Idle problems and vacuum wierdness with nutter

[cyberworm]

Hey all. What a day! After a long night of reading, reading, reading, thinking, and reading, I was somewhat successful "nuttering" my CJ. I did run into a couple of issues that I'm not sure about and could use some advice.

First, once I had made a trip to the auto parts store, I came home and reread a few things, just to make sure I had my head around the whole process. The first problem I ran into, is with the stepper motor on the back of the carb. The directions make sense, and after trying two different ways to get it to line up as specified, it just won't move. I pulled it out and tried to push/pull the pins, but no luck. They are loose inside their housing/plate to where they can be turned, but they don't screw in/out, nor are they able to be push/pulled. Adjusting the idle screws to try and get it to move via computer control did not work either, as it just killed the engine. I'm pretty sure the stepper motor is busted, so the pin location is part of my problem. I had hoped to overcome that by opening up the idle screws a bit more, but I'm not sure if that is correct/efficient/whatever. Advice? I continued on with the nutter wiring anyways, hoping that the pin problem would be somewhat negligible...

I studied a few diagrams, and eventually went with a vacuum setup that has the dist advance running directly off of the carburetor, and removed the vacuum solenoids and mercury switches. It seems like I did everything right, though I'm left with an open purge line and the vacuum canister isn't connected to anything. On top of that, I have open connection at the pulse air line (that was running to the vacuum solenoids and mercury switches) that I'm not sure what to do with. I also have the sol-vac switch without any vacuum connection as well, though from what I've seen, it looks like it's fine to leave it disconnected. She starts up and runs, though without a timing light I can't get the timing to a satisfactory point that I can actually drive her. (If anyone is in L.A. on the westside and has a timing light, I'll buy ya a beer for the use of it for 30 minutes )

Also, only slightly off of this thread's topic, I have horrible alt belt squealing. I changed the belt, but the tensioning screw under the alternator will only tighten down so far, before it becomes loose again (like, it just gets to a point and will spin.. The thread on the screw is fine, it seems like the problem is in the mount). Would a nut on the backside be appropriate, or am I looking at replacing the alternator to keep bad things from happening at bad times?

 

[Jimbos76cj]

I cant help with the metering valve. sorry

IF you have any open connections that are pulling a vacuum you need to get them plugged. get some tight fitting caps from the parts store and plug every thing up.. if you have a bunch of screws in hoses get rid of them and plug it up. with the netter being done remove all the extra pieces and parts from the motor so you know exactly what your'e working with. If plugging all the loose ends does not solve your issue then get some carb cleaner and start spraying around any any place that you think can have a vacuum leak.. intake manifold where it bolts to the block, carb gaskets, carb it self, hoses, caps... any place that have vacuum running through it should get spray.. I use ether for this but its very dangerous.. If you spray something and the RPM's increase then you have a leak there so pay attention.. spray, listen.. spray, listen. Can you rent a timing gun from the auto parts store??

 

[cyberworm]

Sadly all of the parts shops I've called don't rent timing lights. They only sell them, and my conscience won't let me just go buy it and return it. I've actually got her running pretty well right now. Got all of the lines in their appropriate places and no vac leaks. It seems a bit odd, but I'm only using two vac ports on the carb, even though there are 4. Like I said, it's running well, so I'm not going to question it.

 

[ScottB]

Harbor Freight has a cheap timing light for less than 14 bucks. Works great. If you can't do that, Oreillys or Autozone will lend you a vacuum gauge. There's a technique for setting timing with a vacuum gauge. Just google it.