Question for a friend

Maniacal Offroad

I am a member of the Got Mud 4x4 club of Genesee county (www.wegotmud.com) And a young friend of mine has...I think it's a 1979
CJ7. He just put in am AMC 360 and we seem to be having problems with timing / maybe ignition. It is a fresh motor and sometimes when we advance the timing it runs great for awhile then goes back to missing and sputtering. Might even be a Carb. Prob. My problem is Iknow NOTHING about AMC and very little about Jeeps. I am a Chevy Guy..There seems to be alot Knowlagable people here and was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction. I really need specs on the AMC 360...Sorry but I cannot remember the year...This kid is 15 years old. We wheel at an ORV park and his dad trailers him there. The boy can out drive most Men I know! I want to help but am clueless..Sorry about making this a Novel. Thx in advance!

                        -Jeff

Lifted79CJ7

Welcome to Bulltear!! Can you give us more symptomatic clues as to what is actually going on? Also what type carb, etc is he running? Two barrell carb or is it an aftermarket? Is it the stock motorcraft ignition system or anaftermarket setup like Jacobs or MSD? We'll help ya out, just give us a couple more clues if ya could!! Jack the class clown

Maniacal Offroad

Thx. Right now he has a 2 barrel (not sure of carb) It's a stock AMC 360 with the stock ignition and no current upgrades. The main problem is sometimes it runs great and then the next minute it will run, but sputter and doesn't want to rev past ...like 3500 -4000 rpms.. I haven't driven it myself but I will this weekend so I can get a better idea. One time we advanced the timing a little and it ran like a top...He hit a few mud holes and then it was back to spittin again. (There was no water on the motor) It's frustrating me cuz I have no idea what a standard AMC 360 should be timed at and neither does he. His wiring was a mess so we went thru that and it helped but it's still not consistant. Any info on this motor would be greatly appreciated. I have built a few Chevy motors so I have a good Idea about how an engine runs..But I feel like an idiot with this thing...lol thx again! -Jeff I suppose the only Upgrades from stock would be headers and the purple something or other mufflers he's running..other than that it's stock.

jeepsr4ever

Jeff sounds like a carb issue. I would make sure the distributor is tight...next I would pull it out and check the distributor gear condition. then I would look into the carb. 2bbl motorcrafts are a dime a dozen and can easily be found on older full size jeeps.

Maniacal Offroad

I wondered about the distrib. gea...he said the distrb was new..It's prolly worth a look anyway. He wants to put that 4 barrel carb and intake on if he has to spend money on it....would that be advisable? Thx again for yur help. I feel like a minority here lol

rollen dean montoya

sounds like a carb issue. i have one more question. does it have points or electronic ignition? and by the way i think i might be a minority also. live in socal and own an eagle 4x4 wagon.

Dusty

if he has points have him invest in an HEI conversion distributor, GM off the shelf parts once you have the distributor, mc here sells em and they are nice pieces, do away with ignition problems one wire hook up. SWEET if its a runner......... a performer intake (maybe an Airgap, i liked the airgap on my 360 it had plenty down low and the midrange was perfect and let me swing to 6k) and a 670 holley offrroad carb would do the ticket. Sputtering after a duration of running at higher rpms, have you checked fuel delivery from the lift pump? could be carb but i would see if maybe you arent starving out for fuel fram lack of delivery.???? just a thought i would lean that way and check fuel pressure before replacing the carb, it could be that simple. ask him if he put a new supply pump on when he built the motor. check the distributor being tight butis it back firing at all when it starts sputtering? couple other things mc or others could ponder could the weights have come loose in the distributor, and if the gear were going out wouldnt it loose timing slip and backfire? then probably shut off. really there isnt much different between a chevy, amc, ford ect if its carburated and has a distributor its all just process fo elimination. HEY Nor Cal s just as sparce for AMC's

Lifted79CJ7

Maybe a clogging fuel filter?