[Elimin8or70]

I've got a 70 4v closed chamber cleveland in my cougar and i've noticed that the idle is becoming erratic. carb is in good shape but i checked the timing statically by hand turning the crank and i've got about 10 to 12 deg of slack in the chain before distributor rotor moves. any chance this could affect idle?

 

[COUGRRRMAN]

YES!!!

BETTER INSTALL A NEW TRUE DOUBLE ROLLER TIMING CHAIN AND GEARS SOON OR YOU WILL HAVE MORE TROUBLE THAN JUST ERRATIC IDLE.. NOT REALLY A BIG JOB AND NOT REALLY EXPENSIVE.. HAVE FUN.. YOU'LL NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE..

 

[Cougrrcj]

Erratic idle

Time to change your timing set.

You had better believe that slop in your timing chain will cause an erratic idle. If the timing changes while the engine is running, the idle speed will change. If your Cleveland is still stock, the chances are that the nylon covering on the timing gear has cracked and broken, and just that alone will cause a great degree of excessive play in the timing chain. The real problem is all those little nylon bits and pieces are now in your oil pan, getting sucked into the inlet screen of your oil pump. Do you see where this can lead?

Time to change your timing set.

If there are many pieces broken off the cam gear, you're going to have to either drop your oil pan, or otherwise flush all of those naughty bits out.

Have I mentioned that you really need to change your timing set? :1poke:

Cougrrcj