Re: [AMC-list] Coulda been Great

[Frank Swygert <farna@xxxxxxx>]

Is this a 196 car? I hope the problem is indeed in the distributor and the rebuilt unit with Pertronix takes care of the problem. An intermittent miss can be caused by a cracked head though. My first 196 OHV powered car had fine cracks in ALL SIX combustion chambers. Drove it like that for three years with an intermittent miss that traveled from cylinder to cylinder -- never could pin it down. It would run perfectly smooth for 5-19 seconds then miss, and continue like that at idle all the time. Give it a little gas and it stopped missing. I figured it was wear in the dizzy or carb. Found out it was the head when I got 2/3 of the way from Idaho to SC when I moved. Was pulling a utility trailer, through a blizzard crossing the Rockies, and when the going got easier the head decided it had had enough! Got up and started one morning and didn't drive 15 minutes when it started pushing water out the radiator. Not pretty! The good thing is it ran contentedly like that for years, did
n't go until the engine was worked harder than normal for three days straight. It was normally a three day trip, but the blizzard got ahead of us over night and the interstate across Kansas was closed. We had to drop south through Colorado and go over the top part of Texas, adding another day at least. Ended up adding four days when the head went.

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Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2011 13:02:54 -0800 (PST)
From: Joe Fulton<piper_pa20@xxxxxxxxxxx>

The car started OK but has been having a slight miss on acceleration.? I thought
maybe the miss was caused by the damp weather and that

the ignition system would dry out.?? I let it warm up some then launched out
onto US 101 north to Gilroy.?? About 10 miles down the road
the miss got worse and I started looking for a place to turn around and head
back home.? About?that time there?was a huge backfire and I pulled over
because it felt like I had run over something in the road.? The?jolt was just
the shockwave from the backfire.? Drive shaft, etc. were still all intact
when I checked underneath, except there was a huge hole blown in my brand new
muffler.?


I restarted the car and it sounds like one of those fart can rice rockets now.?
I turned around and headed for home, still with the ignition?miss.?

I have a factory (A-1 Cardone) rebuilt distributor on the workbench at home with
a newly installed Pertronic unit in it.? The problem with the miss
has been internittent before and when the car runs good it really runs good.?
Some day I will get this Rambler back on the road.?? I think.


--
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars"
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
http://www.amc-mag.com
(free download available!)


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