gradedcheese

Well, after some tinkering the RX-2 now starts (with a little difficulty) and runs every time. However it has to be kept at something like over 1500 or 1700 rpm or otherwise it dies. I can do that by having the choke out or the throttle pull on the dash out a little bit. At that point it runs fine in neutral and, if put in gear, the engine speed drops to 1000rpm or so and the car is driveable in "D" or "R" just fine.

WHat should I look into next in the proccess of making the car idle at the right speed? I'm hunting for vacuum leaks but I haven't found any yet. Is there a specific way that one adjusts the idle circuit on the carburetor?

Thanks!

Cory Simpson

I don't know a hole lot about these cars, but to me, it sounds like the load, and idle screw's need to be set on the carb.

karism

Like Cory said : First check your idle speed,and mixture setting.

If that is fine,then you should look for vacume leaks.That normally causes a engien not to idle.Check all your vacume hoses,spray some quick start or something similar at the gaskets,and see if the idling speed changes.If it does,then you have a vacume leak.

Hope this helps


Karis

gradedcheese

I'll try to give it the 'ol brakekleen spray test. I have what i think I'm supposed to adjust on the carb (the two screws in the middle as you look at it from the spark plug side) set the best I can now.

gradedcheese

couldn't find any vacuum leaks

However, what do you guys think about this:

I loosened both distributors and if I just turn the trailing one it effects engine speed (of course). If I turn the leading distributor, there is NO effect on the engine speed whatsoever, no matter how many degrees I turn it. This is with the car running at around 1800 rpm or maybe 1500 rpm, the lowest I can get it to still run it.

The leading coil seems to work and the distributor has new points and new condensors. It seems to spark at the points if you try and turn the motor over with the cap off.

Do I need a new distributor?

karism

I really wont go as far as saying a new dizzy .I think your timing might need adjustment,as a starting point.
Remove the leading dizzy ,and with the ignition on,turn it by hand.(please isolate your hands ,to prevent a electrical shock that might occur).Look closely at the spark.Is it allways the same,and does it fire everytime ?

Also meassure the resistance of the coil : Reading should be about 0.9 ohm + - 0.09ohm.After everything checks out ok,you can set the timing.I set mine in the following way..

The dizzy has max centrifugal advance at + - 1750.
Keep the rpm at 2000,with the vacume advance disconnected. With a timing light,check that your timing is in the region of 20atdc for leading,and 30atdc for trailing.

(10 degress split for leading and trailing is needed on a stock engine).

Could you describe the procedure you do to start it ?
(how many pumps of the accelerator,how long it has to turn,how hot is it outside,choke? etc)

From your starting procedure,i`ll try to figure out whats going on with the carb

Karis

gradedcheese

karism -- thanks for the info. I didn't get 0.9ohm at the coil so I bought a new one and put it in. The car fired up and revved much higher until I turned the trailing distributor to retard the timing (I turned the leading one too) and then it was running alright in choke,

Then something stupid happened: a bunch of smoke started pouring out of the automatic transmision, to the point that I thought the damn thing would catch fire. So I shut the damn car off.

I'll see what i can do tomorrow. Ugh.

DriveFast7

iTrader: (1)

Could be a tranny leak getting ATF on the exhaust pipe. Or auto trans going up in smoke?

karism

Mmm. Is it maybe some oil on the exhaust ?Glad to hear it at least behaves different after the coil replacement.

What state is your carb in ?What about float levels and so ?All up to spec ? Your throttle isnt sticky is it ?

gradedcheese

The tranny was in "neutral" so I think it shouldn't have been doing anything to make it smoke... I guess the damn thing is leaking. I am not one for automatics so the auto tranny is going in the dumpster anyway, I just want to get the car running so that the whole conversion is justifiable for me. I bought the pedals already, I just need the manual gearbox, hydraulics, starter, etc.

My carb seems to be working fine, the viewports on the side indicate (I think) that the fuel in the floats is the right level and the throttle seems to work fine. The thing that does not work is the air block-off plate in the choke mechanism. To start it at first I have to hold that plate down to choke the air. After it's a little warmer I can start it with that plate open. The choke itself works fine though.

I'm not sure what to do next, I suppose I'll jack the car up and look at the automatic to see why it's leaking. There's no oil underneath the car, which is odd. I'd really like to just get it running and then do the gearbox swap and then worry about swapping ignitions to the single-ditrbibutor system next.

karism

At what rpm is it idling now ? I`am quite sure its just a little fault with the carb,nothing serious.

Maybe a stupid que..what state is your fuel filter in ?
They have been known to cause allot of trouble,also the fuel pump output. It should deliver 1400cc (i have no clue how many ounces that is) or more per minute.

gradedcheese

The fuel filters are new.

My tach stopped working at some point (yeah) but it sounds like it's idleing high still (and it needs a tiny bit of throttle to idle or the choke barely on). I'm going to look at the carb again. Turning the leading distributor still doesn't affect idle speed, oddly enough. I need to double check to see if the points fire on cranking in the leading one.

Looks like the tach is driven off the negative side of the l3eading coil. I measured between the (new) leading coil's +/- posts and got very little voltage. SOmething is going on...

Then I reallized the B (magnetic field) from the alternator is not hooked to anything because the harness on this new alternator, though it hooks to the RX-2 plug, doesn't have the B wire going anywhere! Crap!!!

Can anyone tell me where an RX-2's B wire is supposed to go? No diagrab I have matches wires to functions on ther alternator (12V, ground, B, etc).

karism

I`am not sure which Rx2 you have...hope this helps.
The wire is white,with a red stripe.

gradedcheese

thanks! I have the 1973 4-door model.

So the B wire goes to the instrument cluster? Shouldn't it go to the regulator?

Darth Linux

Graded:

OK, first, the fact that your tach died and turning the leading distributor does nothing means YOUR LEADING DISTRIBUTOR ISN'T DOING ANYTHING!!.

Not yelling, just being emphatic. That will explain a ton of why your car doesn't run right.

Second, what happened to that full wiring diagram I mailed you? That should tell you exactly where the alternator wire is supposed to go to . . . .

If I were you, I'd install a new set of dual points in the Leading Distributor and try running it again. I bet your leading points aren't even opening hence you are getting only trailing spark - which is a terrific way to make your engine run like utter crap.

Dave

gradedcheese

Well that's what my initial thought was.

I use the diagrams you mailed me 90% of the time but they do not have anything more than wire colors for the alternator. Since I had to put in a 'new' alternator (a brand new rebuild from the parts store) I'm confused on the wiring because the new one had a connector to the RX-2 harness but the B wire goes nowhere in it (as I noticed a couple days ago).

I have new points in the leading distributor. I am going to have a firend crank it with the cap off again and see if they fire still. The condenors and leading coil are also new

It very well might be a bad leading distributor,. in which case it looks like a rebuit unit is only $70 or so and well worth the investment

Darth Linux

The b-wire maybe used for the external regulator on the 2. Does your new alt. have an internal regulator? Can't recall if you've done that upgrade or not.

I can't see wasting money on a new distributor unless the shaft is SO worn that it is wobbly or something. All you should need to do to it is spray a bunch of wd-40 or whatever down on to the centrifugal advance springs and then make sure they are springy. clean all the gook out of the point mounting area, then put your new points on. You can actaully adjust the points while the engine runs (when it runs correctly) by running the engine on just the trailing distributor. I may have mentioned that to you before.

Anyhow, pull the leading cap and see if the points are firing or not. If they aren't recheck the point gap and make sure they are getting voltage via the little wire that the points connect too.

gradedcheese

Ok, an update

I couldn't get the leading distributor to do anything different no matter what so I replaced it with a rebuilt unit from the parts store. All the sudden my tech works and the car seems to run great (and I can finally set the timing).

Unfortunately now when the car runs for more than 15 or 20 minuts the automatic tranny starts smoking a lot and I smell something burning. There's smoke pouring out from underneath the car where the automatic is.

I guess I'm going to assume my ignition troubles are probably over and I need to do the manual swap ASAP

karism

hey.
Thats great to hear about the ignition!

Sorry to hear about the Auto tranny,manuals are way better ,much less hassles!

karis

gradedcheese

thanks. I am trying to find a manual that will bolt up so I can dump the stupid automatic