my 76 dart since it has gotten cold has started to hesitate when i drive it. usually it runs strong but now i have to let it warm up for about 5 minutes. after the 5 minutes it runs fine and has all the power it normaly has. i want to know what my problem could be and how to fix it. it just started this about a week ago and i notice it after school when the temps are in the 40's.

Sounds pretty much normal for a carbureted car in cold weather...at least one that probably needs a choke adjustment. Doug Dutra has a great article on adjusting your choke in the articles section.

Could also be your flapper valve in the exhaust manifold is stuck. So instead of diverting air to the bottem of the intake like its supposed to, its stuck in the open position, allowing exhaust to exit with no heat diverted to the carb base.

Yeah sounds pretty normal to me. I let my car warm up in the cold for about 5mins anyway. cuts down on wear and tear...

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Mike C
http://cuda.iclownz.com
67 - Barracuda Coupe - 225 - Automatic

I don't know why I told you what I did m44. I took my flapper valve out and pluged the holes. My engine runs fine without it in cold weather. High idle is set at 1600rpm, tap the gas down to 1100, put it in drive and go in a minute or so time. You could try to adjust your choke so it goes down to curb idle in steps like that if you already havn't.

Check to be sure the distributor's vacuum advance is working and the the accelerator pump in the carb has a strong "shot".

Proper choke adjustment is also a big part of that "stomp, start & go" cold engine performance.

One other thing to try is adding some more initial timing advance, slow or retarded timing can cause a hesitation.
DD

Here in finland is very cold at winter. Now is About 10 fahrenheit. If aircleaner is not having heated air, there surely be hesitation.

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Sorry, my english is not very good

ok i just changed my plugs and the problem is just about gone. i still need to adjust the carb but the main problem is that 4 out of 6 plugs where fouled.