ok so this weekend i changed my valve covers (put the black wrinkle mopar covers on), changed the spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor button, cleaned up the carburetor and put some oil stabilizer in for a ticking lifter...now she starts up great but once i put it in gear it'll start to sputter and lurch unless i go wide open throttle

i figured the plugs and wires were bad and it wasnt firing on all cylinders but i guess not, they needed replacin anyways...so if yall have any suggestions i would greatly appreciate it

btw the sputtering and lurching feels like when you blow a tranny hose in a newer vehicle if any of yall have experienced that

 

Did you change the gaskets when you replaced the valve covers? Sounds to me like a vacuum leak.

Does it run fine before you hit the accelerator, when the choke is engaged, or just when you shift?

Does the PCV valve and the breathers fit snugly and are hooked up?

 

the engine is a 71 340 out of a challenger, the plugs are champion copper plus, wires are x-acts 7mm (cheap but old wires were dry rotted)...forgot to mention that i had changed the valve covers a week before the plugs etc. and yes the gaskets are new, the only difference is that the breather hose is a little further back, and the engine sputters really bad when im accelerating in 1st and cuts back dramatically when in 2nd or higher...no problems when starting up or idleing

 

could be a vacuum leak and/or timing.

What carb do you have? Did you adjust anything on it? how much cleaning did you do to it?

 

I had that happen to me when I last had the car running, would drive my automatic with both feet to keep it running.

I temporarily fixed the problem with spraying some carb cleaner into the pcv, and also hose clamps on both ends of the pcv hose to keep it attached.

 

with the ticking lifter
are the lifters new?

 

ive been talkin to a few of my mechanic friends and theyre guessin vacuum leak as well, im gonna start by replacing all the hoses 1st because theyre dry-rotted

ive got a 4-bbl holley carb, not sure exactly what kind

and the lifters arent new, but theres one in there tickin up a storm

 

and how much of a pain would it be to put in a heater core?

 

ticking lifter could be it going bad
thats what happened to me
what kind of oil are you running?

 

mobil 1 full synthetic - only to clean it up the old oil was sludgy, and i think ive got and bad head gasket bcuz it leaks pretty bad

how hard was it to fix your lifter?

 

well, hopefully your problem with lifters is totally different with my problems with lifters
mine had to do with the no zinc in the oil, so my cam and lifters got wiped out, and they took a few of my berings with it

 

good lord i hope i aint got that problem

 

yeah that'd b great

i dont think i have the same problem that lifter was goin to town when i bought the car

 

the motor could have been ran a while without zinc when you bought the car
the damage could have been done

 

fantastic

 

has anyone heard anything about the hose kits from hiperformancestore.com? They have a kit that repalces all the vacuum hoses and a few radiator hoses, etc...

 

Did you get your car up and running ??