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this truck has been an absolute nightmare since the first time i had bought it. Right now the truck has a real rough idle. the idle also jumps around from about 750 to 900 rpms. The truck feels under powered even with the 32/36 weber on it. When i step on the gas it has a hesitation and it misses and sputters while accelerating. i am the second owner. it has 91k original miles on the 1.8. i have replaced 3 fuel pumps, starter and 2 water pumps. it has new spark plugs, new wires, new intake gasket, a new coil, new points in the distributor gapped at .018, the timing is right on at 6, i took off all of the smog stuff and capped the lines. It has a brand new weber 32/36 carb with the correct jetting and a fuel pressure guage. the fuel/air mixture is supposed to be right on according to a shop. i had troubles with rust in the tank so i took the tank out and had it all cleaned out and put on all new fuel lines and a fuel filter before the fuel pump on the frame. i am just totally stumped right now on how this thing is still running horrible. it hardly idles and when it is idling it is rough. acceleration has misses and sputters. I was kind of concerned when i put the weber on about plugging all of the lines except the ones that go to the carb. are you supposed to just plug all of the lines that do not go to the carb? about the only thing i havent done to this thing is put in a new top end or look at the value train. any help would be much appreciated!!!! thank you

Just going to throw out random thoughts but I dealt with allot of the same issues...

If its an 80 I think it should have electric dizzy instead of points... Someone correct me if im wrong..

Mine did allot of the same until I put the MSD 6A box in. Or if it has points make it an electric dizzy either the Petronix or 80s dizzy route...

After i switched to the MSD box the idle ran like a dream...

Did ya check timing? (sorry if im down playing your intelligence)

There is post or you can look on Webber site for setting your Idle/fuel mixture... Turn all the way in back out two turns if it doesnt work it jetting blah blah... Good place to start

My tank was the same deal i did everything before i actually figured out it was the tank (plugs, wires, coil...) Found crap in tank had shop take care of it. DId you blow out lines after you did tank. I just placed the blower connection on the ol air compressor from tank hose and blew lines out ( carb disconnected of course)...

Just food for thought, I know when i post someone usually throws a trouble shooting tip that i havent done yet! Hang in there it will show up adn then you will have the AGHHHHH Moment!!

[quote="OX"]If its an 80 I think it should have electric dizzy instead of points... Someone correct me if im wrong..quote]

I have an 80 and it's points

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2006 GMC Sierra 2500 HD

when i did the tank, i replaced all of the fuel lines so that should be good. i actually put a new set of points in it along with cap and rotor. it ran great for about a day, then has since gone back to running horrible. even with that weber on there, the top end is lacking and only runs in the high 60's and acts sluggish. i know the points play an important role in the electrical of the truck. i have done just about all that i can with the fuel system and have pretty much re wired the truck with a new starter, coil, ignition condensor and new points. so do you believe that going with electric distributor then?

It sounds like bad plugs. I know you said you replaced them but did you use the standard recomended AC or Champian or Auto Lite brand? No platinum or anything special like that? Platinum especially will not work in some older vehicles.
Might try another set as they are cheap anyway.

I had a sticky vacuum advance plate. My timing would stick cuasing false timing and when it unstuck it would either detonate or run sluggish depending where the timing was set.

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Need a bit of a timeline of what was done when, and when did it run good for 'about a day'.

What you are describing is normally a fuel issue, which leads me to make a long distance diagnosis of junk in the idle and main jets, and/or junk at the fuel inlet (needle/seat).

Cleaning out a tank rarely works with a rusted tank unless you also use one of the high end chemical cleaning and tank sealing products (POR15 has one, I think eastwood does as well).

The reason you are bogging is that you push down the pedal, lots of air goes in, but not enough fuel, that ain't good, can burn a valve running that lean if that is indeed your issue.

Yes, a bad condenser or coil can also give some issues similar to this, but with the mentioned rust in the tank I'm really thinking that is your culprit.

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Thibble:
'59 Fairlane
'65 Mustang 289
'72 Suzi GT550
'80 Luv 4x4, weber, electronic iggy, 2" suspension lift
'93 Metro convertible
'93 Metro convertible (evil twin)
'03 SLK 320
'06 H2

i had put new plugs in about a month ago and pulled them out yesterday as i am now replacing the exhaust manifold gasket because of a new exhaust leak. the plugs are not cracked or fouled. The tank was removed and treated with a chemical rust eater with all of the lines replaced as of last spring. The coil, wires, cap, rotor, points, ignition condensor are new of 2 months ago. The weber was put on last summer along with an intake manifold gasket because of a leak. The fuel filter is replaced about every 2 months because of little sediment settling in the bottom of it, nothing major to cause it to run bad (i don't think). It ran good for a day, which was 4 days ago and then has since started running horrible. i still think that it might be because of some lines that are plugged that maybe shouldnt be when i put the weber on but i dont know. the plugs are new autolite and i had the distributor almost completely apart when i did the points. i had sucked on the vacuum advance to see if it was moving and it seemed a little hard but it did move. i am contimplating putting on an msd ignition box to see if that makes a difference. if i do that, do i use the stock distributor and maybe try and buy another vacuum advance just for the heck of it?

I think your problem is comming from all the loose sediment in your tank. You may try running some STP carb cleaner in the tank to see if it helps, but it might be a big piece of rust stuck in your jets in side your carb. Also try spraying carb cleaner directly into the vent and running it and see if it improves or take the carb apart and check for debree inside. Here what Iwent threw with my truck-

My truck I just bought had been sitting for 10 years and I got it for good price but it ran poor. It would sputter, spit, back fire and when it ran cold it would do @60mph. Then it warmed up it did @20mph or less. Everytime I would replace some thing it would run great and then it would act up again. Truck has over 100,000 miles on it. Reading many threads through the search on this site and it helped a lot. Here are some of the problems I had-

Top 10 list why my truck ran bad:

1.Bad Carb Replaced it with a Weber 38 DGES
2.Bad front brake calipers sticking and would slow the truck down to were it stoped cold until it cooled off-Replaced
3.Bad Fuel pump, worked but not enough pressure when driving. Replaced with a Mr Gasket blue pump rated 4-6lbs.
4.Too much fuel pressure. A regulator was in order, but a fuel pump cost just as much so I went with new Mr Gasket red pump instead. It was rated 2-3lbs which is required for a Weber per their instruction sheet.
5.Bad ballast resistor- Used an MSD 6AL to eliminate the ballast resistor
6.Bad points-burnt- Used MSD 6Al, it runs low voltage to the points so even if points are bad, as long as they make a signal to the MSD they work just fine. Eventually replace points, had a set of points in another truck that had a short in them, so I put new points in this truck and used points in that one that I don't drive often.
7.No mech advance in dist.-Took dist apart, Previous owner put SBC springs in mech adv. Springs to strong, adv didn't kick in till really high rpms. Replaced them with Mr. Gasket curve kit springs using med to lite springs.
8.No vacuum adv-Took the vacuum adv plate off. I was froze up with rust so I cleaned it with carb and brake cleaner, wd-40 and then pack the bearings with grease just like I would pack front wheel bearings.
8.Coil wire bad and a dead spark plug wire. Due to the MSD it ran on all cylinders but it had a miss and a back fire in the exhaust on deceleration, and vacuum showed poor vacuum. Was told the truck had new spark plug wires and cap and rotor. Friend of mine checked the wire and the wires had a lot of resistance and one was non existent, dead. The coil wire had so much resistance it was close to being dead. Replaced wires.
Truck started running 90mph. But ran bad at lower speed until the spark plug wires were changed.
9.Compression test showed all cylinders in good shape, check timing according to spec's. Timing good. Adv.good.
10.Blew a tire at @85mph after visiting Figueras and buying some LUV truck parts. Luckly bought some rims with used tires and used one of them to get back on the road. Replaced tires with new BFG'S next day

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even though the weber is new i guess my only option is to tear it apart. i had it apart 2 months ago when i did all of the electrical stuff to check the jets and when i did there was little to nothing in the carb for sediment. i did put on a mr gasket fuel pressure regulator on when i put the weber on and it is set at 3. im considering putting on an msd box since that seems to be a common thing it sounds like

Have you checked the fuel flow from your fuel pump? You will need to direct wire it or keep the key turned to check it but it's one more thing to eliminate.

OK, I better explain why I said that above. The fuel pump is energized with the key to the start position. When the engine starts and you release the key to the run position, the alternator closes a loop to the voltage regulator on what looks like a set of points, from there the circuit goes to a relay under the plate on the passenger side fender by the firewall, then from there to the pump.

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In life there is the "Way things should be" and then "There's the way they are".

2005 Silverado 3/4T Crew Cab
1981 Luv 2WD
1979 Luv 4x4 Currently going through Open Heart and Cosmetic surgery
1995 Roughneck JetBoat
1981 Luv parts trk

the fuel pump is new which is a beck arnley and was pumping right at 6 psi before i put the regulator on

Im thinking vacuum leak around your carb base or ballast resistor is bypassed and burning your points.

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1980 4x4

what exactly is a ballast resistor?

so the ballast resistor is the isolator on top of the coil? i think? if it is then it is brand new because it was brand new with the coil i just put in and the points aren't burnt so i dont know if an msd would even improve my situation? anybody know?

The MSD made a big difference on my truck

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if i buy the msd and hook it up, do i leave the points and all in the distributor?

All stays except the ballast risistor is not used-
1st drawings is a 6AL and next one is an MSD 5. Msd 5 is a lot less money and works fine. It has less options than a 6AL

http://www.msdignition.com/instructions ... terms=6420

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i bought an msd 6a box today with all of the wiring. i hope this cures my problem. we will find out and i'll let you guys know. i appreciate all of the replies

Sorry for the late reply. The ballast resistor lowers the voltage that is delivered to the distributor points from the coil. At the front end of the resistor you will get approximately 12 volts at the back end of the ballast resistor you will get less. Around 9 or 10 volts I think, maybe less. Mine is a generic I think it is 1.9 ohms. They didnt have the stock one and it was realy expensive 1.6 or 1.8 I think. Too much voltage will burn points fast. I guess it doesnt matter now, but if your points are burnt they are burnt. I dont know but Id bet that the coil you bought has an ignition resistor built in to it. After I found this website I learned a ton by going to the oldest page and reading forward. Good Luck

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1980 4x4