New from Germany '69 A100 pickup

Meanwhile, I installed the Progression Ignition. Tried to start - no go. Only if I pumped a lot gas it ignited perhaps 2-5 cylinders and died. Searched all over the place for like hours, timing light only random-rarely showed a spark. Wanted to call it a day, but just check a spark plug - hey, why was it so easy to unscrew?? Plug came out just fine. Tried another - it was loose all the way...

All eight were loose - means: nearly no compression and nearly no ground... Fixed and it fired right up.

But. Carb leaked like hell (I did check needle and seat, they were fine, floats were floating not sunken...). Pulled the carb, cleaned it and had two wrong gasket kits (it's a 74 carb, not 69...), hopefully the right one arrives on tuesday.

Today I reinstalled everything (old gaskets on cleaned carb) with fuel pressure gauge (-> less than 5psi = good).

After 2-3 rounds and fuel pushes it fired right up and idled perfectly at 650-700rpm. Unbelievable - it never ran that good. Checked ignition timing - it was rock solid (not even slightly flickering) at 16° with 19inHg (as of Progression Ignition app).

Cheers to Progression ignition, clear thumbs up!

Video shows a restart with a slightly warmed engine:



Re-routed the fuel line, eliminating its past routing close to exhaust manifold...



I also installed a lambda O2-sensor (Innovate), which I forgot to calibrate at free air. That's all for next week to test'n'tune. Almost ready to do the 600 mile (one way) roadtrip to Sweden early July.

Lookin' good !

Nice job.

the amp gauge is the culprit of a lot of Mopar's burning up, and or the entire wiring system burning.
the entire electrical system runs thru that gauge

dix wrote:the amp gauge is the culprit of a lot of Mopar's burning up, and or the entire wiring system burning.
the entire electrical system runs thru that gauge

Hey dix, I know, I know. Nonetheless, I like the amp gauge . I think we discussed this earlier on in my thread.

I have a proper setup on wire sizes and routing, The gauge itself is 'hardened' (I properly soldered the studs instead of just "press-fit") and has been working just fine.
Proof was an empty 70Ah battery: jump started the engine, ran for an hour with gauge showing approx. 30-40A charging power to the battery, cables and gauge not really hot, slightly warm. After an hour at a meet, another hour back with charging by alternator as before - wires ok, gauge ok. At the end, amp gauge got down to "slightly loading".

glad to hear that 69 new wires and tight connections .****

Here's a short update with lambda sensor properly installed. It is still a bit on the lean side, but weather prohibited some testdriving today...

Very steady lambda with very steady rpm and rocksolid vacuum at nearly 20 InHg. I'm pretty happy with the rebuild carb (thoroughly cleaned and new gaskets, proper base setup of all circuits).

Here's the result of todays 16 miles testride.
Strong and steady idle at 19 inHg, A/F-Ratio is always very close to optimum 14.4 to 15.0 (part throttle acceleration slightly lean (expected), WOT at 11.8 - a tad bit too fat; but I doubt there are any other jets/rods for a carter 1 1/4" carb?

Anyway, I'm quite happy so far. No stumbling, no hesitation, nothing. Just riding in any situation.

I guess, that I'll start playing with that thing one day, harvesting the additional power left on the table so far.

This is my ignition table right now:

69,
Could you explain the table please? What are the units on the vertical scale and what are the numbers in the table? What engine?

Also, in the video, it sounds like there might be a slight exhaust leak and the gauges were not readable to me. They could use some explanation too.

Thanks, Sweetvan

Sure, the table vertical is MAP (manifold absolute pressure) in kPa, so Vacuum is the other way round (20kPa is pretty much like 20+ inHg, 100kPa is like 0-1 inHg (approximate - depends on barometric pressure around you).

The table itself is showing the BTC ignition time used.

Engine is a '69 318 (the engine with the A100, as far as I can tell by the numbers), total mileage unknwon, tested cylinder pressure (cold) between 110 and 130 psi.

The gauge I tried to concentrate on is vacuum (hanging kind of loose on the right hand side)- while idling it was almost 20 inHg and very stable. The other gauge (left to right): lambda, ported vac (no use anymore), voltage.

Hope this helps a bit. Exhaust leak -> could well be, as the lamda sensor is attached to the exhaust (downstream of the Y) with some hose clamps and a gasket. Getting a bung welded will happen later.

I drove approx 150 mls today with everything: Autobahn (up to 70 mph), lot's of smaller roads and traffic jam of like 15 min. Lambda was all fine (approx slightly below 1 - which is slightly below 14.7 a/f-ratio). Hit the gas quite a lot (squeaking tires for sure ). Mileage is greatly improved: close to 15 mpg (instead of 11-11.5 before).

Any questions - let me know.

Well that's pretty interesting. So, I guess the table is showing total advance (mechanical plus vacuum advance). So where are you reading the intake manifold vacuum, at the carburetor base?
For timing, what helps me most is plotting the mechanical and vacuum advance on the vertical axis verses rpm on the horizontal. Then comparing my distributor's curves with what's recommended in the service manual for the specific distributor. That way, I can tell if the springs and the vacuum advance are working correctly and what the total advance is. I know that '69 318's got detuned for smog emissions in California. Do you have to comply with such regulations or can you tune your engine to run well?

The O2 sensor in the exhaust would be a useful reading. I have thought of installing 1 or 2 in my exhausts too. I haven't priced them though. Was yours reasonably priced. I'd think some plots of O2 versus rpm and vacuum would be helpful. I'll be watching to see how your testing goes.

Keep on Truckin'.

Will keep you posted.
MAP is taken at the carb base (full manifold vac), correct. The distributor (progression ign) has a MAP-sensor included. I ordered the one without logging (and no NOS and no launch control - no need for the latter two). The O2 sensor is an MTX-L from innovate motorsports. This one has logging capability with a connected laptop. In my charger I do have another MTX-L (they are around USD 300 +/- here in Germany, you get it for like 180 USD...) plus also an additional MAP-sensor (MTX-series, daisy-chained). I'm not going to switch that MAP-sensor to the A100, though.
No emissions rules here for a car first registered before 1.7.1969, so "all good" for the A100. It's a low comp engine, which can take some more advanced ignition than a high comp. I'll go 2° more advance (ending at like 32° at fully mechanically advanced (or without vac for a conventional distributor) and the at like 42° total mec + vac. That should do it, I guess. Perhaps I'll reduce the vac part of the total timing to situation with fully closed throttle - then the cylinder charge is very-very lean and takes a looong time to fully burn (as far as I understand).
The table shows the actual timing for the combination of rpm (horizontal) and vacuum (-> MAP, vertical).

My service manual says, I should start with 5° AFTER TDC (on the air cleaner it says 0°)... Which both is completely crazy waste of energy. Idle is now 16° before TDC...

But,
today I concentrated on my clunky rear bumper (I think, it was a re-welded Autobahn-guardrail... ), you might remember such pictures as this:



Now, I removed this "bumper" and found some 1/2 inch (!!!) plate, welded to another 1/2 inch piece of steel, which is screwed to the original two mount nuts at the frame. I think, those were used for train buffers, weren't they?

As I do not have a original / correct bumper mount assy, I decided to leave these quite raw but solid mounts in place and adjust them for some custom fabricating....

Cutting some pieces of that train-buffer with an angle grinder, taking some flat piece of steel (4mm thick, approx. 5/32"), bend it in place to hold the outer part of the original bumper, drill some 1/2" holes, file them rectangular for the mushroom head bolts.

Result so far pretty ok'ish. I know that the bumper is "upside-down", I'll turn it over tomorrow and fix my custom mounting assy to the existing one with some screws.

Here are some pics:











I do have the original license plate lights for the bumper (NOS, very expensive >100 USD, as they are a very special size and close to unobtainium...). But what-cha-gonna-do

Then, the truck looks much better on the street for its trip to Sweden (approx 600 mls one way) next tuesday.

Thanks for the explanations. Sounds like you know what you're doing and that you like the Progression distributor with the MAP sensor and like it gives good information. It's good to know what's going on with the engine.
I see that you have a choke connected to the heat riser in the intake manifold. Is that working OK?
Does the engine have a single exhaust? Where are the two sides joined? Did you install the O2 sensor after the join?
Cheers.

Hi Sweetvan,

I think I have "kind of" an idea what I'm doing

The O2-sensor is mounted on the driver side, 'after' the Y joint, approx 10" downstream of the Y (single exhaust).

The choke is automatik (well type) and working well. Although, I still have to set the idle speed for choke operation (second step on the carb, approx 1600-1700 rpm while hot). But with current temperatures here mostly above like 68F its almost useless, as the choke is mostly wide open (latest directly after start, when the pull off is pulled by engine vac).

Finished the rear bumper, fully fixed to the body, looks quite good, I'm happy.

Meanwhile, I noticed a leaking sending unit at the gas tank. Took like 15 gallons out and removed the unit. What a flimsy assembly with the pipe going through the shell. No wonder, it was leaking. Further, I had a new lock ring, which did not fit at all (holding exactly nothing), so reused the old one. Soldered the pipe to the shell and added Reinzosil gasketmaker on top. Now it seems "gas tight". While doing this, I noticed a huge scratch-dent in the tank.... I must have hit something quite hard while being lucky it did not break...

Tank got repainted (no pic). As my O2 sensor (on IGN feed) erratically showed me "low voltage" error (huh? Voltage gauge on the ACC feed always shows me like 14.4V), I temporarily added a digital voltage gauge. to monitor the IGN feed. Unortunately, I grabbed the "yellow" color gauge, which is impossible to read while driving in sunlight.
Today I tested some flimsy daylight running lights (legally required in Denmark and Sweden - alternative is driving with full head lights, which I'll surely always forget at daylight) and had to realize, that I have a voltage drop of 1.4V between battery and IGN feed.

Will test further tomorrow. Either I can fix the snake hole behind the speedo or I'll add some relayed feed to the dash-IGN circuit. Ignition itself (coil, inside dog house) is already relayed fed directly by the alternator.
I really need to rewire behind the dash. Alternator-Rear Doghouse Post-Ammeter, Battery-Ammeter, IGN at coil/rear doghouse, Courtesy lights and most of headlight wires are already re-done in proper AWG sizes with some relays added.

Black electric magic with some gremlins inside.

Yesterday, I drove like 100 mls to a near-local meet - without any hickups. It was an "all classics" meet, so lots of european cars. Some real high-priced cars on show: Classic 300 SL - approx. 1.3 million $$$ (unfortunately, no picture), BMW 507 (clear six-digits), Volkswagen SP Brasilia ... amazing.

Click on image to view photos (direct link to my gallery)

Wohoo.

Did the approx. 1200 mls roundtrip including some ferrie's en route to Västeras, Sweden, with the A100. Huge meet on Saturday, I'd think way more than 10.000 cars on the air field. Further Mopar Meet on Saturday evening with some real hot stuff (69 Hemi Charger, 68 Hemi Coronet R/T, 6pack Cuda, V-code Challenger, AAR Cuda, 300C - all real !)...

On Sunday I continued to Mantorp Park on my way back - start of Street Week (similar to Drag Week in the US, but most of the 200 cars are classics, of which are approx 30 Mopars).

Made a whole bunch of pictures (more than 1.600....) and if you like, take a peek in my gallery:

Västeras: https://pwg.gecius.de/index.php?/category/621

Mantorp Park: https://pwg.gecius.de/index.php?/category/622

Of course, some problems occured.
On one day in the afternoon I had a really rough engine. Turned out, that one spark plug wire almost slipped off the distributor post. Pushed it down, worked again.
Two days later, again - rough engine. Same? Checked it and the wire was even off the post. Shocking - I realized, that the wire routing was too tight. With some rerouting, it worked.
I will nontheless exchange the whole wire setup, as the sparks did some burning on the contacts. Including a new coil.

The new ignition system did great - bluetooth and I was able to see the ignition timing, engine vac and rpm right in front of me on my mobile. As I had to ride a lot of miles, I did not do any tuning, that's still to come.

Mileage was a little better than before, but riding mostly 60-70 mph for hours does not help with a truck as aerodynamic as a bunker. Or alternatively, idling for extended time during the cruise through the city. No temperature problems, but ambient temp was approx only up to 70F.

One of my new (old, NOS) license plate lights gave up. Everything else just worked. This little precious truck is absolutely useable on long trips.
But you should use some ear plugs.