Denny,
Holy Cow!!! YOU may have just supplied the answer to my prayers!
My 1.5 ton, with the freshly rebuilt 216, and I just went for a 450-mile trek. On the way back, it started running hot, simultaneously (gradually) losing power and bucking and wheezing. Giving it some choke brought it back to life, AND cooled it back down. So the conclusion was that the carb, for SOME reason, was running lean, probably. There was talk of drilling out the main jet, but hadn't gotten there yet.
We've been trouble-shooting this problem for two weeks, now. Just finished re-timing the thing, adjusting the valves, checking the plugs. Got great vacuum, 22 lbs. at idle, and now smooth (a few valves were off a little). Also, found the points hold-down screw loose, and the points WIDE open.
Now, we're playing with the distributor advance, trying to set it according to vacuum (per instructions in a post here), which doesn't really compute with me, so I'm gonna set it back to factory static. Regardless, the test drives show smoother performance, but still a hesitation, mostly in the upper half of the rpm range.
I rebuilt the W-1 myself, and it's my first rebuild, and I didn't know WHAT the heck I was doing, so I bet I made the SAME mistake. It's almost impossible to tell the difference in some of those kit parts. Heck, even the Carter Rebuild instructions don't make it perfectly clear. Not only that, but I'm not HALF as clever, or careful, as you are, but . . . I'm working on it!
THANKS FOR POSTING ON THIS - I'M EXCITED!
-Michael
