Yesterday I got out and played with the truck a bit, read some info online, and realized it's not a problem with the IAC. The stupid secondary throttle plates aren't closing. It's a "common problem" on the Snipers. This really frustrates me, as it's all Holley's fault. I have done absolutely nothing that would affect the secondary throttle plates. Holley's been making carburetors since 1902, and you think they'd have the assembly process on these down tight. I pulled the Sniper off to access the throttle plate screws. I loosened them a tad, worked the secondary linkage several times, and retightened. I also put another wind on the return spring, which is a recommended aid to the fix.
My son came over this morning to do a brake job on his car, and while he worked with minimal instruction, I worked on installing the Sniper distributor and coil before reinstalling the throttle body. The giant coil is a real pain in the butt. I had to fab a bracket for it, and I made one that is held down by the rear intake manifold bolts. I tried installing it on the driver's side, but the throttle and TV cables absolutely own that area, so no go. I ended up putting it on the passenger side, but it lightly rubs both the distributor cap and the transmission dipstick tube, so it may get moved again. It's a shame, because it's actually pretty tidy and hidden in that space. If I can get half an inch of tweak on the transmission dipstick tube, that will solve the issue.
I'm still not sure on the wiring, and tomorrow I'm going to try and wire it up without the points coil pickup adapter. I'm really hoping it works, because that would be a really simple and clean installation.
My son got some Raybestos "Police Spec" pads and rotors on his P71 CVPI, and he's happy. He was asking about body work, and I asked, "You aren't planning on keeping this turd forever?"
"Hell yeah! This car's awesome!"
...and he's right. So maybe the 4.6 isn't an outright beast of power production, but it's definitely an iron horse, and his motor probably has less than 20k on it. The car does have a few wiring issues we can't track down, and I'm not motivated enough to look for wiring diagrams. He's planning on bringing it back in a few weeks so we can refurbish and recharge the A/C.
Mid-week I'll be heading to Alabama for the 24 Hours of Lemons race at Barber Motorsports Park.
Gratuitous work-in-progress pic.
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