Car Stalls when put into any gear

[solids0be]

1973 dodge 400 CI 727

i just rewired my entire engine bay after having a catostrophic electrical failure. I replaced the Alernator, Battery, positive batt cable, battery terminals the voltage regulator, the coil and the ECU inside my distributor.

with that being said Ive finally gotten the car to charge again....but now the car will stall when put in gear. Its not a vacuum leak because  I hooked my vacuum gauge up and Im showing strong Vaccum at idle between 19-21PSI in park.

It could be a Carb issue but it was working great before the wiring went south, and im pretty good at adjusting the Holly 750 DP w/VS so im pretty sure its not that.

the most likely thing in my mind the distributor being mis adjusted (Accel 170000 series Billet dizzy) after i removed it to install the new internal ECU and my timing is off but I Believe I have it dialed pretty close because  in because in Park it sounds great, it starts easily and it dosn't backfire. I did notice that the RPM increases if I retard the distributor (turn the dizzy clockwise)..is that suppose to work that way? Im thinking if not that maybe I put the dizzy in 180 degrees off and the timings just totally messed up? Im really stumped.

When I actually put it in gear I can keep the engine running if I give it gas while I engadge the parking Break but as soon as I let off the gas it dies.

Im not sure at what RPM it dies cause my Tach got wiped out with everything else. But Ive got a good ear and ive adjusted the throttle bolt so its around 900RPM at idle and it still dies. I think I got it the engine to stay running at around 1100-1200 (Just barely) but i Don't want to damage the tranny dropping into gear at that speed.


any help would be appreciated Id like to get her back on the road to enojoy some summer cruising

[flyinlow]

Turning the dist. clockwise on a bigblock should advance the timing making it speed up assuming you are in the normal range of adjustment.

Some dist. advance curves start below idle speed. ( not stock ones) So the result is you set you idle speed with some centrifical advance applied. When you put the car in gear ,the engine rpm drops causing some of the timming advance to go away and furture reducing you idle speed to the point on some carb/engine combos that the engine stalls.     Still could be a vacuum leak/carb issue.

If you put the dist 180* out it will not run. Unless you move the plug wire 180* to match. Mopar slot drive is simpler then Cheby gear drive.

[firefighter3931]

Get a timing light on it and adjust the base timing to 16* at idle. The use your vacuum guage and adjust the idle mixture for max vacuum. Once that is done then set the idle speed and you should be good to go 


Ron

[solids0be]

Turning the dist. clockwise on a bigblock should advance the timing making it speed up assuming you are in the normal range of adjustment.

Some dist. advance curves start below idle speed. ( not stock ones) So the result is you set you idle speed with some centrifical advance applied. When you put the car in gear ,the engine rpm drops causing some of the timming advance to go away and furture reducing you idle speed to the point on some carb/engine combos that the engine stalls.     Still could be a vacuum leak/carb issue.

If you put the dist 180* out it will not run. Unless you move the plug wire 180* to match. Mopar slot drive is simpler then Cheby gear drive.

But I thought Counter clockwise advanced the dizzy on big blocks? Thats what ive read online and thats why I was getting confused.

[flyinlow]

Mopar Big block distributors rotate counterclockwise viewed from above. To advance the timing,turn the distributor housing opposite to the direction of rotation. (clockwise) according to my 73 service manual.

On a stock Mopar dist. the vacuum advance unit kind of points in the direction to advance the timing.  Not sure about the Accel unit,but the advance/retard direction should be the same.

I agree with Ron ,set the base timing at about 16* BTDC    and check that the total mechanical  ( base + centrifugal advance) is about 36* BTDC  by about 3000 engine RPM.  All this is done with the vacuum advance unit unplug ed if you have one. Later you can fine tune the timing +/- maybe 5* to perform best with your engine and decide if you want to use the vacuum advance , if installed on the Accel dist.

[solids0be]

Fixed

Timing was way off, carb needed major adjustment was running too rich, Blocked off the vacuum Advance on the dizzy and set the idle screw to about 800 RPM in gear just enough not to stall out when shifting into gear.

She was running like a champ.Too bad after doing a quick highway run and a 30 minute cruisedown a backroad to test the 0-60 acceleration my Accel Module in my Dizzy fried out again...luckily my boss has time to tow me home and hel me push her into the garage, Hopefully Accel will warrenty replace it seeing its not even 2 months old out of the box