First day out with Sport Fury. Not the best.

[cbarge]

Did you at least try to set up the fine tuning?
The crud found in the carb may be a tell tale sign the fuel system needs further cleaning.
The shop probably will recommend the Pertronix as well.
Hope the shop treats you well and get the car running and drive-able.
Cheers.

 

[Jakter]

How old is your gas? Maybe picked up a load of gas with water in it.

Let your fuel pump pump some gas into a clear glass jar and let it sit and see if it separates.
You want to take it out of the fuel pump because water will settle in the lowest point of the tank.
This past summer I had water in one of my cars that did exhibit some off the same symptoms as you.
The last time I had the tank down was 5 years earlier and I didn't consider water in the fuel until I took the carburetor off, pored the gas from the fuel filter in a container came back to it a few days later to discover the gas evaporated from the container leaving water behind.

I pumped out the bad gas put in fresh fuel and a red bottle of heat and that cured the problem.

This was on a car I drive a couple times a week so the gas in it was not old.

 

[Joseph James]

Car has no ethanol mid grade in it. New gas tank and new fuel line. The carb was on the old engine, old fuel tank. I cleaned everything out, but obviously, I missed something.

1. This car has to be a daily driver for me. I need it running asap and I have put maybe 60 miles on it since I bought it last July. If I had something else, I could repair it at my leisure
.
Water in fuel makes sense. It ran fine Saturday. Better than ever. It was almost empty and I used what I had left in a fuel container.

 

[Triple Pickle]

I think you’re going to find that forcing one of these old cars into immediately being a daily driver is a losing proposition. You’d better have deep pockets, AAA, and a boss who doesn’t get mad when you come in late three days a week!
Not trying to be a Debbie downer but, I think most on this forum will agree that a lot of time and money goes into making an old car like this dependable.
My advice? Buy a new Kia for commuting back and forth to work and restore the other at your leisure. Or start drinking heavily!
Best of luck!

 

[Jakter]

When my problem showed up I was heading out of town for a car show weekend 165 miles away.
1) The car was running much hotter than normal.
2) It got progressively worse at idle during the weekend.
3) On the morning we were leaving for home I had a real hard time getting it to start.
4) Next morning at home had a hard time starting the car, when it did start I barely made it one block before I had to turn around because the car barely had any power.

I figured the water settles in the bottom when the car sat overnight and that was the starting/running problem.
I hooked up a electric fuel pump to the fuel line going into the mechanical fuel pump because that is where the lowest fuel pick up and water would be. Pumped out the remaining fuel, put in fresh fuel and the RED bottle of HEAT and that solved the problem.

From now on I'm going to put a red bottle of HEAT in my tanks maybe twice a year for preventative maintenance.

 

[Joseph James]

I think you’re going to find that forcing one of these old cars into immediately being a daily driver is a losing proposition. You’d better have deep pockets, AAA, and a boss who doesn’t get mad when you come in late three days a week!
Not trying to be a Debbie downer but, I think most on this forum will agree that a lot of time and money goes into making an old car like this dependable.
My advice? Buy a new Kia for commuting back and forth to work and restore the other at your leisure. Or start drinking heavily!
Best of luck!

You may be right, but...

Yes, I got AAA as soon as I bought the car.

Engine is brand new. Transmission is a reliable 727 that works. New tires. Brakes are good.

What does a daily driver need? Belts, tires, brakes. Things still readily available. I would love to replace the cracked dash pad and similar items but they don't effect drivability.

My Plymouth has a lot of rust to take care of and similar problems that will keep it from ever being a show car. It just isn't in the cards for it. I bought it to drive. That is how I will enjoy it. I wouldn't have much fun with a garage queen. To each his own

 

[Big_John]

Carburetor is not right. Idle is not good at all. Stumbled off red lights, sounded like it wanted to die when I let off the gas. Drove about 40 miles. Made it around but wife thought we were going to get stranded.

Car starts and idles. It will not idle in gear. It seems to be flooding out . It died once while in park and I saw a gush of gasoline from the bowl vent. Carb is new.

I did see fuel geyser out of where the accelerator pump rod is. Could I have a damaged needle? Carb is brand new.

Gasoline gushing out of top of bowl makes me wonder about float/needle.

and on and on...

Judging from all this and the crap in the carb, there's some sort of issue with fuel delivery. If it were me, first thing I would change is the fuel filter. I think it's letting the junk into the carb where it's causing all sorts of havoc. Where the junk is coming from is another issue...

FWIW, I don't see this thread as a "train wreck". I see a frustrated guy that isn't real familiar with older cars.

I've used cars like this as daily drivers long after they were new. I had a string of $50-100 cars that got me to work on time. They can be made to run as reliably as a new car. You have to understand that they have their weaknesses and strengths.

IMHO, if I were to make this a DD, the first thing I would do is upgrade the ignition. The Pertronix is good, but for a DD, I'd steer you towards a Mopar electronic ignition conversion. Get a good distributor from @halifaxhops and an ECU from @FURYGT . Actually, buy two ECU from him and keep one in the car as a spare along with a spare ballast resistor. That's a good, reliable ignition and eliminates point wear from the equation six months from now.

In other words, I'm telling you to quit wasting time and money on the points ignition and work towards DD type reliability.

 

[Triple Pickle]

It doesn’t have to be a trailer queen to be reliable. I’ve done what you’re attempting to do. I encountered things such as the power steering pump locking up at intestate speeds, intermittent overheating (caused by a radiator that looked ok but was quite plugged up) weeping axle seals, electrical gremlins, excessive front tire wear due to old bushings and the lack of competent alignment shops in my area, just to name a few.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m practically planning to do the same thing with my current project but,I have other vehicles I can fall back on.
Most of the parts you’ll need can be found on the net but if you need something the same day to get you back on the road that’s not too convenient.
In my neck of the woods, when I go to the parts store and ask for a brake caliper for a 73 Polara they look at me like I’ve got three eyes. Meanwhile, the old guy who has worked there for years goes down to the basement and drags out some stone tablets that has obsolete part numbers on it!

 

[Joseph James]

Restoration shop was hit/miss. Was told new coil was bad. They did not tighten positive terminal on the coil.

They replaced negative battery cable. They broke the positive terminal in two places. I was driving the car to work and was stopping for a school bus. Everything but the ignition died. Lights, radio, etc. It blew out the temperature gauge. Just ohmed it. It's toast.

Replacing 5v regulator with 7805 while I have instrument cluster out. May pull the clock and see how bad it is.

Going to bypass alternator/battery bulkhead connection. Someone else has repaired it before. Running #8 THHN since I have a spool of it

 

[Joseph James]

I pulled sending unit (new) because it wasn't indicating properly. It's tough under the car and I didn't get the seal lined up. I found out when I filled the tank. Luckily, I got access to a lift.

Looking under the car, the parking brake cable is gone from the pedal. Also found a dozen or so dirt dauber nests. Think this car sat in a field for a while.

 

[cbarge]

RTE limiter - rte

 

[Joseph James]

View attachment 267977
RTE limiter - rte

With temperature gauge blown, I'm guessing I will have to buy an entire cluster, if I can find one?

 

[cbarge]

You don't need another cluster. The gauges can be replaced.
BTW both the fuel and temp gauges run off the 5 volt limiter hence the incorrect readings.
Get the limiter I posted,replace the gauges,bypass the ammeter.
You can get the clock converted to quartz movement. I did to mine and it works great,love it.
Since the cluster is out may as well give it a good cleaning and detailing.
Polish the plastic clear lenses to make it look new.
If you cannot find replacement gauges,then another cluster will do.
Just swap your speedo back into the cluster to match the car.

 

[cbarge]

There are a bunch of 68 fury parts on facebook.
C BODY SOURCE PAGE
Keep Mopar "C" Bodies alive and roll'n
C Body Mopar Parts Exchange
Mopar C - body 1965 till 1978
MOPAR MUSCLE & SWAP MEET
START DIGGIN

 

[Joseph James]

Well, the clock works now, so not a total loss.

 

[Joseph James]

Another day to and from work no problems. Car surges with light throttle. A roar from passenger rear. Other than that, seems ok.

 

[Joseph James]

Made it another day. What a freaking blast this car is to drive versus what is made today! It still needs work in a lot of areas, but it's driving well.

I notice no kickdown from 3rd.

 

[cbarge]

Big block 727's did not have 3-2 part throttle kick down until mid 70's.
If you have the original 68 trans,when you floor it it will kick down all the way down to first then back up to second.
I used to manually shift to second when I wanna tromp on it.
But when I rebuilt the trans I had the part throttle 3-2 kick down valve added to the valve body.
The trans works sooo much better.

 

[Joseph James]

Thanks for that info. I was in 3rd and floored it. It stayed in 3rd. As long as the tranny keeps shifting, I'm okay. It is a pint low on the stick in neutral. Not sure how critical one pint is. I have fluid, but can't find my funnel a d I want to measure the pint. I'm told too much fluid is bad.

Doing brakes next. Pulls right and has feedback. Shop I went to says I have out of round drums.

 

[Joseph James]

She shut down this morning a half a mile from work. Wouldn't start up. Cost me a tow bill. The cop said AAA was taking too long to arrive. In truth, I was in a busy intersection and it was a dangerous place to break down. Not so dangerous for me, but for the people trying to get around me. It died as I was coming to a stop.

So, this morning I put normal (10% ethanol) gasoline in. I had been running pure gas with no ethanol. The last time I had ethanol gasoline in the car it did this same thing. Some things I have found on the internet suggest that the ethanol gasoline has a lower boiling point and may be flooding it out. It was definitely flooding out. I could smell the gas. I have seen suggestions of dumping Marvel Mystery Oil in the tank to lower the boiling point. In the future, I am going to stick with buying the pure gas.

Power steering pump leaking. Not from the bearing. It's almost like the reservoir is coming apart. Guess I will pull it this weekend and see.