Buick 225 timing is 5* btdc but jeep runs awful? Help!

I am finally getting the heep up and running after lifting, adding sag steering, power brakes from an 89 xj, cj7 rear tank addition, and topping off all fluids. It's a 67 cj5 with original 225. The PO just rebuilt it before I bought it, and it ran great before I parked it for the winter/spring/summer in the garage to do the work to it.

The 2g carb rebuilt several times now, but never soaked in a can, and it is hard to start, runs rough, and has a horrid off idle stumble. More like a death cough than a stumble. The mix screws are 2 turns out, and that's about where they were before. I timed it without the vacuum advance, to 5*, and it is driving me crazy. This thing ran great before, and I mean great. I had added Pertronix and headers and it was a strong motor. Now it can't move out of its shadow and if I push it too hard it sounds like is totally bogged down and backfires out the exhaust. The gas coming out of the new rear poly tank is dark (I didn't wash it, just took PO's word it was good!) and leaves a gummy residue in the carb pretty quickly. I've added Marvels Mystery Oil to the motor oil, at the advice of someone more knowledgable than me, talking about a sticky lifter. I have also read that the timing chain can jump even if the timing light says 5*.

Does this sound like a timing chain issue or could it be a really hard-to-clean carb? Am I way far off? Spark plugs are black so I know it's probably rich. The carb eats accelerator pump rings too for some reason. All cylinders are firing based on me pulling each wire one at a time from the rotor and listening for stumble while running. Help!

 

I'd say you need to eliminate the dirty fuel problem, before trying anything else. Have you had the distributor out since the last time you ran it?

 

I agree that the dirty fuel is a big issue. When the carb was off last, I could see and feel the sticky, tacky, varnished surface of the inside of the intake manifold. The fuel is running through 2 fuel filters before hitting the carb; one after the tank and before the fuel tank switch valve, then one after the mechanical pump before the carb.
I have not removed the cap, rotor or anything other than rotating the distributor for timing since it ran last year. Can the gears/teeth on a distributor get busted/jump?

 

They can certainly break. Jumping isn't possible unless you've been running it without the hold-down, and it climbed up the gear. I only asked, as I had very similar behavior when I first got mine running again, and it was due to having the distributor 180* out.

 

Any other symptoms or behavior typical of being 180* off? I guess going through and re-clocking would t hurt if it's not wrong?

 

The typical, it'll idle, like crap. No power, backfiring, etc. But if you haven't had the distributor out since the last time it ran, I wouldn't bet on it. Never hurts to check though.

 

If the issue is carb related, would replacing the 2g with a MC2100 be smart?

 

*I* am a big fan of the 2100's, they're great carbs. But I know lots of guys have good luck with the 2GC's. I didn't, but I always intended to switch out for a 4bbl anyway.

 

How hard is it to put a 2100 on a stock intake? That may be a dumb question but I know nothing about the differences, if any, in 2bbl mounts.

 

You'd need an adapter, I'm pretty sure. Somebody that's done it will chime in, I'm sure. I've never actually done it on a 225.

 

Did a little rooting around. Search summit racing for TRD Products #2086 and that should be the adapter to put a Holley-Flange 2bbl (like the motorcraft 2100), on a rochester 2bbl manifold.

 

Wow, ask and you shall receive..thanks!

 

mine was 180 out also, an a rebuilt carb made it run great, had a old school mechanic adjust the carb. Its like a new 225
Its easy

 

Check your dwell as well. I've played this game a few times. Especially if no distrubutor cam lube was used at the last points install.
As mentioned before in other posts, those little ball bearings in the carb aren't the same size so it is easy to get them in the wrong places. On my brothers 2G, the emulsion tubes wern't installed correctly so there was a leak there as well. The shear pin holding the gear on the bottom of the dist has been known to, well, shear and cause things to be off.

 

Don't know much, but if it ran before... I would first spray carb cleaner in every possible orifice and then try to run the motor with clean fuel off a jerry can first.

 

Thanks for the ideas folks. One thing to note, I installed a pertronix kit in it last year. Not sure if that nullifies the cam lube idea?

 

Cam lube is for the points only..

 

x2 on eliminate the fuel from the dirty tank. Old gas especially with ethanol in it is bad no matter how many filters you have. Pump it out and get rid of it. I would also double check that the pertronix unit is correct for the application. You can always re-install the points to eliminate that as the issue. Best to always do one thing at a time so you actually know what the problem was caused by.