I am sorry if I have missed the important questions you have asked. I am not ignoring them, just overlooked them.

The distributor has no vacuum lines running to or from it, so I assumed it would be considered an electronic distributor because it has no vacuum lines.

I hope the video will shed a little light on what I am dealing with, if not, please let me know what I can do....pictures or more video. I really appreciate all your help and taking the time to look over my problem with me.

On another note, guy at Advance auto ran the engine number and said the motor was dated around 1975, so around 10 years older than the truck. I dont know if that will make a difference, but i bought the fuel pump for the truck, and it looked just like the one i removed from the truck, but the in and out on it were reversed, took it back and thats when he told me the motor was older than the truck, so it needed a different fuel pump, once he grabbed it from the back, it was exactly like the one I took off, so it made a difference with the fuel pump, maybe that helps a little to diagnose the problem.

Thanks again

Thanks again, I am sorry if I missed your questions, I try to get on here as much as possible but being these not so smart phones are such a pain to try to do anything with, and working I just haven't been on here as much as I should be.

I said the distributor was electronic because it has no vacuum lines that I can find, so I assumed that if not vacuum then it must be electronic. Sorry about that.

If this video does not help, please let me know, I would be happy to take more video or pictures if it will help. Please let me know and thanks again for all your input so far.

I really appreciate you guys taking your time out to help me with this problem and anything I can do to make it easier please just let me know.

Sorry I sort of took over the thread for a bit, but now I have caught up with everyone else, we need to get this timing thing sorted out.

Truth be known, it will probably run with the timing locked, but you do need to know where you are at. If the timing is way off it's not going to idle. If you do not have a light, you could get the truck running as slow as it will go, then loosen the dist and turn it a little bit and see if you can make it run better.

This will be sort of a experiment, not a permanent fix. You have a mess going on here, and this truck is never going to run correctly from the sounds of the equipment it has on it.

Thanks, I assume you have watched the video?, where and how to I turn the distributor? I know the cap is held on by 2 metel clips on the top, but do I need to loosen something to turn the base or the top?

I know that when this truck was running, it ran smooth and great, never a single miss or sputter, drove to gas station on my break at work one day and when I came out to leave that day it was acting this way.

I get off work around 3pm tomorrow and as soon as I get home I will check this page again, and then head out to the truck to see what I can do with the distributor,

when I start the truck cold right now, it will run at high idle (about 2500rpm) and will keep running until the choke begin to open or I push the linkage. Once the choke opens it acts like to much air or not enough gas. I cant tell between the two.

Also when it is running cold at this higher idle it seems to have a thud like sound, not loud or deep sounding, just a noticeable difference in the way it sounds from b4.

Until I see pictures, I wouldn't trust anything said by a person working at a parts store. Pictures will help this thread move in the right direction.

If the truck starts and runs, then the truck should be easily tuned given time and patience.

Perfect, tomorrow I will take pictures of everything under the hook in hope it will help you guys to see a direction to the problem, it will run until the choke opens then it acts like it has problems. Thanks, is there any pictures in particular i should be sure to take?

I don't want to sidetrack things, but once the timing gets sorted don't forget the vacuum leaks. I think it is leaking like a sieve and the only reason it has enough fuel to run is the choke. Once the choke opens it dies.

Ignition is not the problem because it runs good slow and runs good fast.


Yeah, the video was nice. Seems extremely likely air leak. There is a massive air leak somewhere. It explains why it runs with choke, and why it runs very fast with choke. I would blame the 2/4 barrel converter plate.



If you can get it to idle, and video shows you can. Block all air from the top of the carb. with a cloth. I don't know about 4 barrel carbs, but block the secondaries with cloth, then block the primaries one by one. If you can block all 4 and it still runs massive air leak somewhere.

Use either a propane torch with a small tube connected and small amount of propane gas leaking out ( DO NOT LIGHT THE PROPANE TORCH), or starter fluid spray at base of carb, if it changes rpm then you found the leak.

It also might need a bit longer to warm up give it 10 mins or so to heat up fully and please..

SAFETY FIRST WEAR GLOVES AND ALSO FIRE EXTINGUISHER VERY CLOSE BY. I have MANY huge fire extingishers 1 in each car and several in the house, I hope I never use them.

Thanks, i will update tomorrow after work, as well as take some pics and more video, I will let it warm up to running temp and cover the secondary's and then the primary's one by one on video.

I forgot to say

you must have vacuum gauge
you must get/check fuel pressure gauge

without these two you're flying blind

you must have vacuum gauge to solve this
also you must have fuel pressure checked, get inline fuel pressure checker


my other thoughts are....

first, make sure no vacuum leak at base of carb(or anywhere else brake booster also). make 100% sure about this. if in doubt, cap/plug all the lines to be 100% sure.


then, check for sticking secondaries (open throttle full, many times and make sure seconaries close, if possible disable secodaries for now, so the valves remain closed)



also the non-idle mixture screw might be off, 1 1/2 turn? try 1 5/8 turn or 1 3/4 turn to see what happens..

these are suggestions to what to look for, not complete solutions

be patient and safe

Don't use starter fluid. It's too flammable and dangerous. Better to use spay Carb Cleaner. Less chance for a flash fire. Propane works but you need to attach about a 16" piece of rubber hose. You can't just stick the standard tip into the all places it needs to fit and the bottle has to remain upright.

However after all the discussion on this problem so far, I just don't think the OP has the skills to figure this out. Those skills will come in time - but for now call in a trained mechanic (there are mobile mechanics that can come to your house - or stop by the local repair shop and see if any of the mechanics do side work. Most of the young ones do).

Or put the original carburetor back.

I just watched the video(I can't watch it at home, uses too much bandwidth). Take the mixture screws on each side and turn them counterclockwise about another 1 1/2 turns and see if that helps. It's close to running.

I also see in the video the fuel injected distributor you are running.

yes Carb Cleaner.