1974 Pontiac lemans 33,000 original miles

[dann]

Hi,

Purchased a 4 door lemans with 350-4 barrel. very nice 4 door car except for gas mileage but that is to be expected.
-one issue is when the engine gets warm it starts to miss fire taking off from a stop light and seems to clear it self out at higher speeds.
-second issue is both doors on the drivers side are closing well but do not seem to be tight against the door jams on the handle side. When the driver door is closed you can still push the door in a little bit from the outside. It is noticable when you are driving and hit a bump then the door seem to jump up a bit. Wonder is there is an adjustment that can keep the doors tighter to the door jam pin?

 

[melsg5]

Have you checked the dwell, timing, and mixture screws. How many miles on the cap, rotor, and wires?

The striker that the door lock catches and is attached to the body should be adjustable.

 

[dann]

tuned up

Hi,

very new cap, rotor, accell coil, wires and NGK plugs. i think it may be dirt in carb, will do a carb wash and see how this goes.
the door latches are not what i found in a manual on line? they are the large pin that sticks out from the center body of the door frame.

 

[dann]

tuned up

One more thing when i pulled the plugs they were not as tan/brown as I would like, look at little whiter than possibly should be so i feel it may be running lean.
This is a very clean car and when i look into the oil filler cap the engine is very clean with no carbon deposits or engine leaks. I know the 4 barrel is not a stock item but it is also very clean which leads me to wonder if the jetting was set correctly. The motor starts easy and idles down as soon as it is warmed so that seems to be fine but there may be some dirt in one of the passages of the carb.

______________________________

 

[melsg5]

The large pins when loosened can be repositioned to adjust the door tightness. I believe there is a star shape in the center and there is a socket that matches it.

What carburetor is on the car, Holley, GM Quadrajet, Edelbrock Quadrajet, Edelbrock Performer, etc.? Try to find the part number, Holley is on the airhorn, GM Quad is on side of carb, not sure about Edelbrocks.

Any vacuum hoses disconnected, did you check if the points are burnt, did you check dwell and timing?

 

[dann]

tuned up

Hello,

I took the car in to a mechanic who put a new gas filter, air filter, adjusted the carb, turned the distributor a tiny bit, adjusted the door pins and the car runs like a charm with much more power and no chugging. Doors are tight and I am really happy. All for $135.00 which I thought was more than fair considering everytime I take my wife's car in the cost is always close to a $1,000.00.
Another big savings is the car insurance which gives me everything and more for less than a $100.00 per month plus my younger son can drive it which is not possible on our newer car due to the high cost of insurance. I am starting to think that the older well maintained cars that are not driven more than 15,000 miles are cheaper to operate plus some of them are still lookers. Mine is an old person car but that suits me fine.
I want to thank the forum for their help and I will try to stay in touch as I think I may keep this car for awhile.