LeanBurn to Electronic Ignition Kit

[Rick Turner <arty@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dave..
I justy purchased a Mopar Performance Ignition from Summit racing. Mopar
Performance still carries them as well. Mine is for a 79 Lebaron Woody 318
with LeanBurn. You can get them for 318's, 360's, 400's and 440's. The part
number for the 318 leanBurn-ectomy to Performance Ignition is...
1-P3690426 Mopar Number (Whole kit)
Retail..189.00
With that you get the new Distributor with Vacuum canister and Orange
Ignition box, new ballast resistor, and a classic manual.. Instruction Sheet
DCF-194cc
The biggest dilemma is the carb....I'm keeping the Thermoquad, but I needed
to buy a few other Thermoquads (at 10 to 50 bucks each all over the place)
to get the baseplate that has the place to plug into the vacuum tube coming
off the distributor. The Lean Burn TQ's don't have any way to plug in the
vacuum tube for advancing the ignition as RPM's go up. A mechanic/junk man
told me over the weekend that from 1977 to 1989 he made tons of money
converting TQ's with no vacuum advance hole by drilling out the baseplates
and inserting a 5/32 tube, creating a vacuum tube that has zero vacuum at
idle. The hole inside the primary bore of the baseplate is actually a slot..
as the flapper opens, more vacuum is created, advancing the distrib. (If it
is indeed conected wth a vacuum hose, of course) The other TQ's I found were
pre-leanburn ones from cars, or any truck from 1973 to 1989. They didn't
have Lean Burn, and had traditional vacuum advance tubes in the front
drivers side of the baseplate. 
The reason I didn't use a Quadrajet.. I bought one and then hesitated...is
that the Qjets don't always have a place for the Charcoal Canister tubes..
one on the front for "in" and one on the back for "out". Since the fuel
systems are closed loop, any fumes from the tank are captured by the
canister and then dumped as vapor into the carbs.. TQ's did this very well,
and Q-jets often don't have the two large black tubes. I have been warned
away from bypassing the Charcoal canister. One could conceivably create a
vacuum if one bypasses or plugs off the canister tubes, I think, and
collapse the gas tank, or.. even worse, suction all the gas out into the
engine compartment on a hot day. Weird things might happen, and I like the
idea of excess fumes going into the carb and not the atmosphere...it's a
good idea. 
Actually, these tricks are well known by mechnics of the era, but we all
need to learn them as they pass from the wrenching scene. 
Older TQ's often need rebuilding...don't let anyone "tumble" or polish the
parts on a TQ.. some parts are cadmium plated, and polishing ruins them.
Just clean very well, blow out all the holes, clean clean, then put in an
Echelin reguild kit and new brass floats from Echelin. The original ones
will sink after a couple decades, producing rich burning and hard starting
and bad idle, especially when turning the car to the left for some reason. 
So even though everyone says the conversion is good and easy... it is, but
put as much effort into the carb as to the ignition. I'm rebuilding the TQ's
now.. one good one and an extra in case of leaks or unseen warpage of the
plastic body...that happens too in an overheated engine...but all in all, I
think the TQ is a good choice. 
Edelbrocks Performer carb is a copy of the TQ, and for 289 dollars, is a
good buy. However, no Charcoal canister tubes there either, and Not Stock.
Humph. Nuff said.
These are all the things I have learned from others and from direct
experience over the last two years of hobbying about.. I stand prepared to
be corrected if there is anything here not right..
Humbly 
Rick Turner
79 LeBaron Wagon  "Woodrow B. Wagon"
78 Lebaron Wagon "The Rock"  

> 
>A long time ago, I looked at a 1977 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham that had a
>MoPar-boxed kit (not installed) that converted a LeanBurn car to a straight
>electronic ignition.
>
>I have kicked myself ever since for not writing down the part number on the
>box. I hope someone where here knows whatof I speak, and knows that lucky
>part number.
>
>Thanks!
>Dave Duricy
> From: Dave Duricy <desoto@xxxxxxx> 
> To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> Subject: IML: LeanBurn to Electronic Ignition Kit 
> Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 16:48:48 -0400 
> 
>A long time ago, I looked at a 1977 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham that had a
>MoPar-boxed kit (not installed) that converted a LeanBurn car to a straight
>electronic ignition.
>
>I have kicked myself ever since for not writing down the part number on the
>box. I hope someone where here knows whatof I speak, and knows that lucky
>part number.
>
>Thanks!
>Dave Duricy
>
>
>
>