Greetings fellow Wagoneers. My Chev Caprice is now back with me after great expense, after having the following rectified: Full Carb rebuild. brake pipes. trans pipe. welding and sealing under passenger rear wheel well. Heater blower control fixed. All seems great, i'm pleased that she's no longer idling lumpy, drinking petrol like knowbodys business and stinking myself out of the cabin with rich petrol fumes. However, a cloud does somewhat linger over these solved issues because it has somewhat thwarted her performance, she just seems a tad slow on pulling away and on take-off. Whereas before she seemed as keen as mustard, Now not so. Any of you think this was due to her sucking in to much fuel and now its normal and that i'm just not used to it? or yet possibly another fault outside of the carb? Other bizarre thing while stopped and trying to swiftly move off. - Put my foot down and although she moved (sluggishly) she shuddered, so much so even made the dashboard vibrate and in those micro-seconds let my foot off of the gas and then back on the gas and she moved off without fuss. I just wish my Wagon loved me as much as i love her! Regards to you all, hope your all well. Kurt.
I'm not an expert by any means, but it sounds to me like your rebuilt carb. might need to be adjusted. If the mixture of air and fuel isn't just right, the engine will not perform 100%. Just because it was rebuilt does not necessarily mean it was properly adjusted. I would let your mechanic know and see if they can re-check it and perhaps do some fine tuning.
Based on what you've changed, I'd confirm the timing then go back to the carb for some fine tuning as MercWoody suggested. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.
The FIRST thing to check is for a vacuum leak. Make sure all the vacuum hoses were installed correctly, and that they are all intact, including the nylon connectors. Then make sure there is no vacuum leak at the base of the carburetor. Just for kicks, make sure the hold down bolts are tight on the carburetor, too. If all that checks out, then check the timing. After that, the carb needs to be adjusted. That is a given. When a carb is returned from a rebuild, it is set to specs, which will allow the car to run. Then you tune it on the car to make sure it is set correctly for that particular engine. Get that all sorted and you should be good to go. Just cross your fingers that running rich didn't clog your catalytic converter.
I've had a lot of messed up carbs in my life and none of them made the car shudder unless it had a clutch and bogged out of the hole. I'm not saying it couldn't be the carb but I'd check for a broken motor or transmission mount. The repair guy who test drove it may have taken it out for a spirited test drive and done a few brake-torques to lay down some rubber and hurt something. The trans would be my next suspect.
Yes you can....On your birthday! As for your mighty wagon check all of the above mentioned. Most likely timing and carb adjustment. It's a piece of cake!
