trouble shooting

[wingski]

Hello again. I took the ’29 cabriolet for my first drive with my wife and dog Tuesday evening. It started easily and ran fairly decently for the first few minutes, but started missing and trying to die pretty quickly. The gas valve was turned on, the spark was advanced, the throttle lever was all the way back up, and the choke was in and turned out about 1/2 a turn. The only way I was able to get back home was by pulling the choke out and pushing it back in. That allowed me enough power to go forward until I had to do it again. There are twin Tillotson carbs and a newer distributor on the car, and I don’t know what has been done to the engine.

My question is: Where do I start to find out what’s wrong? I’m going to pull the timing gear cover and check the timing just to be sure. Then, I’m going to check the distributor and points, but I feel that a lot of the problem is the carbs. I have the original intake manifold and Zenith carb, but I hate to take off that Vortex manifold and carbs because I don’t have the original fuel line for the Zenith. The gas was fresh and good, and both screens in the gas tank and sediment bowl are clean and clear. I have two inline filters going to the carbs and they’re clean, so this is not a gas problem. I wish I knew what head and what bore the engine is, but I don’t.

Thanks again for all the help you guys have given me. Mike