74 145 with kjet idles lovely but will not rev smoothly

1974Wagon · 2023-07-16T22:37:42+00:00

Who rebuilt the distributor and was it tested?or did you do it yourself

Major Ledfoot

ramrod brings up an interesting point - @1974Wagon what type of main fuel pump are you using to replace the original?

jamesinc

Unless you are seeing your pressures drop off away from idle, I'd say your fuel delivery is fine.

1974Wagon

I bought a Spectra SP1252 from IPD a couple of years back to replace the stock pump. As I have mentioned, the system pressure hits a steady 70 psi and the volume is just under a litre in 30 seconds.

This weekend I will hook up the pressure gauge again and watch the system pressure when the revs rise.

Major Ledfoot

1974Wagon
How did you go with this? Any resolution?

1974Wagon

Thanks for following up. For reasons far too boring to go into here, I have been kept out of the garage. I will get back to it as soon as it is possible.

1974Wagon

I managed to make it out to the garage this morning and hooked up the pressure gauge again. Warmed the engine and then watched pressure as revs rode. There is no drop in the pressure at all. Stays steady at 70psi. I assume this means I can eliminate fuel delivery from my search. Volume seems good and pressure remains good. I guess I am onto the fuel distributor again...

jamesinc

How much time have you spent on the (ignition) distributor? I'd check the vac and centrifugal advance and just verify they're working. If it's a points ignition I'd measure dwell also.

1974Wagon

Hello. Thanks for the message. I replaced the cap and rotor and installed Pertronix ignition. The distributor is centrifuge only and I was able to verify that the timing advanced as the revs went up. Is there anything else I should be checking?

jamesinc

Hmm no I think that is enough to say the ignition is basically OK.
In that case yeah I think you might be having to go over the fuel distributor. Maybe it is as simple as debris in the system. The fuel metering pin is supposed to be a precision machined fit, so it should slide smoothly and with no wobble, and if you pull it out of the fuel distributor you should hear a POP, indicating a good seal.

1974Wagon

So. What a journey. The long and the short of it was the piston and the barrel in the fuel distributor. Depending on the orientation it would either be super slick and smooth or, it rotated just a little bit then it got sticky and would bind. I cleaned everything really well and tried again but couldn't get the piston to slide smoothly in all positions. This explains the hesitant acceleration I think.

When I first got this car, it had been sitting in a barn for over 25 years and nobody could even remember what stopped it in the first place. Maybe it was this problem all along?

I got a rebuilt FD and fit it this morning. What an incredible difference. I am up and running and, with a few more tweaks, should be on the road very soon. Thanks for all your advice. I thought you might like to know the outcome. I guess once the piston and barrel are not perfect, for whatever reason, it really is game over.

Major Ledfoot

1974Wagon Thanks for telling us what happened, it all adds to the knowledge base.
Glad to see you got her going and there's another 145 saved.

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