Re: 74 Travelall, NEED ASSISTANCE!

[jlandry@domain.elided (John A. Landry)]

As the putrid festering facial boil erupted, jmbrodsky@domain.elided
yelled:

>     lying.  Anyway, It's a carter AFB, anyone hae info?  Square bore, 

Potentially a great carb!

Manufactured by Weber, it's functionally the same as the Edelbrock
Performer line.  Parts are available through Jegs / Summit.  Probably 99%
of Edelbrock parts will interchange, so you can use readily available
metering rods and jets (if needed).  Edelbrock's web site has the entire
carburetor manual (which I hear is better than the Carter manual) plus
technical information on-line for you to browse.

>        I also noticed that the number one cylinder is in a different 
>     place on the distributor cap thatn on my '75.   All theplugs were 
>     dark black, like a very rich mixture, but not fouled by oil, or 
>     other deposits.  Is it possible that the guy just put on anything 

Some of the Carter AFB's and Edelbrock's are calibrated way too rich for
normally aspirated street driving.  My 500 cfm Edelbrock was calibrated for
"performance" at the factory, and I run it two-stages (about 8% according
to Edelbrock's chart) leaner than out of the box.  It's highly likely that
the carb could stand not only a good cleaning, but recalibrating leaner.
Not only will you get better gas mileage, but the plugs and exhaust will be
cleaner.  But don't discount simple tuneup things like a new air filter.  A
filthy air cleaner or mis-adjusted choke can cause the mixture to burn
richer.

>     in any order?  When you sitch to points, what happens to the plug 
>     wire orientation?  Do I take out the no.1 plug and look for TDC, 
>     then look at the disty rotor, and line up accordingly?  Need 
>     assistance on this one too!

Plug wire orientation is something that can be controlled by you.  If you
decide you want the number 1 spark plug to be connected to the rearmost
distributor post, than as long as you keep the firing order correct, this
is fine.  In order to change the location of the number 1 plug wire (or
whichever one you care to use as a reference), you just need to make sure
the rotor points directly at it when that cylinder is at top dead center.  

That being said, most distributor cap manufacturers mark the cap with "1"
or a dot of some sort where the number 1 spark plug is supposed to go.
It's probably not a very good idea to have the number 1 plug someplace else
in this case... it could cause genuine confusion later on.  The only reason
I can think of to *not* have the number one spark plug in the correct
(marked) location is if the plug wire simply won't reach or something
similar.  In that case you'd want to mark the cap with something so you
don't forget which one you decided to use.

So as long as you have the rotor pointing at the cap terminal connected to
a cylinder at TDC, actual location is irrelevant.  However, don't forget
you have much less choice when it comes to the orientation of the
distributor housing itself.  Since you need a range of adjustment for the
timing, the interference between the manifold, water pump and vacuum
advance diaphragm dictates what position the distributor housing must be
in.

>        I also havent gotten a digest in almost a day, don't know if 
>     these are going out.

We're seeing your posts.

Regards,

John
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