First off, I have a 73 302. After replacing the spark plug wires the engine still had a stutter at idle. I also have pertronix in the distributor. I moved the coil to the fender well and rerouted the wires, and now the high idle is extremely high. Would moving the coil have affected the timing? I'm completely stumped at this point. I can't drive the car with the idle that high, but when I turn off the high idle, the car stumbles and dies. Also, before I moved the coil, there was popping in the exhaust. After the coil was moved the popping was gone, but the idle went crazy. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I've been trying to get the idle fixed for the longest time. Jonathan
I moved my coil from the engine to the front side of the shock tower and noticed no diffrence. Are you sure your distributor hold down is tightened good? My '71 F250 was doing something similar to that once and I found that the bolt in the dist. hold down had worked it's way loose over time so my timeing was almost continuously changeing.
Moving the coil would not cause that to happen. Check your throttle linkage and make sure that you don't have any snags. Make sure that your linkage allows the carb to open up from closed to full wide open throttle and go from there with timing and adjustments.
I agree moving the coil should'nt have any affect on idle unless you have some wierd grounding issues. If nothing else helps the idle you might want to check your initial timing and if you have a Holley 4 barrel check your secondary throttle stop screw. clint
Did u unhook a vacuum line some where? more specificly the vacuum advace from the carb to the distributor this will affect your idle but if you didnt touch your distributor your igintion system should have nothing to do with your idle and if you hooked your coil up wrong the car just plan wont start and if you did it right it will there is very little middle ground with a coil you either did it right or wrong. as for the running after you shut it off that also leads me back to the carb if its idling fast you can just turn it down there is a little screw on the carb turn it out the idle should drop. Same for the fast idle start your car let it run for a bit is there black smoke coming out of your exhuat when you rev it. I believe this problem is carb related.
I helped a bud work on his Cuda a long while back and it would idle OK but with a little pop once in a while. When he revved it up it would max out at 3000 rpm's then start popping through the exhaust bad enought to open up a Flowmaster. Turns out the coil wire was only just sitting there, not pushed in and the spark had to arc about 1". Too much load under higher rpm's to make the jump once in a while so it would load the pipes with gas then spark. Why I wrote this is to explain that some wierd things can happen on these old cars and trucks we play with. If it was my car I would start over. Check all the vacuum lines like stated above, check all the plug and coil wiring, check your initial timing, if you have a Holley I would pull the carb and set up the secondary idle stop to where it's only showing about .040 of the transition slot. back off the curb idle and then use a vacuum gauge to set up the idle cicuit. While the carb is off take some carb cleaner and spray the idle are bleeds and the high speed air bleeds. If these clog up they can make a car run wierd. I also would check all the engine grounds while I was in there just to head off any future problems. Just my 2cents clint
ok, I fixed the idle speed problem, but there is still a lot of popping in the exhaust. It doesn't do it noticably under load. But when idling, there is a dominant popping in the exhaust. The engine seems to stumble. I have checked and rechecked initial timing and it is 6 BTDC. All the spark plug wires are secure and the coil wire is also secure. I added an accell coil and it didn't seem to help. I have the pertronix mod in the distributor. I don't know if the 73 302 had a resistor wire or not but could that be causing the popping at idle? If so, how can I fix it. I plan on replacing the spark plugs later this evening. Also, the carb on the car is the stock motorcraft 2bbl. I believe it is a 2001. I have the mixture screws out 3 turns and the high and curb idle set correctly. thanks, Jonathan
'73 has the resistor wire. I think you need to get rid of it for the Pertronix, but you might wanna check their site to verify that.
I'd check the coil wires again. The car WILL start if the wires are reversed, but it will be seriously down on power. Switch them and see. Later,
I know this will sound funny but maybe you have the wrong firing order or a couple of wires crossed. I did that once on Tammy's car it wouldn't idle but it reved OK.
I think I have the firing order correct, but just in case, what is the firing order on a 73 302. Is there an alternate firing order? Also, what's the best way to get rid of the resistor wire? Thanks, Jonathan
ok, I fixed the popping in the exhaust. I cut out the resistor wire and ran an new wire. Now I have another problem. The ALT light came on when I drove to the store. This happened prior to removing the resistor wire. On my way back home, the light turned off, but when I started the car again the light was back on. Any ideas? Jonathan
wires wires sounds like you are having more fun then you should be , if the lites on it means the alt is dead/ dying , check your charging system whats it readind at idle , you should have a min. of 13.2 volts going to the battery , an if you bring it up to like 1200 RPm , it shouldnt put out more then 14.o volts , Is the battery good ?
Car will not start or run with coil wires reversed it just cranks. also this is not good for a coil ive seen one start smoking and crack. if you rev the engine up does the light go out it might just be your voltage regulator.
You should be able to get a cheap alternator tester at Auto Zone or somewhere. Just hold it up to the big wire on the back of the alt. to see how many AMP's the alt. is putting out. If if the alternator is putting out good power, replace the voltage regulator.
