1972 Fury III 360 101498 miles

· Points & Condenser Ignition: I worked on tuning the car today.
· I hooked up a vacuum gauge to the manifold vacuum port on the left front of the carburetor. I disconnected ported vacuum at the right front of the carburetor and plugged the port. Timing Light: I hooked up the green coil wire to the negative primary contact on the coil. I hooked up the positive and negative battery cable wires to the battery. I clamped the spark plug wire clamp over number one spark plug wire directly above the power steering gear.
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· on starting and warming up the vehicle I found that idle timing was 5 BTDC with a dwell angle of 36°. The factory shop manual specifies a dwell angle of 30° to 34°, but I don’t think 36° is going to really hurt anything. I suppose there is a small chance of arcing and burning at that narrow a points gap, but I don’t intend to keep this ignition system that long so I decided not to worry about it. I had set the idle screws@2 turns out. Idle vacuum increased as I decreased the amount of turns out from 2.0 to 1.5
· I decided to advance the distributor, by turning counterclockwise as viewed from the top, to the point of Max vacuum. Using the Advance feature of my timing light, I found Max vacuum at 18.5 HG at 22° BTDC with 1.5 turns out on both idle screws. I test drove the car at this advance and found that I had a heavy knock on acceleration, which sounded like a hugely loose valvetrain.
· I thought the performance of the engine started to really feel better at idle around 15° BTDC, so I’m set timing at that level. Vacuum only decreased to 18 HG, so I was hopeful that I might’ve found the sweet spot for Max vacuum and advance. I was disappointed however to find that the car still knocked on acceleration.
· I reduced timing to 12.5° BTDC. On adjusting the idle mixture screws I found Max vacuum at 15.5 HG with 1.0 turns out. I test drove the car and finally had no knock on acceleration and the additional advance considerably improved acceleration at all different RPM and speeds.
· I know a lot of you will advise Electronic Ignition. I agree with you, however, it’s important to get a baseline of best performance with the points and condenser ignition in order to get a feel for improvement in performance when I buy electronic ignition and install it
 
· Points & Condenser Ignition: I worked on tuning the car today.
· I hooked up a vacuum gauge to the manifold vacuum port on the left front of the carburetor. I disconnected ported vacuum at the right front of the carburetor and plugged the port. Timing Light: I hooked up the green coil wire to the negative primary contact on the coil. I hooked up the positive and negative battery cable wires to the battery. I clamped the spark plug wire clamp over number one spark plug wire directly above the power steering gear.
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View attachment 192701
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· on starting and warming up the vehicle I found that idle timing was 5 BTDC with a dwell angle of 36°. The factory shop manual specifies a dwell angle of 30° to 34°, but I don’t think 36° is going to really hurt anything. I suppose there is a small chance of arcing and burning at that narrow a points gap, but I don’t intend to keep this ignition system that long so I decided not to worry about it. I had set the idle screws@2 turns out. Idle vacuum increased as I decreased the amount of turns out from 2.0 to 1.5
· I decided to advance the distributor, by turning counterclockwise as viewed from the top, to the point of Max vacuum. Using the Advance feature of my timing light, I found Max vacuum at 18.5 HG at 22° BTDC with 1.5 turns out on both idle screws. I test drove the car at this advance and found that I had a heavy knock on acceleration, which sounded like a hugely loose valvetrain.
· I thought the performance of the engine started to really feel better at idle around 15° BTDC, so I’m set timing at that level. Vacuum only decreased to 18 HG, so I was hopeful that I might’ve found the sweet spot for Max vacuum and advance. I was disappointed however to find that the car still knocked on acceleration.
· I reduced timing to 12.5° BTDC. On adjusting the idle mixture screws I found Max vacuum at 15.5 HG with 1.0 turns out. I test drove the car and finally had no knock on acceleration and the additional advance considerably improved acceleration at all different RPM and speeds.
· I know a lot of you will advise Electronic Ignition. I agree with you, however, it’s important to get a baseline of best performance with the points and condenser ignition in order to get a feel for improvement in performance when I buy electronic ignition and install it
I’m all about antique technology.
 
I’m all about antique technology.
Hi Javier. I'm concerned with incomplete fuel/air burn with points and condenser, due to a not so powerful spark. Also, the condenser gives reliability issues that electronic ignition doesn't have. Likewise, the points give wear issues that electronic ignition doesn't have. I guess the good part is that, like most of us, I spend a lot more time working on my cars than actually driving them, so there isn't much wear in the system.

May have to stick with point & condenser for a while. My front yard after heavy rain. My septic drain field is under that. Gotta be moved behind the house, according to Virginia Dept of Health, because ground no longer perks. Big $ to clear the 2300 sq ft of forrest, install pump tank, 300' pipe, and drainfield. Ooh Boy.
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Rain & Wind: top broke off a poplar tree. Project for today: Get family to help cut this up and throw in my neighbor's forest. He's paying to take his tree down. Then gotta figure out how to mend the fence at the back left corner. $500 insurance deductible. Ooooh Boy
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Same area after family and neighbor pitched in to help. Took my family to Bojangles afterwards. Reward well-deserved. As to my neighbor, he was headed into town and it was his tree that broke my fence. Good guy but he missed out on Bojangles. Now, can I be patient enough to wait for my mud bog driveway to dry up in order to drive my 72 Fury again without getting it covered with mud on the undercarriage? Sometimes patience sucks
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Test Drive after Tune-Up, 91801 end miles, 66 mile round trip, in 86°F weather. (My muddy driveway finally dried out)
· The car drove superbly going to work and coming home. It ran well, although there wasn’t that much gain in acceleration. It cruised easily at 70-75mph. It handled excellently. The transmission shifted effortlessly, as usual. Cooling system read lower on the gauge too, 22" radiator, no fan shroud, no problem.
· Gas Mileage: perhaps the biggest surprise of the trip was the improvement in gas mileage. The car took a quarter tank of gas to get to work and back, before the tuneup. Now it’s only a little over an 8th of a tank of gas. Given anomalies in the operation of an old gas tank sending unit, that’s still a huge improvement in gas mileage. I was very surprised.
· Debris on Carpet: although the vent doors are closed, debris is coming out near both kick panels. On the driver’s side there’s a couple small rust holes below the vent door, and I assume the wind from traveling at 75 mph on the highway was blowing everything in the vent system out those through those holes, thru the kick panel grill, and onto the carpet. I haven’t pulled off the passenger side kick panel yet, but I think we can guess that the same thing is happening on the passenger side. Hope this will clear up with continued driving, at least until I can have metal work done around the vent doors.
· Some pictures of the great 1972 Fury III in the parking lot at work and debris on the carpet
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Debris???? Looks like a little bit of dust to me.

I regularly (twice A year) loosen the rear bottom fender bolts and clean out the wells to remove leaves and other crap that the vac can never get.

I’d check for rust there too. Get it done before it’s too late. Bad rust spot on these and other mopars.

Great job on the time up.
 
Hi Javier. Thanks for the suggestion on the rear bottom fender bolts. Good idea! The debris has rust particles. That could stop the debris that is coming into the footwells. Unfortunately the left side already has 2 small rust holes. I totally cleaned out the area behind the vent door, but I didn't think about loosening the fender. Maybe run an old engine brush up in there. I was thinking that the junk might be blowing down from the cowl or passage between the cowl and vent door, but the wind could swirl it up from the bottom of the fender.

I've been acting as fleet mechanic, more than Fury mechanic lately
Wife's truck: old change, thorough inspection, rear brake job, replace spare tire, pass state inspection
Kid's Sebring: Oil Change, replace OPSU
Other Kid's Concorde: researching battery draw
Mom's 200: front brake job
My pickup: oil change, sheet metal in driver's floor pan
I have an 8 car fleet. I barely manage. I don't know how Carmine does it with his 17 car fleet.

How many vehicles are you working on?
 
Fleet is up to 7. All but one in service.
I have my job, my unpaid fleet maintenance job, my unpaid home repair job, and my job as a father & husband. The 1st job is boring but generates money, the 2nd two jobs save enough money to justify my projects, and the last job is usually best of all (though not always)
 
Back to work
7-15-18 Auxiliary Fuse Box
· I wanted to move the electric choke wire off of the ACC terminal of the main fuse box by setting up an auxiliary fuse box and running the electric choke wire off that fuse box. The auxiliary fuse box would then give me room to set up a radio and other electronics that I might want to add.
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· I pulled back the carpet behind the brake pedal and just to the right of the main fuse box. I found an area behind the top of the carpet where there were no screws or wires. I checked the engine side of the firewall in the same area and found it to be clear of wires. I drilled two 1/8 inch holes, 1 1/16 inch apart, horizontal
· Auxiliary Fuse Box, Bussmann 15600–06–20, Napa Balkamp 782 – 5316, 6 blade fuses, 6 spade terminals, 1 stud terminal for input. Mfr Description: "A single, common power input makes it simple to wire for multiple circuits - each rated to 20 amps (95 amps total per panel), up to 32 volts." $16.31 including tax, not a bad deal. Mounted aux fuse box with 2 screws, 5/16 inch long socket, ¼ inch socket driver.
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· Wiring: I wired 6 inches of red 12 gage wire, spade terminal at ACC on Main fuse box, ring terminal at input stud for auxiliary fuse box, 3/8 inch long socket, ¼ inch socket driver.
· Electric Choke: I connected using a 20 amp fuse. The choke wire does have an in-line fuse, so I was really using the fuse just to make the connection. This is the reason that I went with max amperage.
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Hmmmm. Fuse panel under the carpet....

I wouldn’t have done it that way but I guess it’s ok. After all, there are already a lot of wires under the carpet.

I might have looked at mounting it behind or just above the drivers kick panel. There are a lot of the system grounding wires to that area....And, it would have avoided the holes in the upper floor pan.

Please don’t take this as a criticism... your doing a great job! I just would have done it differently.
 
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Great job getting back up and running, did it ever have a aftermarket cruise control? That may have been what the inline electric speed sensor was for.
 
Hmmmm. Fuse panel under the carpet....I wouldn’t have done it that way but I guess it’s ok. After all, there are already a lot of wires under the carpet. I might have looked at mounting it behind or just above the drivers kick panel. There are a lot of the system grounding wires to that area....And, it would have avoided the holes in the upper floor pan.
Please don’t take this as a criticism... your doing a great job! I just would have done it differently.
Hey Javier. There's always a better way, and I'm always learning. On the kick panel, the area to the rear of the vent door has 2 small rust holes. Moisture might be a concern. OTOH, in the area where I mounted it, my feet won't hit, no evidence of rust, and nothing behind the firewall to hit with a drill bit. I could always revisit the issue and move it, but current location is convenient to a firewall grommet. Thanks for the constructive criticism. Ben
 
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Great job getting back up and running, did it ever have a aftermarket cruise control? That may have been what the inline electric speed sensor was for.
Hi 65sporty. Thanks. The car is a lot of fun to drive. I didn't think of aftermarket cruise control. I don't see any mounting marks on the column. Where would it be mounted?
 
I have seen a extra lever attached to the column, a switch that snaps over the turn signal lever and a square pad of buttons double sided taped to the dash. Was there any evidence of a servo mounted under hood?
 
I have seen a extra lever attached to the column, a switch that snaps over the turn signal lever and a square pad of buttons double sided taped to the dash. Was there any evidence of a servo mounted under hood?
I didn't see much on the LS wheel well, but then I'm not that sure of what I'm looking for. Also, the underdash panel was missing when I bought the car. As I said before, doubt there was anything on the column.
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From the under hood shot, it doesn't look like there was anything left behind if there was a cruise installed at one time. I just can't think of anything else it would have been used for.
 
Maybe something simple, like broke a speedo cable, had a hard time finding one, set this up in meantime. Or like verification of operation of mechanical speedometer. Hard to say.
 
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