LUVTruck.com

Okay, the carb on the truck is relatively new, i would say about 6 months or so. It is the standard DCH that comes on a 1979. The issue that i am having is that it is very hard to start when it is cold, and also it has an odd hesitation/bogging down symptom at around 1200 rpm. This happens even when the truck is warmed up all the way. A thing i noticed is that i must keep the gas pettle pushed to keep it running when it is cold but if I go forward or backward a bit it runs rough, but doesnt require me to keep on the gas. My timing is dead on 6 degrees, my dwell is almost perfect, points, plugs, wires are all new. I just want to be able to go out and turn the key and have the thing run. The truck itself has about 86,000 miles on it and is in excellent mechanical condition. Just these nagging problems. Oh, fuel pump is new and so is the filter. I have also replaced all the fuel lines. Anyone have any advice?

Try adjusting your timing to 9 degrees BTC, plus check your automatic choke to see if it's doing it's job properly and see if that helps....

Thanks Taz, i will try looking at the choke again in the morning, what will advancing the timing do for me?

Advancing the timing will help. For mine I actually have a "winter" tune and a "warm weather" tune.

At first I was hard headed and insistant that it be tuned to 900 rpm, but when I got tired of having to sit in it and freeze trying to manualy warm it up with my foot, I decided to advance it. Just kinda did it by ear. That and adding an MSD holds it steady at about 1100 according to my tach.

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FIAA: Color Guard

These engines run a lot better advanced more than the specs. I got mine at 10ºBTDC. Idles fine, starts great. Goes 70 on the freeway without even trying. MEPR said to run it up at 12ºBDTC, but I was being conservative!

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'78 1.8L 4-speed Fleetside

The only thing more beautiful than a sunset is a sunrise.

Mine is at 12 and is pinging under load. I'm going out right now to back it off a little.

Thanks for the advice guys! I am definitally going to give that a shot.

Mine was at 16! I took it down to 12 and cleaned and gapped the points, checked the dwell and messed with the carb a little. I'll drive it to work tomorrow and see how it does.

Oh man, 16°!!

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'78 1.8L 4-speed Fleetside

The only thing more beautiful than a sunset is a sunrise.

I personally never care where my timing is at at idle, what I care about is the total timing, which on my small blocks is 35 degree's.

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Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

Make sure your vacuum advance is working. It will cause a bog like that right off of idle if the diaphram has a hole in it.
The stock 79 Luv distributor has 24 degrees maximum advance in it. So if you add 10 degrees base timing it gets you 34 degrees. Should be about right for maximum performance.

That's okay, I'm not burning up $500 in rubber per hour. I just want to ride smooth from point A to point B. And, try to keep the oil off my hands for a few days. Rebuild, rebuild, rebuild.

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'78 1.8L 4-speed Fleetside

The only thing more beautiful than a sunset is a sunrise.

And if it's not, holler... I am no longer using mine.

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FIAA: Color Guard

Vacuum advance, is that the valve on the side of the distributor? I set my timing to 10 degrees, and that seemed to clear up the bogging and idle. Not sure if that fixed my starting issues, have to wait until tomorrow morning to check that. A couple more questions, when you remove your fuel line, should gas be present all the way to the top of it? Also, how much vacuum should I be seeing coming from the distributor? Thanks you much to 79-Luv'r, egg, FullaLuv and Tumwatertaz for your advice.

V/A...that's the one

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FIAA: Color Guard

Well, after about 100 miles of driving today, I would have to say that I still have that bogging down issue, the truck drives great at high speeds, though when you stop and are in low RPMs, it has the bogging down issue. At this point, after replacing just about everything on the damn truck, I would start to think that I may have a distributor problem as 79-Luv'r suggested. Going to do a search on LT.com and see what others have done.

When I pull the vacuum hose off the Vacuum Advance on the distributor, there is no suction what so ever from the port on the Vacuum Advance. How much vacuum should i be seeing?

Hmm, I tried sucking on the vacuum hose from the dizzy like I read on another post, and I am unable to suck air from the dizzy which according to other posts means that the V/A is good. I was able to get it to run better by turning my choke very far counter clock-wise. I am an idiot when it comes to electronic chokes, can someone give me the choke for idiots explanation of how to set the thing? I know i need to wait until it is cold, but i am unsure what it is i am supposed to be measuring.

The correct term is electric choke, and it has a heating element it it which causes a bimetal spring to open the choke plate. Just make sure the choke lever is inside the bimetal spring's hook, and tighten it down when the line on the housing aligns with the line on the cover.

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'78 1.8L 4-speed Fleetside

The only thing more beautiful than a sunset is a sunrise.

There is no vacuum with the throttle closed at idle. There should be vacuum there when you open the throttle like at cruising speed. About 10 in or more. The sucking on the hose thing is a good check--sounds like it is ok.