Larry,

It is good to have a known baseline, so a basic tuneup is a good call. My concern was the carb had already been swapped with no improvement, more of the same might just lead to frustration.

Combining our collective advice: looking at the parts coming out during a tune up and a bit of testing should yield insight into the problem...

Kevin

I missed that in the OP. I could see that happening, though if the carb was not the problem in the first place...

Thanks for the advice to all. Since I had no way at the moment to do a compression check; I used the part number database here and bought some tune up parts.

Relaced all plugs with NGK.
Replaced all plug wires with NGK
Replaced distributor cap and rotor with what was available at the parts store.

Plugs looked like they had been in a long time. The one by the firewall was a PITA!!!! That came out after a few shots of PowerBlaster(for the car...not me)and a rigged up extension/breaker bar. Made hellish noise most of the way out. The plug did too. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />


That one was nasty as were the next one in line.
Number 4 was the only one that looked halfway acceptable.

Rotor looked a little tarnished.
Cap looked decent.
Replaced them anyway.

So...did it run better???
Hell yeah!!!

Only problem now is it wont shut off - dieseling.
I adjusted the idle on the carb...up and down with no luck.

Next step...

I took it over to neighbor/mechanic he sprayed some solution (smelled like carb cleaner) around the intake gasket and figured that I had a leak there. It would pick up in RPM when he sprayed the solution around teh intake gaskket.
He suggested I tighten the nuts around that ...I did...with borrowed tools from him. Got maybe an 1/8th of a turn on a couple of them.

So I hopefully I tightened up a leak at the intake.

So I'm off to search for answers here and welcome any suggestions you all have.

Thanks again all.

I realized that I needed to tighten the intake manifold and like I said... I was able to get an 1/8th or more of a turn at each of them.

I then adjusted the idle...like I was adjusting Eric Clapton's Fender Strat.
I mean I was down to 1/8th of turns back and forth. Finally found the right idle for mine. Right around 400 RPM before it would shut off without dieseling.

Note: Once I replaced the air cleaner; I needed to adjust it down again. Not much but needed another 1/4th of a turn.

Yee-freakin-haw!!

Took it over to neighbor/mechanic...he thought it was running a little "off" . It was loping at such a low RPM when idling. He adjusted the mixture screw and it is absolutely purring like a kitten.

Runs better than it ever has.

Bottom line... it certainly didn't hurt to have the carb reubuilt ( Guaranteed Carburetors ). Although it likely wasn't necessary. It needed the tune up and some attention.

She's running sa-weet. Just in time for tailgate parties and some late summer paddle boarding. Maybe a redfish or two would be in order.

Thanks again to all that responded! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

Awesome! Glad you've got it figured out <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />