84 Eagle is unbelievably slowww

[Amc1320]

I still think you need more advance to your timing like Eaglefreek said

Im not against a timing light, Its just that with a 30 year old chain riding on a nylon gear it possible that things don't line up quite like they used to

I have an MC 2100 and an HEI dist, its all about enough fuel and fire at the right time!

keep us posted

[IowaEagle]

If there is timing chain stretch, as mentioned, that could be your problem.  The way I used to time cars and still do is leave the distributor hold down bolt just loose enough to be able to move it incrementally with a bit of force while driving the car with the engine at operating temperature..  Going up hills really helps with this.  That way you are dialing the timing in based on your engine's age and wear.  You will know when you hit the sweet spot and can tighten the dizzy down.

[jsherrod]

well i retarded and advanced the mess out of the poor eagle to no avail... i may have noticed a slight improvement, but not worth noting... however i did clock my 0-60 time if you are interested... IF im on a flat enough surface to reach 60mph i can get there in a speedy 45 seconds....    -_-

probably going to get new plugs and a compression test this weekend...if that doesnt work i will probably have  to replace timing chain unless there are better ideas.

[eaglebeek]

Before I replaced the timing chain the crankshaft rotated 10 degrees or more before the distributor rotor started to move. I could hear the timing chain slap the inside of the timing case at idle speed. I'm surprised it ran at all.

Following replacing the timing chain I had to retard timing at least 5 degrees. I had horrible knocking where it was set.

[carnuck]

You can counter some of that by putting in a 4.0L timing set ('91 and newer) which retards cam timing and allows for more initial advance timing without pinging.

[jsherrod]

compression came back ranging from 130-150 ...motor was cold.

[carnuck]

Compression sounds good so it seems you have a retarded spark or carb air flow problem. Is the mechanical advance functioning in the dist?

Are your brakes dragging? Mine just were.

[jsherrod]

the mech advance moves and pulls the distributer but the car runs the same if it is connected or unconnected...im going to replace the guts (already had a new cap) of the distributer and put new spark plugs in and see what happens... the brakes dragging is a curious idea.....I will double check that as well

[IowaEagle]

Why not put in an HEI distributor?  That would eliminate the troublesome Motorcraft ignition module and give you more spark.

[carnuck]

Mechanical advance is in the bottom of the dist. You're talking about the vacuum controlled advance.

[eaglefreek]

Make sure the choke is opening up.

[eaglebeek]

You can counter some of that by putting in a 4.0L timing set ('91 and newer) which retards cam timing and allows for more initial advance timing without pinging.

Yeah...I wish I knew this before I changed out the timing chain. The deed is done, so I'm going to leave it as is. Even with the 4.2 chain/sprockets I have better response at higher RPM than with the old worn-out 170k-mile chain.

I still think you need more advance to your timing like Eaglefreek said

Im not against a timing light, Its just that with a 30 year old chain riding on a nylon gear it possible that things don't line up quite like they used to

I have an MC 2100 and an HEI dist, its all about enough fuel and fire at the right time!

keep us posted

I agree. Mine barely ran with the old stretched timing chain and timing set at factory spec. Particularly at high altitude advanced timing is necessary. You can always dial it back if you get pinging.

[carnuck]

Factory spec is only good for about the first 10,000 miles of a car's life. After that you adjust for wear and tear.

[captspillane]

Are your brakes dragging? Mine just were.

This is a great question to ask.

It is common to have brake drag. Luckily you have an '84, so those calipers are less likely to drag than the older design. You still need to make sure the caliper can easily slide on the pins. Your best bet is to pull each pin one at a time and clean them up and put them back with copious amounts of never-seize to lubricate them. I've also had a mechanic accidentally install the drum brake auto-adjusters on the wrong side before. It took me months of problems before figuring out what happened. Of the top of my head I think it should be right hand threads on the driver side and left hand threads on the passenger side. I've also had frozen parking brake cables cause brake drag.

[jsherrod]

i couldn't quite figure this issue out so I took it to some old timer... he is working on it now but he just keeps insulting me and the car. He calls me and goes "who did the abortion on this engine"...his feathers were all ruffled because the carb was not the carter and the distrib had been upgraded lol