RE: {Chrysler 300} I hope I did not buy an engine with a problem...

Hi Guys,

When I first started the engine I had placed the distributor on my Sun Machine and it was dead on per the service manual.

I rebuilt the carb myself and was careful to double check all the settings. Although one cannot check that the emulsion tubes are good or the idle circuits are not hogged out due to years of lead gas ‘blasting” the passages.

I swapped the parts because I had left my vacuum gauge in SF like an idiot and it is a 160 mile round trip…it was easier to swap the parts I had on hand.

In a few days I will know for sure. But I think it may have been a combination of too cold spark plugs and too rich idle mixture screws.

I placed my vacuum gauge on it, now that I am back in SF, and had about 17 steady inches. The gauge was not swinging. It moved no more than a needle width at idle.

What I did notice was that I had opened the idle mixture screws, a few weeks back when I first started it, the listed amount of one to two turns open. I then set the mixture screws to rich best idle.

That was my mistake.

I decided to reset the screws in to lean best idle. Odd in that the passenger side went in a lot more than the driver’s side. I did have to turn them in a lot before it wanted to tank the vacuum and start to burble the engine!

When I set it to lean best vacuum it settled down a good amount and the vacuum came up from 17 to 18 inches.. I took it out around the neighborhood with a lot of stop signs and the idle seemed to be good. So far, so good.

I then got it home and re-set the idle speed. That factory service notice from 1964 states that the idle should be at to 700 RPM with headlights on and in gear. I did that and then I put in in Park and turned the headlights off the engine went to 850 to 900 RPM.

Is that the “normal” spread between loaded and not loaded RPM with a fresh engine?

Tomorrow is supposed to be a rainy day so I will let it sit in the garage. On Friday I have my normal car guy lunch across town on the Embarcadero on SF Bay and I will take it across town in all the stop and go traffic and see how it acts.

James

From: dplotkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <dplotkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2023 14:15
To: James Douglas <jdd@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Chrysler 300 List Server (chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: {Chrysler 300} I hope I did not buy an engine with a problem...

I agree with Ron that a vacuum gauge would be helpful here. It may tend to the side of far fetched to expect a 60 year old engine of unknown mechanical condition to idle glass smooth on pump gas. Time to give this engine a full physical, vacuum gauge, fuel pump pressure, timing light, detailed distributor/vacuum advance inspection and compression test. Its always better to determine problem via diagnostics than swapping parts.

-----Original Message-----
From: "'James Douglas' via Chrysler 300 Club International" <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2023 12:05pm
To: "Chrysler 300 List Server (chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)" <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: {Chrysler 300} I hope I did not buy an engine with a problem...

I pulled the NGK plugs with a #7 heat range. They have about 200 miles on them. The number 1 plug, I had it out and I cleaned it, before I drove back to SF it was worse than the clean plugs but not as bad as the darkest ones in the photos.

As the photos show, some plugs show fouling. The engine is not producing smoke on acceleration or deceleration.

I put in new plugs with a #5 heat range (hotter) and will see what I get. The idle feels a little better, but not dead smooth.

Issues on both sides if you look at the photos.

Next up is looking for vacuum leaks.

James

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