Engine Studder and low power troubleshooting

[Guest chevy_dude97]

So I really couldn't tell just how much the engine missed while under load as it has a really "open" exhaust when I drove her home for the first time. I had noticed not only cracks in the exhaust but a very bad vacuum leak. I have since repaired all of this minus the studder when giving it some decent pedal. Now I am no expert on buicks.... so I can't say weather she should have more power but its pretty lack luster.

I will immediately check plug gaps along with a compression check and try some fresh gas with some lead adders in the morning.

What I was wondering is can the capacitor or points have anything to do with it? Oh and would a 12v inductive timing light work if I power it separate say from my battery charger or another 12v battery?

[Aaron65]

By all means, check out all the tune up items first. I can run my timing light on 6V, but my dialback light won't work, so I just hook the inductive "clamp" to cylinder #1, and then power the light from a spare 12V battery. Make sure the vacuum advance is working and the mechanical advance in the distributor is free. With all that being said...these things are slow by any standard. Mine would be lucky to get to 60 in under 20 seconds...Surprisingly, you get used to it, and it will keep up with city traffic just fine, but you use a lot of pedal, and gas mileage gets even worse. I tell people that it's really slow, but at least I get bad gas mileage. Overall, expect around 10 MPG if you use 10% Ethanol (which is pretty much all we have around here).

[60FlatTop]

There is a cork pad under the breaker plate that is supposed to be lubricated from the distributor oil cup. There is a good chance it is dry. Even though you see the vacuum advance work it may be dragging. although t is a delicate piece of cork I have been able to remove it and work fresh oil into them with my fingers. It makes a world of difference.

Bernie

[Guest chevy_dude97]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will pull out my timing light and check all lubrication points as I go through the ignition.

[Guest chevy_dude97]

AAron65 Completely right with the non advance timing light worked as advertised. ran through all the wires and re-gapped the plugs 7/8 plugs where past no-go. As I remember when trouble shooting the "no spark" condition I had just gapped the #1 plug and when I checked spark she fired right up. So when I did it to all of them today she fired up and ran very smooth, even from a dead stop WOT she did not stumble and pulled alot harder than previous. I guess I must have messed up the gap when I was cleaning the plugs, for my "tune up".