Hello everyone I am new to the board. I recently bought a 1971 Delta 88 Royale conv. All original car. The car ran and drove, when I first got it, but was hard to start when the car was hot. I did an ignition tune up. Then after struggling to get the timing right, the car ran a little rough in park, but died when put in gear. I figured the carb was to blame, and it being a 2bbl carb I already wanted to replace it anyway. I installed an Aluminum intake, and a holley street avenger 670 carb. Now the engine runs beautifully in park or neutral, but shuts off the instant I put it in gear. I an holding 19bar vacuum at the manifold, I did the trick with the carb cleaner, and found no leaks. I checked the vacuum off the connected components, and everything holds 25bar vacuum except the in car accessory vacuum, but with that dis connected, the car still dies when I put it in gear.

At this point, I am out of ideas, and would appreciate any help and or guidance.

 

Hmmmm. This seems like a question for the Olds Wizard (initials J.P.)

 

Is your idle speed and idle mixture screws set correctly? If your idle speed is too low in park the engine will die when you put it in gear.

 

Let's start with a little more information. First, when you say "shuts off" in gear, do you mean that the idle speed is so low that the engine stalls out? What happens if you give it a little gas before you stall out? Try holding the brake with your left foot, keeping the RPMs at 1200 or so, and shifting into drive.

 

I have the idle at 1200 right now, so see if that was the problem. the mixture screws should be close, if not correct. All the way in, and back out 2 turns.

By shut off, I mean shuts off. There is no struggle to keep running. It is as if I turned the motor off.

 

Did you checked the transmision electrics?
maybe you pulled by mistake a wire, is nearby the distributor

 

Neutral safety switch problem? This could have nothing to do with anything under the hood.

 

The NSS is only connected to the starter motor. It has nothing to do with the ignition circuit.

There are only a few possible options here.

If the engine dies immediately like you turned off the key, then either you have a loose wire or short someplace that is being exercised when the motor torques over when you put it in gear, or you have a problem with the trans being locked up. Possibly there is a problem with the torque converter.

The most likely problem is that you have a massive leak in the power brake booster or attached hose. Obviously you step on the brake when you put the car in gear. Try disconnecting the hose that feeds the booster and capping it at the intake manifold. Now try to put the car in gear and see what happens.

Other than these two problems, the engine would stumble an stall, not die immediately. You said you had trouble setting the timing. Is it correct now?

 

Thanks. Learn something new every day!

 

I finally got out in the garage to work on the car some more. I lifted the back of the car up in the air and was able to turn the wheels with the transmission in gear. To me that says that nothing is locked up there. I searched wires for a short, bad connection and found nothing out of the ordinary. With every hose disconnected form the engine, the problem was still there.

Now the car is really hard to start, and won't idle below 1000rpm. I have the timing set at 8 degrees btdc at 1200rpm with vacuum advance unplugged.

The problem started when I redid the ignition system. I replaced the cap/rotor, wires plugs and coil. I pulled the distributor to convert it from points to a Pertronix electronic ignition, but one was already installed. Could that be bad? I have looked at everything else, and keep coming back to the ignition. Should I just put a HEI in it?

 

More screwing with the timing, and the car is alot easier to start, but still dies when I put it in gear. However now If i hold the gas down and put in in gear it will stay running, until I let the revs drop. Hopefully I am getting close.

 

Remove the # 1 spark plug, then have a buddy hold his finger over the spark plug hole. Remove the coil wire and kick the starter motor over until the # 1 cylinder is at TDC of the compression stroke (your buddy's finger will be blown off the spark plug hole). Then look at your harmonic balancer. Your timing mark should be close to 0 degrees on the timing tab. If it isn't then your harmonic balancer has slipped and your timing is probably way out of whack. It sounds like you can get it running by tinkering with the timing and setting the carb idle speed and idle mixture screws.

 

I previously made sure that my timing mark on the harmonic balancer was correct. I set my full advanced timing at about 37 degrees btdc, and the idle timing came out at about 14 degrees btdc. car starts up a lot easier, but still isn't quite what it should be. with it running, and all vacuum lines attached, I turned the heat on, and it killed the motor. So I unplugged the accessory vacuum, and gave it a little gas, and put in in gear. It didn't die. I took it for a short drive around the neighbor hood. The car drives great, and has massive acceleration. However it i leave it in gear and let it coast to under 10 mph the car will die. I have to pop it in to neutral, and give it gas whenever I put it into gear, or it will stumble and die.

Thanks to everyone for the help so far, and any more input will and is always appreciated.

 

You don't have a radical cam in it do you?

 

I believe it is a stock cam. I was told that is was all original.

 

So you still have a vacuum leak.

 

Well after a lot more looking for a leak, and rebuilding my new carb. The problem persisted. My thoughts went back to timing. So I said screw it and ordered a Pertronix HEI distributor. Problems solved.

Thanks to everyone for their input, I never would have been able to narrow things down without you.

 

Good to hear that you got it fixed.