[ihc] Age Old Carb Questions

["Joseph Shaw, II" <josephshaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Okay, regarding my recent acquaition '75 Scout II (345, Auto, 2WD), I have
re-timed, installed a new fuel pump, new plugs and wires, etc.  However, since
installing the new fuel pump, and thinking, NOW I likely have it working, I
should REALLY do it right, and thus, RE-setting the air gap, trying to time
it, etc, it is not running as well as I had it running at some points before.
It WILL start on its own now, which it wasn't doing before (needed a little
priming), but runs rougher, lots of small sputters and backfires through the
carb, etc.  I have tweaked the timing a million times, in each direction, and
have not been able to make it better, and it is not quite running well enough
to get out and check the timing with the light to make SURE of where it needs
to go before I try something else-here is my current thinking-wondering what
anyone thinks of this:

I did notice that when disconnecting the vacuum line from the carb base to the
dist that it was fairly loose, with enlarged ends.  It has come off of its own
accord since this process began.  Thus, I am replacing that vacuum line today,
but could a small vacuum line from that port cause such a reaction?

Just curious-it didn't sputter this bad or run this poorly when I had the
vacuum line disconnected to time it before, so don't see why it should run
that bad with partial vcacuum either.

Thanks for any input-I'll let you know how it turns out!

And for the record-I DO know the whole timing procedure from scratch, but
since I had it running failr well before, and could see/hear how the timing
affected it, I KNOW that it is within the timing general area-HATE to go to
all of that work (no one around to help with turning it over while I feel for
vacuum or pressure, etc) when I am quite confident it doesn't need that
specific of a re-time.

Michael