Re: File this one under "Do I feel stupid, or what"

["Jay" <jciampi@xxxxxxxx>]

Matt,  I have an American with a 232-2bbl and it idles fairly well in Park
or neutral, but when in Drive and after it has warmed up it runs rougher
than a corn-cob. If I give it just a little bit of gas, it seems to smooth
out a little. I will try your bolt torquing and WD-40 spraying before i take
the manifolds off and change the gaskets. I have a new exhaust manifold
ordered for the car as I hear a bit of an exhaust leak most of the time.
Thanks for your post. It gives me some insight into my problem and possible
solution.

Jay in  Lake Placid, FL.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matt Haas" <mhaas@xxxxxxx>
To: <mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2004 6:34 PM
Subject: File this one under "Do I feel stupid, or what"


> One of the nagging problems that I've had with my American almost the
> entire time I've had it is a rough, hot idle. I've done a bunch over the
> years that has sneaked up on solving the problem but since I got back from
> Kenosha, the problem has gotten much worse and at times, it's been more
> like riding a mechanical bull than sitting in a Rambler with a stockish
six
> cylinder.
>
> Anyway, outside of rebuilding the motor, I've done the following to the
car
> to try and fix it:
> - Removed the heat riser valve (was stuck half open) and had the faces of
> the manifolds machined flat, double checked the seal by spraying with
WD-40.
> - Cursed at it
> - Noticed that the dwell angle was all over the place at idle so I shoved
a
> Pertronix Ignitor in it
> - Cursed at it
> - Put the correct carb back on it (it had an Economizer with a bad choke
> coil when I got it). Checked for leaks again with WD-40 -- made no
> difference in idle quality.
> - Cursed at it
> - Fiddled with carb jetting, idle mixture, and timing. Checked for leaks
> again with WD-40 -- made no difference.
> - Cursed at it
> - Put a rebuilt distributor on it (or more correctly, put the rebuilt
> distributor's guts in my housing since the housing I got was messed up)
> - Cursed at it
> - Fiddled with idle mixture and timing
> - Cursed at it
> - Replaced the plugs, wires, and cap
> - Cursed at it
>
> None of these things really fixed the problem (the distributor sure helped
> with acceleration and high speed operation) but my cursing skills have
> improved quite a bit so it wasn't all for nothing.
>
> I had actually tried spraying WD-40 at the joints between the carburetor,
> manifolds, and engine a few more times than what I mentioned above and it
> never made a difference until today so I had pretty much written off
> "vacuum leak" as a problem. What I did different was drive the car first
> until it started idling rough. I then popped the hood and first thing I
> checked was the choke. It was wide open so I started looking around and it
> looked like there was a gap between the manifold and the gasket at the #3
> cylinder. I got out the WD-40 again and gave it a good spray and sure
> enough, the engine smoothed out quite a bit for a few seconds. I sprayed
> WD-40 at a few other places and saw improvements in idle quality again so
I
> got out my torque wrench and started tightening bolts. It seems what I did
> when I had the manifolds off almost 5 years ago was to fully tighten the
> bolts that only go into the exhaust manifold and just snug up the rest of
> them. The bolts that attach the intake manifold were a full half turn
> loose! I torqued them to 25 ft. lbs and reset the idle mixture and took it
> for a test drive. I'll need to go recheck them after the engines had a
> chance to cool down and I'll probably have to replace the gaskets to get a
> totally smooth idle but man, what a difference a tight intake manifold
made!
>
> Matt
>
> mhaas@xxxxxxx
> Cincinnati, OH
> http://www.mattsoldcars.com
> 1966 Rambler Rebel
> 1968 Rambler American sedan
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