Thanks to a lot of help from folks on this forum, my 55 Super 88 carb linkage problems appear to be at an end. After discussing the shifting issue with a very senior tranny guy, the transmission now shifts like a new one.
Here’s the secret: Find the linkage from down under the firewall that is connected to the carburetor through the bar connecting it to the bell crank near the firewall. When you advance the throttle, if the near vertical rod attached to the bottom of the bell crank moves toward the front of the car, lengthen the vertical rod. If the linkage causes the rod to move toward the firewall, shorten that same rod. This is not the rod that goes from the side of the carburetor to the top of the bell crank.
Now to get to my latest problem. The car shifts great but it has no pep. We just drove downtown to get ice cream and it will get up to 45 mph but it takes a while. The timing is set at the top of the notch and the dwell tests correct. I’ve played with the mixture screws to no avail. Pushing the gas pedal all the way to the floor doesn’t help. It just sort of mushes along. Would it help to advance the timing a degree or two? Any ideas would be welcome. We’re having nice weather here now so getting out to work on the car is a pleasure.

 

Oops. I forgot to mention that it sometimes backfires through the carburetor when starting.

 

Naws

 

Do you think the vibration dampener could have spun and changed your timing points? This is a pretty common occurrence with aging dampeners, rubber becomes hard and brittle and moves internally. And as an afterthought quite often a backfire through the carb can be a sign of a lean condition, among other things...Tedd

 

Very good point on the vibration dampener, i used a 2 groove pulley to get my 324 up and running, the original 3 groove was too bad to even use temporarily, the dampening material had turned to a very hard plastic. When i received the 3 groove back from Damper dudes the timing mark is inline with the key way, the 2 groove pulley that was still "useable" was about 5 degrees off when compared to the key way.

 

I’ll see if I can find the key way and see how it relates to the the timing mark. Thanks.

 

Tedd, I think you may be right. I removed number one spark plug and inserted a narrow blade screw driver. My 7 year old granddaughter keep a little tension on the screwdriver while I turned the engine over by hand. We located TDC, then checked the timing mark. It was not where it was supposed to be. According to the repair manual, TDC is at the bottom of the timing notch, while 5 degrees before TDC is the top of the notch. My pointer lined up about the same distance below the timing mark as the timing mark is wide. So, apparently, somehow it had a rotated out of the correct position. I set the timing at the TDC mark on the harmonic balancer which should be about 5 degrees before TDC. It runs better but still lacks a little in the oomph department. I’m now wondering if the poopy performance could be due to the down shift rod being out of adjustment. It doesn’t down shift when I press hard on the gas pedal. Could that cause the accelerator pump to not be activated when the gas pedal is calling for more gas? When I was cruising along today at about 30 MPH, I manually downshifted to S and was reminded why they call this engine a rocket. It accelerated impressively. If I could just get it to do that normally, I’d be very happy.
On a separate issue, does anyone have experience with the electronic ignition kits that fit inside the stock distributor cap? Do they do anything beside eliminate the points and condenser? Are they a good idea?

 

Im a big fan of making the most of original parts, not replacing them with more modern bits because vintage parts work when things are set up properly. BUT... in the case of an electronic replacement for points/condenser, such as a Pertronix type unit, I've been very impressed with those parts for many years in many cars I've restored. I won't tell you they work better than the factory setup when all is as it should be, but they do improve on reliability and cut down on maintenance. Im a fan. Some are not, but I've never regretted my installation of Pertronix.
I keep my points/condenser in the glove box incase something odd happens. Never has...

 

Good to know.