First of all, my CDV is a 73, but I have the 72 shop manual, so I wanted to verify that the 30 degree dwell and 8 degree past TDC timing is still the same for my 73. It should be, but I want to make sure.

Also, one of the early steps for setting timing is to set the idle speed to 600rpm, but that is all the detail that the step has. How to I change what the idle speed is set at if I need to change it? My apologies if that is a stupid question, but I am teaching myself all of this as I go.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Not sure about your specs for timing and dwell, but 30* dwell is almost certainly correct, and 8* timing sounds right. I remember seeing similar numbers listed in the Chiltons that covers about 20 years worth of Lacs, which may be one good thing about that manual. (Is it 8* _before_ TDC or after?) If you have a FSM, you might look in the index, under Carburetor, for the idle speed adjustment. Mine is in the Engine Fuel chapter, the section is called Low Speed Idle and Mixture Adjustment (On Car). I have heard it called the "lean-drop" method on this board. You will probably want to get a carburetor adjusting tool from an auto parts store. It's a long snakey screwdriver thing. It is hard to get to those idle mixture adjustment screws on the Q-Jet. The tool shown in my shop manual looks sweet, but I haven't found one yet. The one I got at Advance sorta sucks.

And you have a points-style distributor, right? If you have HEI-style, the HEI manufacturer may recommend more advance for the initial timing. (?)

It sounds like you and I are on similar paths. I wish you luck. Mine was running _great_. Then I decided to replace my carburetor, and began all the adjustments. My timing was reading all screwy, so I replaced the distributor with HEI. Now my car no longer runs. Soon, I am sure I will figure it out. Anyway, that's my cautionary tale.

Not sure about your specs for timing and dwell, but 30* dwell is almost certainly correct, and 8* timing sounds right. I remember seeing similar numbers listed in the Chiltons that covers about 20 years worth of Lacs, which may be one good thing about that manual. (Is it 8* _before_ TDC or after?) If you have a FSM, you might look in the index, under Carburetor, for the idle speed adjustment. Mine is in the Engine Fuel chapter, the section is called Low Speed Idle and Mixture Adjustment (On Car). I have heard it called the "lean-drop" method on this board. You will probably want to get a carburetor adjusting tool from an auto parts store. It's a long snakey screwdriver thing. It is hard to get to those idle mixture adjustment screws on the Q-Jet. The tool shown in my shop manual looks sweet, but I haven't found one yet. The one I got at Advance sorta sucks.

And you have a points-style distributor, right? If you have HEI-style, the HEI manufacturer may recommend more advance for the initial timing. (?)

It sounds like you and I are on similar paths. I wish you luck. Mine was running _great_. Then I decided to replace my carburetor, and began all the adjustments. My timing was reading all screwy, so I replaced the distributor with HEI. Now my car no longer runs. Soon, I am sure I will figure it out. Anyway, that's my cautionary tale.

Thanks for the response. I'm still on points, though HEI is in the plans for this season. My car isn't running so great at the moment, so I hope to get some improvement. Dieseling badly, and terrible gas mileage, even for this car. Seems like it should have a lot more power, too.

Ok, I am digging into it and I am stuck. First of all, I can't set/check dwell because the gun I bought doesn't measure dwell like I thought it did. So I moved on to idle speed. I understand the whole procedure, but there are two items that I cannot find and the shop manual has been no help.

1. It says to "disconnect parking brake hose at vacuum release hose" and I do not know where it is and cannot find any other reference to it in the manual, and...

2. It says "Hot idle compensator must be closed when adjustment is made" and I have the same issue here. No idea where it is and I cannot find anoy other reference to it in the manual

PLEASE HELP! Thanks!

Sorry for all the posts, but I am learning here. My car does not have a hot idle compensator, and the vac line is the one going to the cylinder above the e-brake pedal.


My new question involves the instructions for actually adjusting idle speed. Rather than try and summarize, here is the step that is confusing me verbatim followed by my question:

6. Reconnect solenoid wire, crack throttle slightly to extend plunger fully. Turn solenoid to adjust fore and aft position to provide a 600 RPM idle in drive with A/C off

Prior to this step I disconnected and plugged distrib. vac advance and parking brake hose, set e-brake, hooked up tach, removed air cleaner, started/warmed up car, kicked it off of fast idle, disconnected anti dieseling solenoid wire and it says to adjust idle to 350-400RPM, which I have not done yet (Am I doing something wrong if its reading >700rpm before adjustment or is it just that far off?), and then the above step.

Here are my questions: Why 350-400 with the screw? And does the crack throttle slightly mean before turning the solenoid to adjust or do I have to have throttle open while adjusting? I guess I am just overall confused about the step I quoted. Any clarifications would help.

Yeah, you need a multimeter that specifically has a dwell setting on it for dwell, or a dwell meter, for dwell. If you don't have a multimeter, I suggest you get one with a dwell setting. I personally had trouble using the method that you'll find in your manual for measuring the point gap. It's a pain in the ass, and you are supposed to fine tune it with a dwell meter anyway.

Remember I am a novice like you, but here is my guess. First of all, did you have the vehicle in D when you were checking idle speed? That seems important, since the speed will drop a lot in D compared to N. 350 to 400 seems low, but it's right there in your FSM, so it has to be right! I think the value of 350 - 400 is an intermediate step that only applies when (1) car is in D, (2) A/C is off, (3) vacuum advance is disconnected, and (4) anti-dieseling solenoid is disconnected. The step you are asking about seems to suggest that when you reconnect and adjust the anti-dieseling solenoid the idle speed will now be at 600. When you re-connect vacuum advance, idle speed may come up a bit again. If you were to turn on the A/C, the idle speed up device is supposed to increase idle to 900 rpm.

(Note: This next paragraph is even more conjecture than the first one, I don't have an anti-dieseling solenoid on my car.) I think that when your car is on, the anti-dieseling solenoid is energized, and its plunger is pushed out, which holds the throttle slightly open, which gets you to an idle speed of 600. When you shut the car off, the anti-dieseling solenoid de-energizes and the plunger retracts, allowing the throttle plates to slam fully shut due to the action of the throttle return springs. Maybe if you adjust the solenoid correctly, and get that idle speed set IAW the FSM, your dieseling problem will go away!