Toledo flat spots during acceleration

[Bunji]

Stock Toledo 1300 was running rough at idle, felt like she had flat spots when accelerating, particularly 30-50 mph, and was occasionally running on.

In an effort to remedy she's just had fresh plugs, points & condenser, and distributor cap. Timing has been set to 10 degrees.

She's now smoother at idle and doesn't seem to be running on, however the flat spots remain.

Any suggestions on what to look at next?

[cliftyhanger]

Have you checked the advance curve of the distributer? See what the advance is at 3000rpm, make sure it is about 30 degrees with no vacuum attached. Then see what it is doing at idle.
Or keep advancing the timing and driving until it just pinks, then back a smidge. Setting timing at idle with a timing gun is OK as a start point, but with all the changes to fuel, worn components etc it is just a start point.

Re components, some of teh new ignition stuff is woeful. Distributer Doctor sells good stuff, not sure who else does.

Re carb, use engine oil in the damper, does pulling the choke out a little help matters?

[Bunji]

Yes running with the choke out a bit seems to alleviate the problem somewhat.

My mechanic was reluctant to advance the timing more, I'm not sure why.

[Carledo]

Yes running with the choke out a bit seems to alleviate the problem somewhat.

My mechanic was reluctant to advance the timing more, I'm not sure why.

Too much advance can lead to "pinking" AKA "pinging" or "detonation" which is NOT good for your engine. It's an increasing problem that's not helped by modern fuel specs and octane ratings. It also makes the motor sound increasingly "endy" like incipient crank bearing rattle under acceleration. Back in the day there was better petrol (with LEAD!) and there was a fairly wide range of usable timing settings from about 4 degrees to about 15 degrees where the car would run happily and you could mess with it a bit till you found a setting you liked. Nowadays the window is much smaller, a couple of degrees either side of 10 is about as far as is possible to go. This is governed by wear in 40 + year old components too, in the last year I've come across 3 OHV distributors and one Sprint one where the baseplate is either seized solid (no vac advance) or floating free (variable timing) either of these is only obvious with the dizzy dismantled and either can cause lousy running and possibly catastrophic failure.

For your rough and fluffy running i'd be looking for vacuum/air leaks around the carb (especially the throttle spindle) and inlet manifold.

Steve

[Bunji]

Cheers Steve.

I also just discovered yesterday the fuel line has a kink, so getting that remedied ASAP.