1979 spider idle problem

[barnesjtsl]

I have a 79 spider. It won't idle. I live in Portland OR and we are required to get a DEQ inspection to license our cars so I need all the emmisions stuff.

I replaced my old the 32 adha carb with a shinny brand new one.

My car won't Idle below 1500 rpm's when I try and adjust the idle speed scree down it dies as soon as it gets below 1500. I have the mixture screw out 2 1/2 turns from the bottom, and I have recently replaced all the vaccum hoses (12+ feet). I recently posted about finding a new egr valve or just going without it. I'm going to try plugging the egr valve ports tonight and see if that helps the idling problem.

I would like to time this thing properly, but from what I understand you can't time these with a timming light unless you can make it idle, which I can't. It has an electronic ignition, so I can't do the old static timming thing.

Can anyone shed some light on how I can time this properly (or close) given the situation described above?

Thanks,

John B

[So Cal Mark]

if it dies when you get below 1500rpm, you may have a large vacuum leak. Does your new carb have an idle cutoff solenoid? If so, you may not have power to it

[manoa matt]

Like Mark said, try the idle solenoid first. Remove the wire to it, turn the key on, re-connect the wire or just touch the terminal. If it clicks then it is working. Also remove the solenoid and check the idle jet tip. It should be uniform in shape, I've seen worn tips that allow gas past the tip resulting in a high idle.

Secondly, did you replace it with the same ADHA carb? Those carbs have a cream colored plastic cam lever that is near the choke housing. I can't remember exactly what is does, but it either controlls the choke, or the position of the throttle linkage. If that plastic piece is broken off then the car will not idle correctly. You need to turn the carb over to see it, so you will have to remove the carb. I don't think the plastic piece is replaceable as it is pressed or fixed permenantly on the carb.

[PNWSmoker]

I'm having the same issue with my 78. I'm also in the PDX area.

[barnesjtsl]

I checked the solenoid and it seems to be working fine. I distinctly heard the "click".

I replacee the carb with a new 28/32 adah carb and the cream colored plastic cam is there.

One thing I did is to disconnect the vaccum advance hose and suck through and got a steady stream of air and no movement of the electronic ignition under the distributor cap. Could this steady stream of air be my idling problem?

I have ordered an new distributor and will hopefully get it this weekend. Hopefuly that will solve my problem.

Any thoughts?

John B

[So Cal Mark]

a bad vacuum advance won't cause the problem you have. You could have an idle circuit that is plugged or a large vacuum leak. Since you changed carbs, did you replace the base gasket?