Idle speed

[Indydroptop]

Guys
I have a 64 110 with a powerglide. My question is how much should the idle speed drop from neutral to in gear? It idles pretty smoothly at 700 rpm in gear, (much below that it starts to buck and shake) but the neutral idle speed is around 1300. Is a 500 drop in rpm normal? My previous experiance is with small blocks and the idle drop was typically 200.

Thanks, Dave

[marvgarr]

the pg has a low stall so when it is running at 1300 and its put in gear it lugs the motor down it needs to be 700 in neutral 500 in gear adjust your idle evenly between the carbs and adjust the mixture. Running that high of an idle will put added strain on the drivetrain, ujoints, transmission, diff, ext also make sure there are no vaccumm leaks at the carb bases
make sure your isulators are in good shape gasket both sides tighten carb hold down bolts evenly if you do not it will have a vaccumm leak and there will not be no idle circuit on the carbs it will run fine at high idle but once down low it will not want to run

[flat6_musik]

I agree with marv here. See if richening up the idle mixture helps. That bucking and shaking may be a symptom of a lean idle......hopefully not a weak cylinder.

[Indydroptop]

A dried and broken vacuum hose from the intake crossover to the transmission modulator is culprit #1. Repaired that and got the neutral idle down to 950 and the in gear idle to 550, it sounds like it has a wicked cam but does idle. I will balance the carbs and check the modulator connection at the trans this weekend. Can the modulator have an internal vacuum leak? The throttle shaft on my left carb has the slightest bit of play but the idle doesn't increase when sprayed with carb cleaner, it rocks maybe .001" to .002" when wiggled. How much play is too much?
Thanks for your input!

[marvgarr]

the play you have is not bad i use the throttle shaft seal kit from clarks they are nice also have new shafts 950 is still high need more tunning timing might be off but sounds like carb problem

[916pat]

I have the same engine trans combo, and the same idle issue. Any more progress?

[marvgarr]

checked balance tube for bad hoses bad modulator hose bad carb base gaskets or isolators check idle mixture make sure both carbs are balanced also my car when I got it if you put it in low the idle went way up turned out the lever on the
trans had broken off and some one welded it back on in the wrong spot check timing also

[Indydroptop]

Nope, i havent gotten the idle to drop less than 400 rpm when placed in gear. I have replaced all vacuum hoses, rtv'd the carb bases and isolators, vacuum balanced the carbs, played with the timing some and checked to make sure all 6 were firing. It idles smoothly at 600rpm in gear but jumps up to 1000 in neutral. It seems to run fine and keeps up with the modern cars around town, it just has the annoying clunk when put in gear.
I've been distracted from this issue by being 65+ hours into stripping and repainting but want to get back into the engine when the paint is complete.
One thing i've noticed is the engine likes a lot more initial advance than factory spec. I have checked the balancer for slip and it looks ok. I will probably go through the carbs and the distributer to make sure nothing is wrong, maybe that will solve both issues.
If you come up with anything let me know. Good luck!

[RedLightBrew]

My '64 4spd also likes a more advanced timing as well. I'm up near 16deg BTDC. Would an after market air filter set up require more advanced timing? My carbs are vacuum balanced and sync'd as well.

[RedLightBrew]

My '64 4spd also likes a more advanced timing as well. I'm up near 16deg BTDC. Would an after market air filter set up require more advanced timing? My carbs are vacuum balanced and syncronized per manual. Runs fine now. Slight backfire through carbs rarely.

[marvgarr]

Automatics are timed to 12 deg a little more works good just watch detonation also don't use rtv on carb gaskets gas eats rtv
I

[Indydroptop]

I think i'm more in the 16 deg range. I've tried to make it ping, hot day, hot engine, full throttle up a hill from standing start and I didnt hear anything. I do want to strip down the distributer and check the mechanical advance, i know the vacuum advance is working. I used Permatex Ultra Black on the carb bases, it claims to be good to 500 deg and resistant to fuel and i was careful to keep it out of the bores so I would think I'm ok.
Red Light, I have aftermarket filters too but I don't think it would make a difference.

[marvgarr]

If the engine is not pinging you are ok not much experience with the blue rtv air cleaner does not make a difference with idling

[Indydroptop]

Switching to a relay controlled 12v feed to my coil and another switched 12v feed to my Ignitor 2 module got me on the right track (thanks again Flat6), a little more tuning will get me there. Thanks for all the imput.