piece of crap!!

[cousindave]

Ok I'm about ready to set her on fire!! She's a 73 seriesiii. The PO installed crane xr 700 electronic ignition, pierce manifold and weber 32/36 dgv . Also an electric fuel pump was installed along with a fuel pressure regulator that is set at 2.5. My issue is backfiring. I rebuilt the carb and jetted according to pierce manifolds reccomendation. I checked the timing and it is.spot on. I changed spark plugs wires and cap and rotor. Ichecked to see if distrributor wobbles but I don't feel anny real wobble. Actually the shaft seems tight. I swapped out the ignition coil and still nothing. I don't know what else to check. Oh yeah, one more thing. She starts and idles beautifully she backfirees when i give her gas. She backfires mostly out of the exhaust but once in a while I'll get a flame 6 inches high...thanks again. Also new gas tank was installed along with fresh gas out of a new gas can. I'm wondering could the crane ignition be faulty

[NickDawson]

do you have a set of points you can try?

[Walker]

I don't have the same goodies on my rig but when I had the same experience it was a timing issue, especially if backfire is coming out of the carb. I used the beer on the wing method and the blue meanie starts first time and runs great.

Art

[cousindave]

Inteesting observation. On the engine side of the carb there is a nipple in which a hose is attached which attaches to the vacuum advance on tthe diistributor. When i detach the hose from the carb she runs the same. Now if i rev her and detach the hose she sounds better. She still runs like crap but better with hose detached. I did this several times, she almoost stalled once. Any ideas? Is vacuum advance shot?

[Sputnicker]

Very likely and easy to check. Connect a length of vacuum tubing to the vacuum advance and suck on it with the distributor cap off. It should hold a vacuum and you should be able to see it moving the distributor plate and advancing the timing. If it won't hold vacuum, the diaphragm is shot. If it holds vacuum, but nothing moves, then something is stuck or disconnected.

Also, if it runs better with vacuum line unhooked and the carb sucking air (not sure if you plugged the line), then it suggests a fuel mixture problem.

[cousindave]

So, I began removing the electronic ignition to throw the points back on,(thanks Nick for getting my brain back on track) and in removing the optics i noticed one of the three wire had broken completely off due to age. Luckily the PO kept a spare optic under the driver seat. Too drk to get all hooked up again, but I'll be out there at the crack of dawn installi.g the new optics. Wish me luck!

[cousindave]

Always, always, always underestimate the previous owners workmanship! !!!!!
Ok. so I replaced the optical trigger worth a new one, in doing so I noticed something wasamiss with the sparrk plug wires. I had replaced the wires a couple of dayys ago, but just replaced them according to how they were already. Plugged in. That day everything looked good, i mean the firing rder was correct 1342. So today as I'm setting the motor to tdc to reset the new trigger, I stared at the distributor cap still with wires attached, and wondered something doesn't look right... THen it hit me, like a ton of bricks, the PO hab reversed rotation of the firing order. He set the firing order as if the rotor spun clockwise, in effect swapping number 3&2 wire. I swapped them, buttoned everything up, and fired her up, and you wouldn't believe it she runs terrific. The moral of the story is don't rely on what the po did as correct, check eveerything!!!!

[NickDawson]

He set the firing order as if the rotor spun clockwise, in effect swapping number 3&2 wire. I swapped them, buttoned everything up, and fired her up, and you wouldn't believe it she runs terrific. The moral of the story is don't rely on what the po did as correct, check eveerything!!!!
Hey thats great news - congrats on sussing it out!

[73series88]

CHEERS,
Aaron

[SafeAirOne]

Good catch!

You know what the frightening thing is?

The frightening thing is that WE are all eventually going to be the "previous owners" of our rovers! Some poor bloke is going to be cussing us for something! ;)

[lrdukdog]

Good on ya bluey! This is an Aussie term I picked up in Vietnam years ago.:thumb-up:
Jim Wolf