intermittent carb backfire?
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intermittent carb backfire?
Friend just bought a 72 Charger SE with the 400 (Alex will know the car). He's tickled to bits with it, but about every 3rd time he stands on it, it falls flat on its face and backfires through the carb. It has a Holley 600 vac sec, Edel dualplane, headers and MP electronic ignition with a blaster type coil. Sounds like it has a mild cam in it too.
I checked all the usual stuff, and found the initial timing to be a bit high (18 deg), but retarding it to 10 deg didn't seem to help any. No visible dribbles from the carb, but I did wonder about a ruptured or weak power valve. I'll swap out the Holley for my 750dp to rule out the carb next time.
In the meantime, has anyone got any bright ideas?
I checked all the usual stuff, and found the initial timing to be a bit high (18 deg), but retarding it to 10 deg didn't seem to help any. No visible dribbles from the carb, but I did wonder about a ruptured or weak power valve. I'll swap out the Holley for my 750dp to rule out the carb next time.
In the meantime, has anyone got any bright ideas?
Yes, Alex it's the yellow one. Float levels and shooters are fine. Timing mark was wobbling a little: 10-12 at idle after I retarded it, but no worse than most. I'll check the reluctor air gap before I swap the carbs though. It's the intermittency of the problem that made me think it might be the carb. Anyway, thanks for your advice guys.
Good point Alex, but it will backfire if you snap the throttle open from idle at a standstill in neutral. In fact it's more prone to doing it when NOT under load. It certainly shoots an impressive flame up the carb throat without the air filter on - it singed my eyebrows!
You may be onto something though, like maybe dirt in the pump squirters or main jets. Andy said it was fine on the drive down and for the first day or two. It has got progressively worse since, but it may just be that he was being gentle with it initially. I did wonder about the blaster coil malfunctioning - not sure whether it's one of those MSD type ones that fires lots of sparks for each ignition. Anyway I'll swap the carb tomorrow to rule that out.
Another pic for James, with the cool Rallye bulge hood...
You may be onto something though, like maybe dirt in the pump squirters or main jets. Andy said it was fine on the drive down and for the first day or two. It has got progressively worse since, but it may just be that he was being gentle with it initially. I did wonder about the blaster coil malfunctioning - not sure whether it's one of those MSD type ones that fires lots of sparks for each ignition. Anyway I'll swap the carb tomorrow to rule that out.
Another pic for James, with the cool Rallye bulge hood...
Thought I'd give a quick update on my 3rd attempt to tame Andy's Charger's backfire. Found lots of things it isn't, but still can't diagnose it
Firstly, I took the dizzy cap off to check the reluctor gap, and found... a set of points! Yep, the electronic ignition module on the firewall fooled me into thinking that it had an electronic dizzy, but someone has swapped a points dizzy in. The module's wires are taped into the wiring loom, but don't actually go anywhere. Anyway, the points looked new, but the gap was about 10 thou, so I re-set the dwell (and timing, of course). It ran better generally, but still spat back through the carb once it warmed up (is that a clue?).
We then swapped the 600 carb for my known Holley 750, which made no difference at all, so the carb is ruled out. Fuel pressure is fine too.
Vacuum test showed a steady 17" at idle, and behaved as it should when the throttle was opened and shut quickly. So, I'm pretty sure there aren't any vacuum leaks, but we test blocked all hoses anyway, including the brake servo.
I'm starting to think it has to be electrical. It has high quality new plug wires on it, but we made sure they are separated properly. Andy will try a new condensor, but after that he will take it to a place that has diagnostic equipment.
Firstly, I took the dizzy cap off to check the reluctor gap, and found... a set of points! Yep, the electronic ignition module on the firewall fooled me into thinking that it had an electronic dizzy, but someone has swapped a points dizzy in. The module's wires are taped into the wiring loom, but don't actually go anywhere. Anyway, the points looked new, but the gap was about 10 thou, so I re-set the dwell (and timing, of course). It ran better generally, but still spat back through the carb once it warmed up (is that a clue?).
We then swapped the 600 carb for my known Holley 750, which made no difference at all, so the carb is ruled out. Fuel pressure is fine too.
Vacuum test showed a steady 17" at idle, and behaved as it should when the throttle was opened and shut quickly. So, I'm pretty sure there aren't any vacuum leaks, but we test blocked all hoses anyway, including the brake servo.
I'm starting to think it has to be electrical. It has high quality new plug wires on it, but we made sure they are separated properly. Andy will try a new condensor, but after that he will take it to a place that has diagnostic equipment.