The story of my car

[Guest]

Hello, im shure you all have seen me posting around here by now about my 1976 Delta 88. Well i just wanted to tell you the full story behind it. I got the car about a month ago it looked good but very abused under the hood. The car barely ran for three days before it develuped a strange bog out problem. I poped the hood and began inspecting and found that the car still had almost every stock part!!!! including vaccum hoses oil filter ect. With 150k miles you can imagine what a problem this is. So i gave her a tune up new wires, plugs, fuel filter, distributer cap and rotar, Oil change which wasnt easy i had to drill a hole threw the oil filter shuve a long flat head threw it and basicly rip the thing apart to get it off. After i finish with this i take her for a test drive still has the bog problem dam. I take it back to my house pull the ignition module and take it down to be tested. Tests show that the ignition module was bad so i bought a new one go home install it still has the problem. So now i figure its got to be the fuel pump i buy one install it still has the problem. I decide the carberator must be at fault so i take it off rebuild it put it back on and poof there still is a problem but not as bad so i figure hey it must be somthin with this that is wrong so i replace every hose in the car(just about) and it still has the problem errrrr. I then convince my sister to buy me a new edelbrock carberator(YES) i get it home install it with minimal hassel and she is runnin good. The next day i go out to start the car and a horrible screeching noise pop the hood to find the water pump seized ERRRRR. I pull the radiator, fan, power steering pump and replace the water pump. I reasemble the car and find out the fan clutch went out!!! pull the raditaor again pull the fan clutch and replace. Not more than two days after this the breaks go out. get those fixed and new fluid and the steering starts squelching. I put more fluid into power steering and it seems to be working fine. Now today when i goto drive it it seems that it can not down shift when im on the highway going about 50 it stays in second gear unless i get it up to about 60 then it very violently kicks down into 3rd. So here i am minus about 300 out of my pocket 300 from my sister 700 for the car and it still doesnt run right im gonna chnage the tranny fluid today or tommorow or somthing and see if that helps ohh i forgot to mention the fact that i replaced every filter, a new battery and connectors, and alternator. PLUS i think my catalytic convertor needs to be replaced but i cant get it off i think i have to hack saw it off. Well thats the story of my car and i hope you enjoyed it i just thought i should write this so that you guys would know why i post so much here

[rocketraider]

James, young friend- first, check all the vacuum lines you messed with and make sure the one to the transmission's vacuum modulator is still connected at both ends and not kinked or split (modulator is a round thing with a vacuum tube going to it on right side of trans). If vac line isn't screwy, the modulator itself may be bad. The trans vacuum line will be steel with short rubber lines at the carb and transmission. It should connect to a manifold vacuum source.<P>What does the trans fluid look like? Should be clear red and smell like oil. If it's brown and has a funky burnt smell, it needs to be changed along with filter. You need to get as much of the old fluid out as possible, so if you can afford it, a lot of shops do full transmission fluid flush now. If you just drop the pan, all you're changing is what's in it and the filter. The torque converter will still be full of old fluid.<P>Did I send you the vacuum diagrams for this car?

[Guest]

Hey thanks for the post i will check the modulator when i get a chance but the trans fluid is a darker red and it looks like it needs to be changed. No you never did send me the vaccum diagrams but one question i have is with my new carberator it doesnt have ports for the EGR or the oil blow by(thing oppisite from pcv think its called that) and my new air cleaner has no vaccum hook up either so i just plugged all disconnected vaccums does this sound ok to you?

[rocketraider]

Dexron III is darker red than the earlier versions of Dexron. Smell it. If it's burnt, it has an unmistakable stink.<P>EGR vacuum source being disconnected won't bother a thing (might not make the smog police happy). Car will probably idle better and may not bog as bad (EGR stuck open will defintely make one bog). You do need to make sure the trans line is hooked to either an intake manifold vacuum port, or to a carb port below the throttle plates so it gets manifold vacuum.<P>The "blow-by thing" is your PCV fresh air intake filter- "breather" in oldskool terminology. You need it. What kind of aircleaner did you get? If you got a chrome open element it should have a knockout plug between the filter element and carb to moount a plastic nipple. You can then hook the PCV breather to the nipple with a piece of heater hose, or large PCV hose. Get a breather for a Mopar, it will fit in the valve cover grommet and have a nipple on top to hook the aircleaner hose to.<P>Post will get too long here. E-mail me privately, we'll discuss more.