Newbie 304 Questions

Bam Bam

Have a stock 78 304 in my CJ7. Sorry newb here... When I bought it, it came with a Edelbrock Alum Intake and a QuadraJet Carb, needless to say it ran like junk. I added a Holley 650 4 Barrel (which was apparently recommended by Holley) and it helped. It would actually idle. Oh, the exhaust system is a Dynomax outerframe headers with Purple hornies sidepipes. But it still backfires. its driving me crazy. I have been told its the "timing, or the plugs", or the "fuel/air mix", or the "carb needs a rebuild", its the "Jets" But this only seems to happen when I lift off the throttle and/or downshift. Thoughts?

jeepsr4ever

Sounds like a distributor advance or timing issue...and about those purple hornies...they sounds like your rolling through compton with a truckload of bass.

tarior

Backfires? Pops back through the carb? Bump your timing up a little.

Bam Bam

ha funny, no they were cheap and its nice having all that open space under the jeep. And of course the jeep is loud as hell and scares away small children and small jeeps :lo1l: Tried the timing and it didn't really help alot. I know my buddy's dad wants to play with it and put in a cam. I am currently running stock axles with 4:56s and 35s but plan on going full width SOA on 38s with 5:13s Driven by an AX-15 and D300

dbesade

Bam Bam wrote
Have a stock 78 304 in my CJ7. Sorry newb here...

When I bought it, it came with a Edelbrock Alum Intake and a QuadraJet Carb, needless to say it ran like junk.

I added a Holley 650 4 Barrel (which was apparently recommended by Holley) and it helped. It would actually idle.

Oh, the exhaust system is a Dynomax outerframe headers with Purple hornies sidepipes.

But it still backfires. its driving me crazy. I have been told its the "timing, or the plugs", or the "fuel/air mix", or the "carb needs a rebuild", its the "Jets"

But this only seems to happen when I lift off the throttle and/or downshift.

Thoughts?

I'm dealing with the same problem right now. I've got a '76 CJ7 with a 304, Edelbrock Performer w/ 600CFM Performer Carb. Was backfiring and sputtering like nuts. My dad and I advanced the timing a bit and richened the mixture... it made it at least driveable for the time being.

I'm gunna check the distributor points and get a tach and dwell on the fawker this weekend. I know what your going through though. (us newbs should stick together :mrgreen: )

Bam Bam

thanks man, :lo1l: its driving me crazy. I can bearly be in the garage with it running for more than a minute before my eyes start burning! It runs that rich and I have been told it can't be leaned out any more WTF??? :razz:

Bam Bam

Ok, update. the damn thing chewed up 2 distributor gears in 2 hours, but just before it quit it ran like a dream. Awesome throttle response and all. But them it went. the timing fukd up and that was it. So I found an AMC 360 out of a 87 Grand Waggy. I would like to rebuild it and put in a mild cam and have it bored out 30 over. Nothing crazy. I was told my 304 intake wouldn't fit. Is that true? If not I guess I would need a new alum intake and I would like to get some new heads. And of course I would need to fix that oiling issue. I know its all on here but with work I am so damn busy. So long story short. What the hell do i need to keep this thing running and to not have oiling issues? Please help! To make it even better, my fiance is pregnant and won't let me spend any money so of course I am on a budget. Thanks for any help you can give me.

Goose

Well your aluminum intake will fit. and if you are on a minimum budget. just build the bottom end stock upgrade the front cover/oilpump/gears etc through bulltear here and go find a book on that holley.. you can jet it down to waaaay lean so someone is giving bad advice. and that 360 is gonna be a way lot of poop in a 7 stock..worry about 500 hp later 300 stock ponies is a gob in a 7 (I say this to keep the hormonally challanged pregenant fiancee from killing you out of hand)

Bam Bam

ya I agree (about the pregnant fiance thing!!) Glad to hear about the intake since it came with the 304. I was just wondering what I should buy. There is so much available here!

Goose

I believe that bulltear has the complete frontcover oil pump/gear set up on here, clean the bottom end up, build it stock and beef the oil system up. and spend your money on reliability..(ignition system for example.. I like Mallory the hotter the spark the more completely you burn the fuel). I have always believed , the almost stocker that runs good every day will beat the wonder motor that sits on the engine stand for lack of cash.