1958 hesitation problems

[54cruzer]

My 1958 CDV has a hesitation problem, it stalls for a few seconds when accelerating, acts just like the accelerator pump is bad.  It has a rochester 4bbl that I have taken back to the carb shop for another rebuild, new pump check balls etc, no help.  I have bent the rod to the acc. pump longer and shorter trying to take up any slack etc.  When first taking off after restarting, even when hot, it stumbles badly then gets a little better but still hesitates every time you hit the gas.  I have an electric fuel pump as well as the mechanical (for priming purposes-same problem with just the new mechanical pump), a new coil, points,condensor ,plugs and wires.
I have set the timing to specs, and even tried advancing/retarding a bit.  Vac. advance is hooked up-tried without it too.
The cap and rotor have low miles, but I'm going to replace them today to be sure and the resistor as well. I have been racking my brain trying to fix this problem.  Any ideas?

[Dave Shepherd]

Sounds like a carb issue, the 4GC was a bit tricky to set up, too lean, low float level, are just some of the possibilities, there is no quick answer for this.  Make sure both the vacuum and mechanical advance are working, also is the carb original to this engine? On some engines e10 requires some rejetting.

[dplotkin]

I chased a problem like that for the better part of a year only to find a bad plug wire. It can also be a bad plug (cracked insulator), bad cap or a cracked coil top. If the carb has been gone through twice, start looking at ignition. A bad plug or wire can cause this exact symptom and act just like a bad accelerator pump. Trick: At night, with engine running, put water in a spray bottle & mist the top of the coil, distributer, wires and plug boots and look and listen for arcing. A bad plug insulator will tick or fizzle a bit if you listen closely.

Dan

[Raymond919]

Hi,
I'm relatively new to the forum and have only read posts up to now, never posted for anyone's problem. Although I'm no mechanic, I thought I'd offer my two cents for whatever it's worth.

You said that you checked your vacuum advance and also had disconnected it to see if that affected your situation. Just because it was hooked up, are you sure it was working? To eliminate this as a possibility, attach a timing light and slightly raise the RPMs to see if the timing advances a bit. If it does, at least you know that your problem does not have anything to do with this situation. If it doesn't advance, you might want to check that out.

Ray Schuman