Tii runs poorly and lacks power, gets worse as it warms up

[Son of Marty]

Yes, you need a 10 gauge wire from the alt body to the block, and that plug does indeed need to go to the alternator after you clean up the contacts.

[Pablo M]

I’ve not read all the replies but did see someone mention the plastic intake runners. 
 

I have a 1972 tii and I had been chasing poor running as well. I don’t think mine ever ran well in the beginning. 
I tracked down some vacuum leaks, with several hoses showing severe dry rot and cracking. Then got it running well and would revert back.

particularly, check the warm up regulator hose that runs under the intake runners from kfisher warm up regulator to intake.
ultimstely would run well then poorly again. I swapped out the plastic runners (specific to only 1972) and replaced them with metal runners from 1973-1974. That solved my problem and mine runs well now. It might be that as the engine heats up and rubber hoses expand it’s causing vacuum leaks. I painted the metal runners black so it looks period correct on my 72 but your 74 would have come with them silver. If you do go that route you need to source the plenum, (4) intake tubes and the lower manifold. Bolts right in. 
More to check. I feel you. 
 

 

[Sean Murphy]

5 minutes ago, Pablo M said:

More to check. I feel you. 

 

Hey Pablo!  Thanks for the feedback.

Since I'm new to the Tii I don't know all the variations, but did a double-take on the intake runners!  I wasn't expecting that style to be the black plenum.  

I can't rule out vacuum issues, but I can't do anything more until I figure out the charging issues at this point.  

I'm going to start another thread for recommendations on an alternator replacement.  

[Sean Murphy]

Quick update...

 

I was able to get the alternator issue taken care of.  Best I can tell, the alternator wasn't connected when I bought it, other than the B+ to the original wiring harness, and even that turned out to be a poor connection.  After running a ground wire, and a new B+ wire, I'm getting around 14 volts at the battery when running.

 

Waiting on a few new parts, including a new fuel filter, cap, rotor, points, and plugs.  If I end up not needing them now, I'll need them later!

[jgerock]

On 6/9/2023 at 8:44 PM, Pablo M said:

I’ve not read all the replies but did see someone mention the plastic intake runners. 
 

I have a 1972 tii and I had been chasing poor running as well. I don’t think mine ever ran well in the beginning. 
I tracked down some vacuum leaks, with several hoses showing severe dry rot and cracking. Then got it running well and would revert back.

particularly, check the warm up regulator hose that runs under the intake runners from kfisher warm up regulator to intake.
ultimstely would run well then poorly again. I swapped out the plastic runners (specific to only 1972) and replaced them with metal runners from 1973-1974. That solved my problem and mine runs well now. It might be that as the engine heats up and rubber hoses expand it’s causing vacuum leaks. I painted the metal runners black so it looks period correct on my 72 but your 74 would have come with them silver. If you do go that route you need to source the plenum, (4) intake tubes and the lower manifold. Bolts right in. 
More to check. I feel you. 
 

 

Pablo- please add a rubber plug to the two open ports on your 74tii intake manifold “log”. Major vacuum leaks if not plugged.

[Pablo M]

3 hours ago, jgerock said:

Pablo- please add a rubber plug to the two open ports on your 74tii intake manifold “log”. Major vacuum leaks if not plugged.

Yes. I got plugs on those before I finished the install. This was an in progress photo. Thanks. Car ran great afterwards. Funny, a week or so later car started running poorly again and took me forever to realize I’d lost one of the plugs lol. They’re on there good and tight now, with a touch of rtv and a small zip tie. 
thanks for the heads up though. 

[Sean Murphy]

It's alive!

Really appreciate everyone that provided some recommendations on getting this sorted.

I finally took it for a drive to the gas station and back today, seemingly running great!  Pretty exciting since the last time I tried to drive it around my block (<1/4 mile) I pushed it back with my wife in the driver's seat.  

 

Quick recap on how this came to me from a BAT auction...

• The alternator wasn't connected
• The coil was wired reverse polarity (had this replaced by a local shop, wired it backward as well)
• 008 dizzy had a broken spring mount (just got it back from Advanced Distributors)

Still, many little things to sort, but able to drive it for the first time in the three months I've owned it!

Now I need to figure out how to better fit my foot on the accelerator pedal with the Clardy A/C panel.

 

Cheers,

Sean

 

 

[JerryC]

Great news. Somehow, the simple things always seem to cause enormous driveability problems. Running worse as it warmed up was probably just the battery running down. Go figure. I was going to suggest checking for vacuum leaks, but a miswired ignition definitely will cause issues. Glad you figured it out.

Jerry

[Sean Murphy]

Quick update on how things played out with the car last/this year before starting a new thread...

 

It wasn't alive after all.  It would still die on me when taking it out and at variable lengths of driving.  Total loss of power and engine stumbling until it would die.  Let it rest a moment and then it seemed to fire back up and I could go a little further. 

Life got in the way for a bit, moved to a new house, and back to the troubleshooting earlier this year.  

 

Along with the other problems in the car, I was running into a fuel starvation issue.  The tank (supposedly checked by one of the shops I had it in here in Tampa) was a rusty mess, and a dent in the bottom of the tank had skewed the screen on the pickup, allowing all kinds of crud to get to the fuel pump and upstream to the filter.  

Pulled and relined the tank, installed a new fuel pump, cleaned/replaced lines and filters, and finally, she was up and running... for real!  

 

Thanks again for all the recommendations!

 

New thread coming tomorrow to solve my tuning woes.

[2761377]

that's a pretty cool chassis number on your engine.

Edited May 7 by 2761377

[Aaron R]

Glad you got the stumbling issue out of the way. I had a similar stumble/stagger and it turned out to electric fuel pump wiring. Mine isn't quite sorted and yet and even so it's a blast. 

[Sean Murphy]

9 hours ago, 2761377 said:

that's a pretty cool chassis number on your engine.

 

Pretty close!  At first glance, I thought I had your engine!

[Sean Murphy]

39 minutes ago, Aaron R said:

Glad you got the stumbling issue out of the way. I had a similar stumble/stagger and it turned out to electric fuel pump wiring. Mine isn't quite sorted and yet and even so it's a blast. 

 

Thanks, Aaron.  Felt good to finally drive the car a bit.
I wish I hadn't screwed it up a few days ago by opening (and adjusting) the tuna can.  

[Aaron R]

2 hours ago, Sean Murphy said:

 

Thanks, Aaron.  Felt good to finally drive the car a bit.
I wish I hadn't screwed it up a few days ago by opening (and adjusting) the tuna can.  

Keep trying. Everyone has said it four million times, but re-set the kfisch stuff by the manual and give it another shot. 
 

I have gone through that process approximately 435,234 times

in this journey for one reason or another. Mostly after having to take shit apart to fix something unrelated. Anyway. I’ve found that when you get into a bind and can’t figure out the tune quite, check all the linkages, make sure your pedal linkage is solid, hasn’t slipped, the gas pedal is opening the throttle all the way, then set the tuna can back to zero per the manual. Start from there, get it warm, and adjust incrementally till it idles nicely and pulls well. You got this. 

[Sean Murphy]

2 hours ago, Aaron R said:

Keep trying. Everyone has said it four million times, but re-set the kfisch stuff by the manual and give it another shot. 
 

I have gone through that process approximately 435,234 times

in this journey for one reason or another. Mostly after having to take shit apart to fix something unrelated. Anyway. I’ve found that when you get into a bind and can’t figure out the tune quite, check all the linkages, make sure your pedal linkage is solid, hasn’t slipped, the gas pedal is opening the throttle all the way, then set the tuna can back to zero per the manual. Start from there, get it warm, and adjust incrementally till it idles nicely and pulls well. You got this. 

 

I feel like I'm catching up quickly.  
Once it was running after the fuel system fixes, I took a closer look at the tech docs on throttle adjustments and discovered I only had about 60% travel on the accelerator.  The car came with a non-Tii pedal and ultimately it required an adjustment under the car to get the full travel.  This was a night and day difference in the performance of the car, and the next two weeks were awesome.

I decided to go through the few additional steps to ensure the linkage was well-adjusted, and it does seem a little sloppy.  I didn't pay close enough attention to where it started, and I haven't been able to get it running well since.  

I have another thread asking for recommendations for shops in Tampa, but we seem pretty thin on good spots down here.