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Dfr3604cuda

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Thanks. I am from Southwestern PA. Not far from Pittsburgh.
I was hoping to keep the car all original except for little stuff like hoses, clamps, distributer cap, and of course wheels and tires. But I can be happy with more horses under the hood, too.
I will have to figure out a new exhaust system. I am thinking of using factory 1971 340 exhaust manifolds instead of headers.
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Welcome from Pittsburgh too.
 

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fasjac

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Did you happen to do a wet compression test on that 318? For one that’s been sitting a while, might give you a better idea of what’s going on. JMO
 

Dfr3604cuda

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Thanks, All of you. The 318 is original to the car. Numbers matching. But It doesn't run right and I have a fresh 390 (318 stroker) The car was sitting in a garage for over 20 years. So the original 318 starts and idles but as soon as I give it a little throttle it acts like it runs out of fuel and stalls. I replaced the fuel pump, water pump, ballast resistor, plugs, wires, Fuel filter, distributor cap and rotor, EGR valve, the 2 barrel carburater, Radiator, and electronic ignition box. Nothing helped so I hooked up an electric fuel pump and bypassed the factory fuel line and filter. It didn't work so I Checked the timing and it was off about 3 degrees so I adjusted it. I checked compression and all cylinders are between 145psi and 165psi, which I thought was a little high for a stock 318. Went back to mechanical fuel pump and checked fuel pressure (7 psi). I blew out the factory fuel line and hooked that back up. Still no improvment. Vacuum at idle is 16 to 17 hg. It goes up to about 25hg with throttle pushed then stalls. I took the top of the new carb apart to check float level and it is good. So after all that I figured "Why waste any more time. Just pull it out and put the 390 in".
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My car sat many years in my parents garage in Dormont. I finally moved it to our house in Brookline. Then we moved to Finleyville to get outta the city and closer to work. I finally have time and a nice garage to work in. So... when I did start getting serious with it, it didn't wanna run. I had to fill the carb to drive it in and out of the garage. I figured fuel pump. Nope, fuel line. I hooked my compressor to the line and blew back to the tank, no flow at 80 psi. I took off the rubber line from the tank to fuel line and it was completely blocked.
 

Dfr3604cuda

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Also... We have an attached garage so when I drained the old gas the smell made it into the house and my wife had a **** fit. So........... don't do that !!!
 

LA390

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I should have replied about this sooner. I did get the 318 running well eventually. The problem was a strange one. There was a hole in the bottom of the intake manifold where a pipe plug deteriorated. Who would have thought to look there? So I replaced the intake with a factory 1972 four barrel intake for a 340 and a Thermoquad carburator. It runs fine now except that when it sits for a few days I have to spin it over several times to pump the ethynal fuel into the fuel bowls. Vacuum and oil pressure are fine. So the stroker motor is still sitting in the corner of the garage waiting for me to get bored with the lackluster performance of the 318. Thanks for the heads up about the fuel line blockage. Really hoping spring gets here sooner than usual.
 

LA390

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Hi DFR360,
I got the seats back from Weinmanns and they were a bit more expensive than I expected. $455 for the covers from Legendary and $424 with tax to have them installed. But they look SUPER. Just thought I would let you know for future reference.

From what you told me, I think I will have enough hood clearance if I remove the hood pad. Thanks.
 
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