyone about availability on those until I know about the Schumachers. Plus, it's Sunday.

BTW I always said the engine is sitting high in the front, and I found proof. Both Schumacher and T-D conversion mounts require trimming the motor mount on the k-frame for oil pump clearance. Mine is not trimmed and has about an inch clearance. If I go through this header hell, I'm going to replace the ears with one conversion kit or the other.

ETA: the battery just passed a 700 CCA test at Advance Auto. So it's the starter gone bad.
 
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