Backfiring and Stalling?

[jonnyc]

Nothing obvious, but it is pretty rusty and I was thinking there might be a problem along it that I'm missing. The vac gauge reads a pretty steady 20, so I think I got all/most of the vac leaks sorted out.
I guess I' grasping at straws here, trying to eliminate potential problems. Hopefully the return springs and valve setting will magically remove all the gremlins.

[SafeAirOne]

Don't forget that there are $5 gaskets between exhaust manifolds and heads and between exhaust manifolds and down pipes and that manifolds are held on to the head by studs, nuts and/or bolts that can loosen up. Same with downpipes to manifolds, yada, yada, yada...

Just a word of caution for you: Wholesale replacement of parts to solve problems can get expensive after a while. Troubleshooting to identify the specific cause of a problem is the method most often employed by us non-wealthy.

[jonnyc]

Yes, I know, but I have been working with this problem (unfortunately it's probably more than one issue) since December. At some point you do have to begin to eliminate certain areas.
What gasket is there between the exh. manifold and down-pipe?

[SafeAirOne]

What gasket is there between the exh. manifold and down-pipe?

Actually, the 2.25 might not have one. I'm not sure, just going off my 2.5 setup. Either way, there's SOMETHING that performs sealing duties between the manifold and downpipe.

[bmohan55]

I hope not as I just replaced those parts w/o a gasket!

[jonnyc]

Relax, no gasket between the manifold and down-pipe.

[jonnyc]

Valves adjusted and backfire seems gone! The first 7 were spot-on, but #8 (an exhaust valve) was about .02-ish too big. Fingers are crossed tightly.
New carb return springs and a scrounged longer piece of linkage might have fixed my idle issues. Toes are crossed!