Reply to "Need some diagnostic expertise please: Engine/ignition?"

Mark,

this doesn't sound like a fuel supply problem, so I'm ruling that out for now. If the motor was starving for fuel it would "buck" and not just run out of steam.

Here's some things you can do:

Check to verify the secondary butterflies or their linkage is not rubbing on the intake manifold somewhere, preventing the secondaries from opening. If the carb has mechanical secondaries you can pull the carb linkage while you look down the carburetor and verify all 4 butterflies go wide open.

Pull a spark plug, connect it to its distributor wire and lay it on a metal part of the engine where it will be visible while the engine is being cranked. Have the engine cranked while you watch, look for a fat blue spark. If the spark is weak and orange in color, you got ignition problems.

Crank in some more static advance into the distributor, 18 to 20 degrees, and check if the engine will rev higher.

With a timing light hooked to the motor, start the motor & rev it, you should see the timing advance as the revs of the motor increases.


cowboy from hell