Carb Gurus

[Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>]

OK.. I installed the Pertronix Ignitor last night.. piece o' cake!  I 
still need to remove that lovely EI box on the firewall, but the magnetic 
pickup and funky rotor are now in the parts bin in the garage!

Ran great.  All was well.  I fiddled with the accelerator pump some 
more.. I have it close.. just making partial turn adjustments on the 
linkage arm, trying to get some better off-idle throttle response..

Seems I can't tune it any closer.  Idle to WOT works fine.. the shooters 
squirt fuel in, and the motor *almost* doesn't miss a beat as fuel starts 
GUSHING from the main jets and roars to life.

But going from idle to half throttle, it still stumbles just a bit more 
than I like before the main jets kick in.  A case of not enough vacuum, 
right?  Could it also be too much fuel from the squirters too soon.. or 
enough fuel, too soon.. not a long enough squirt?  

The vacuum catches up faster when going to WOT than half throttle.. so 
the (to me) fast shot of fuel from the ACC pump is enough to keep things 
going for the moment it needs..  but not enough for half throttle.

Is it time to look into changing the cam now?  Turning the adjusting 
linkage just a little in either direction only makes the stumble worse, 
so I think I'm as close to optimal as I'm going to get.. with this cam 
and shooter.

Anyone care to comment on the coil being the same for my '72 points 
setup, vs. the '76 196 goldbox setup on the 4cyl?  The condensor wire 
fell off when I was tightening the nut on the coil last night the first 
time.. so after playing with the carb n' such, I shut it down, and put 
the condensor on.. and BROKE the coil post off.. I think I put a little 
lateral force on the wrench.. d'oh.

In a pinch, grabbed the coil from the goldbox'd 196 and put it in.. it 
works, but seems to be running pretty badly.  Sounded and felt much 
stronger with the stock (26yr old) coil still on.

I bought a new coil from NAPA (even though my Accel coil should be here 
Friday or Monday).. $33 for the stock coil, $27 for the Accel from 
Summit!  Sheesh...

Headin' outside to try the new coil n' see how that works.. new condensor 
too, for good measure.

Hmmm.. new "points" (Pertronix), new cap, new rotor, new wires, new coil, 
new condensor, several sets of new plugs.. not much left on the ignition 
side of things to change I guess!

Also finally bought some longer leads for the stick welder.. 30' ground 
and 35' electrode leads.. along with some 1/8" cutting rod (purchased at 
cost for $4.38/lb.. only had a couple 10lbs boxes.. so I have 10lbs of 
cutting rod to use on the racer!).  Can't wait to see how well I can cut 
up that old racer chassis now... beats the $3/pop cutting wheels for the 
4" grinder..

Oh.. I can only fit 2 33x12.50s in the back of the Scout.. with my 33x10 
spare in there, and my 3 Action Packers of parts n' tools.. the other 2 
tires had to go on the back seat & floor to get 'em to the tire shop for 
siping.. truck doesn't look *that* bad with the 29s on it... but I sure 
notice the difference in "roll-off-seat-and-out" height..

-Tom Mandera, Helena MT
http://www.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout
'77 Scout II - 72-304A, Pertronix, c/rT19,D20,4.09 44s, Tracklok & 
Lockright, 4" Skyjacker Softride, 2" longer rear shackles, rollbar, KCs, 
Bumper Thumper.. rolling on 235/75R15 re-tread snow tires on stock wheels!