My 1956 88 at operating temp idles fine in park but when in gear stalls at a stoplight...thoughts/suggestions? Thanks

 

I can't say specifically, but what "generally" occurs with any of the older/vintage vehicles I've owned (including the 4-4-2's and older vehicles when I was a young man) and my current '71 CS, when the idle begins to get a little rough, and it starts to lobe a little more, it's time for a full tune-up: Rotor, points, distributor cap and (1) Dwell>(2)Timing>(3)A/F Mixture Screws (achieve the highest vacuum possible). My experience has >90% of the time demonstrated it was nothing more than a tune-up was all it took. I mean, seriously, it could be nothing more than adjusting the slow idle screw and increasing the RPM, but it's nearly always been nothing more than a good tune-up.

Mine will often get to the point where it gets wavy-gravy on going into drive w/o stalling, but then I again I keep my idle a tad lower than I believe most folks do.

 

As Norm stated, when was the last time it was tuned up? What settings were used?

 

Do you know what RPM it is set on now. Pretty simple to adjust the idle screw and bring up the RPMs a little and see before you start buying parts. I like just a very slight creep on level round when in gear, shouldn't ever stall on a stop.... Tedd