[David Jones]

Tried that briefly the other night. Didn't see a big difference in the idle. Time has been my problem lately. I tinkered with it for about an hour Wed. evening after Church. A good bit of that time was just getting it up to temp and seeing where I was with my settings, checking vaccum etc. Then I lowered the initial and raised the idle speed. Tried 10 and then 8. Put it back like I had it to start with. My sister called and I talked to her a while and then briefly switched from the ported connection on the front of my qjet to the manifold connection, I have the transmission hooked to on the back of the qjet. Didn't see a big change in idle speed and by that time it was time for the kids to go to bed, which is of course right above where the car is, so, time to quit. Got to paint my youngest's boys room this weekend. The family really gets in the way of me having any fun!
Any further ideas will be welcome. I'm going to look at the mixture screws first and then see if the distributor springs have the mechanical advance coming in before it should. I welcome any and all suggestions. The tq converter is a 13" from Dynamic Converter. Stalls about 500 rpm over stock. Cam is a 220/224 hyd roller with a little over .500 lift. I had a 216/228 hyd before with .450/.480 lift.

[Jack Gifford]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Geoff:
The final position of the vacuum advance can in relation to the firewall [ or head ] does not change when you change where the rotor points. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wrong, assuming you move the mesh of the gears.

[Jack Gifford]

David- You've probably already done this- checked that the vacuum advance is actually functiong? Either with a timing light as vacuum is applied/removed, or with engine stopped, cap removed to watch breaker plate, and apply vacuum with hand pump, like Mity-Vac. Using the Mity-Vac in combination with a vacuum guage will tell you how much vacuum it needs for full advance, to compare with what the engine develops at idle.
Just my 2 cents. I've replaced quite a number of bad advance diaphragms over the years.
P.S. You've got mail.

[David Jones]

Thanks Jack. I've played with the idle mixture a little and the idle is much better. Still got some fine tuning to do, but I'm close. <span class="ev_code_RED">This thing has got some torque!</span>

[SpecialK40]

Appreciate the help, guys...I'll install with rotor pointing to #1 (cam sprocket zero at 12:00 high) again. The vacuum can clearance isn't an issue, I just felt it was a little close when fully (initial) advanced. Probably due to my HEI distributor being a little larger than the stocker. My setup is very similiar to Davids', mine also tries to stall when cold-idling in gear at 900rpm. It doesn't help that my EGR's are blocked off, as the car warms up slowly. Also, I use a manual choke on the Q-Jet, when this mill goes back in it'll have a Torker II and a Demon 750 w/vacuum secs and an electric choke, as well as a slightly higher stall speed on the converter. Hoping the looser converter will improve the cars' stoplight manners when cold. Has a nice lopey idle (Comp XE268H), I'm hoping a port-and-polish will really wake up this engine.

[buwalda]

Pontiac Jack,
What I said is NOT wrong, it is correct.

Once the desired initial timing is selected, then you can tighten the dist in one of eight [ since it is an eight cyl engine ] positions, assuming that vac adv unit does not foul anything. We know it does foul, so the one-of-eight positions usually selected is where the vac adv unit nestles in the gap between the left head & the firewall. If the dist is removed, the rotor can be rotated to another position, the dist re-installed, BUT THE VAC ADV WILL STILL BE IN THE SAME POSITION THAT WAS ORIGINALLY SELECTED. What has to be done NOW to maintain correct firing order is for the leads to re-positioned in the dist cap, so that the lead that the rotor pointed to before dist removal is still the lead that the rotor points to after the dist is re-installed .

[Jack Gifford]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">... you can tighten the dist in one of eight positions... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wrong. The distributor gear has 14 teeth- 14 ways to install distributor shaft. The 25.7 degree movement of the shaft and body is usually about what is needed to get the advance can to clear things.

[goatseeker]

OK David 3 days and no posts . How does that puppy run now!?

[David Jones]

I'm still not happy with the idle, but its better than it was. Played with the idle mixture a little and that helped. I really have not had any free time to mess with it. Painted sons room, kidney stone (see post in Lobby), work etc. I did drive it a little Saturday evening and I'm <span class="ev_code_RED">VERY</span> impressed with the power.

[buwalda]

Pontiac Jack,
I owe you an apology. You are correct. I thought the dist had 16 teeth.