Ooooofff......ok, where to start. Yeah, I've never had points.....oldest two cars I've had were '76 so I'm not sure how much gap the points unit will do. If you start to get misses, I guess that plug gap was too wide.
Yeah, the factory settings on initial idle and advance are different depending on year, transmission, and AC option combo. I've been told to set initial advance at wherever you get the best vacuum at the recommended initial speed. I've heard some set it to 10* and others at 12*. Mine's at 10*, but after I'm done with fluids and the cooling system, I'm checking all my settings again and see what is optimal for mine.
Yeah, as I said in the other thread if the solenoid is frozen, get a new one. Not sure if adjusting the hex screw works in that case? Again, hex screw is tightened all the way in with the allen wrench while holding the solenoid with the other wrench. Unplug, and then begin loosening it and see if the base idle changes.
Yeah, just plug your vacuum gauge in the port to the advance on the distributor, before you set initial idle and advance then the base idle. You don't want the vacuum advance kicking in while you are trying to adjust those. The Thermac air cleaner and vac adv are both plugged into full manifold vacuum port at the base of the Monojet. Mine has a thermal valve and delay on top of the water neck that the vacuum advance runs thought, and I'm not sure what year they started doing that.
The timed vacuum port toward the top of the carb is for the vacuum hose going to the thermal valve attached to the lower water neck. It only opens when the engine if fully warmed up, and the timed port only pulls vacuum while cruising and not idling. So it shouldn't really affect the idle adjustments, but the recommendations tell you to plug it while you are tuning (I never have, and neither has IntegratedJ78). But it then Ys off there to the EGR valve and the EVAP canister. You can live without your EGR and gain some fuel economy by removing that Y in the vacuum line and just connecting to EVAP only. The EVAP canister scavenges the lost fuel vapor from the carb and fuel tank during cruising, so that increases fuel economy. The EGR is there to introduce some exhaust gas to the intake to decrease CO and NOx in the exhaust. So that's why your friend was recommending it. IntegratedJ78 made a plate to cover the EGR port so I could remove my rusty one.
Oh no vacuum gauge? They are good for seeing if you are going in the right direction or not, otherwise just watch engine speed. Yeah, just unplug the hose at the vac adv and stick a golf tee or or a pencil tip into it to plug it while you are working on timing and speed. The vac adv should be plugged into the full manifold vacuum at the base of the carb, unless points are set up different from HEI? Most sources suggest the timed vacuum port for advance, but GM always uses the full port for advance from the factory.
Tell you what, put some pics up that show the routing of the vacuum hoses and distributor/carb on your imagr and post them on the thread. I'll get my account up and running and repost the pics of my '78 routing of everything so we can see what the differences are between those years. I'm curious if anything changed?
Yeah my solenoid is bad. But...No one sells a replacement for mine. I cannot find one anywhere? Quite odd. Im kinda screwed on that one. I just universal ones that look strange.
I need to get a vac gauge. I got busy here for a few days so I havent been to the store. I was just at harbor freight the other day for just cheap stupid things to keep on hand, I wished I would have grabbed one. I copied down your instructions, I am going to try and get this running better. Its not terrible, but it happens randomly.
I think my carb truly needs a rebuilt, it is a rebuilt one on there, but I have no idea when he replaced it. Looks dirty, so hard to tell.
