I own and drive a 76 Duster with a 225. It has a 3 speed floor shift. However, I have a problem. I have no power. When I drive, it is almost as if the power flattens out. My top speed in the car is about 65 MPH. I have been told that it is a timing issue, or advance problem. I have checked the compression and it checks out good, and I istalled a new clutch, and that did not seem to help anything. Also, the max RPM before I shift is approx 2500. According to some friends, I am missing out on alot of slant six fun. I am new to the classic car game, but would sure like to learn! Thank you.

hey,
well, the slant six is a "sleeping" engine waiting to be woken up, the first thing i'd do is to set the good ol timing to 12degrees BTDC, that will give you quite abit more spunk, next thing to wake up that poor baby would be a supersix (2bbl intake with carb) you can find these on Aspen/Volare wagons and just around the junkyard, a carter 2bbl carb is something you will want to start off with, and another final but more involved thing is to swapp rear-end gears to 3.23s. you'll find after these 3 things it will feel like a new car good luck and have fun, ohh by the way, 2500 rpm is around the slants highest torque, 2700rpm is where it all happens and after about 3500 on a stock engine there is nothing more, i personally wouldnt take it above 4000rpm, although in my 4spd truck i tend to

Justin

ohhh crap, sorry forgot to mension that a 2.25" exhaust or 2.5" would wake her up too, add a glass pack muffler if you like a loud car or just a regular free flowing one for a quieter car (GO LOUD, LOUDER, LOUDER, WHAT!?! lol )

thats about the end of it without diggin into the motor....

Justin

Do you have a timing light?
Have you checked the vacuum advance "pod" to see if it works? (put a clean hose on it an suck, it should hold vacuum and the revs will go up if you test while the engine is running.)

A SL6 needs fast advance, right off idle. You should see the timing mark "jump" a good 20 degrees when you "blip" the throttle. Go check the distributor advance curve.
DD

Hi, new here, but from over at the Discussion board. I concur with the vacuum advance idea. Sounds like you aren't getting any advance at the distributor. Check and make sure the vacuum advance is hooked up and to a ported vacuum nipple. I.E. one that has vacuum after the carb butterflies are opened up. If the vacuum advance isn't operating the new canisters aren't too much, get one that pulls a total of about 8 1/2 degrees, then time the engine to 12 btdc. That should give you a nice curve along with the mechanical and vacuum advance. While replacing the vacuum canister, make sure your mechanical advance isn't getting bound up, sometimes the plates get gummed up, clean them with some contact cleaner or WD40, then lube them with some graphite powder, that should keep them from getting gummed up again, also check your advance springs. On my LeBaron, I replaced the lager advance spring with another lighter spring, which brought advance in sooner, made a world of difference in a larger car. Hope this helps, cruzerjd