1976 Plymouth Gran Fury Suburban Wagon

[70bigblockdodge]

Check k the wire to sending unit with key on pulsing 5 volts tells you everything to the sending unit is working.

 

[Mr C]

100 Amp alternator was standard fare after 75 with rear defroster.

 

[AJC]

Didn't get much done today thanks to that blizzard. Did stat making a tune-up list as I have a slight miss at idle, and as @barnfind pointed out need new belts. So dose 76 still have points ignition?

 

[jason99]

That is electronic ignition. I thought 76 would have been lean burn too, but it’s not there. I wonder if it was converted or came without it.

 

[AJC]

I kind of thought it would have lean burn too. Didn't they start adding it in 76? Don't see it on my vacuum line routing. So I don't think it has been converted.

 

[Dobalovr]

My 76 Monaco is a non-leanburn car might be a Canadian thing.

 

[Stern70]

Wow guys thanks for the diagrams. Good new is the door latch was just frozen and is working now. Also temporary patched my fuel tank as it leaks if its more then half full. Now to find a tank rebuilder as I haven't found a replacement tank for a 76 wagon.


Not sure what the dog legs are but door bottoms have signs of rust starting. There spare tire area on ether side have been poorly patched along with rear compartment.

 

[Stern70]

I'm in the same boat as you, I have to fix my tank too. I thought about gas tank renew, I think it's called. In shakopee. But I haven't called yet to get a price quote

 

[78Brougham]

I had a '76 Town and Country with the 400 not lean burn. I think this was the year that it could go either way. Chrysler was playing around with things and they beat the system some how. Perhaps Steve, @saforwardlook may be able to chime in he was working at Chrysler around this time "crunching" emissions, mileage and carburetor work.

Steve anything to enlighten us?

 

[1978 NYB]

That is electronic ignition. I thought 76 would have been lean burn too, but it’s not there. I wonder if it was converted or came without it.

Lean Burn was a mid year addition. The early 76's were standard ignition. From mid year or whenever they started Lean Burn all the rest of the Formal's had Lean Burn except some Federal Government cars and exports and I think certain Canadian Formal's too.

 

[Dobalovr]

I am with you on that Bob I seem to remember 1977 being first year of ELB in Canada....

 

[AJC]

Ok, so no lean burn. But there is some sort of timing delay in the air cleaner.

 

[thrashingcows]

Ok, so no lean burn. But there is some sort of timing delay in the air cleaner.

That is just the control on the flap inside the air cleaner tube for cold start, once it warms up it opens fully to allow air to flow unobstructed.

 

[AJC]

I know about the air flap that goes to the stove pipe. I mean the OSAC NOx valve. Doesn't that delay the vacuum advance?

On another note, I did get all my parts for my headlight upgrade. Factory Jeep Wrangler JK (07-18) headlight housings are just like a standard 7" bulb. They even mount the same. Brightness is a bit better and they have a nice cutoff. I did it to my 72 Chevy K10 and it helps a lot. Since I plan on driving it day or night I figured why not. Its fairly cheap too. This costed about $50 bucks. I can go into more detail if anyone likes.

 

[jason99]

I’d be interested in more info on the headlights in the off chance it’s portable to either of my 74 c-bodies.

 

[AJC]

What size are the bulbs in your 74?

 

[jason99]

5.7in diameter, Philips H5006 or H4000

 

[saforwardlook]

I had a '76 Town and Country with the 400 not lean burn. I think this was the year that it could go either way. Chrysler was playing around with things and they beat the system some how. Perhaps Steve, @saforwardlook may be able to chime in he was working at Chrysler around this time "crunching" emissions, mileage and carburetor work.

Steve anything to enlighten us?

My recollection was that emission standards for nitrogen oxides (NOx) took a big dive in 1977 and some packages were released late in 1976 in order to ramp up production to the lean burn system as a way of meeting the emission standards for 1977. Chrysler didn't really know how to take advantage of the catalytic converters so they could actually make air fuel ratios more rich, rather than lean, to help lower NOx emissions. They took the wrong direction when GM knew how to properly calibrate for good driveability and low emissions because they helped develop those catalytic converters and so learned early on how best to calibrate their systems for good driveabilty and low emissions with decent fuel consumption as well. Chrysler "cooled the combustion chambers" with lean calibrations so NOx formation would be lowered and did a lot of timing retard at the same time - all of which ruined power, driveability and fuel consumption.

That OSAC valve was called "orifice spark advance control" and took away all engine vacuum advance on every take off from a stop or every time you took your foot off the gas pedal, for 26 seconds! - killing all of the aforementioned aspects of the engine performance. If I had one of those valves in the system, whether lean burn or not, I would just bypass it and go directly from the carburetor port to the vacuum advance chamber. That OSAC valve was used a lot before 1976 as well, and was just as awful on those applications as well. And Chrysler used heavy amounts of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) which was a big problem when running lean - it would cause poor performance, stumbles, surging and pass outs occasionally too. GM overcame this by using richer mixtures and less EGR to achieve the same NOx goals with none of the other issues.

Chrysler thought they would be smart and avoid using catalytic converters and use lean burn methods only and save some $100 a car. A huge mistake because in the end, they ended up using both and had huge complaints about all of the attendant driveability, performance and fuel economy hits and it cost them money - no savings. I truly believe lean burn was a big reason Chrysler went bankrupt circa 1980. Owners were really pissed.

 

[commando1]

I’d be interested in more info on the headlights in the off chance it’s portable to either of my 74 c-bodies.

Only if you have Fury single headlamps.

 

[AJC]

@jason99 The jeep headlight mod only work in a standard 7" housing. I can't think of any other OEM housings in a smaller size. You could do the relay mod and probably pick up some brightness.