I own a 1964 Dodge Dart, with a 225 /6. I posted on this site a few years ago when I was working on it regularly. It was my daily driver from 2003 until the beginning of 2008. To make a long story short, after a few years in college, gaining the use of a newer car, I've left the Dodge sitting virtually untouched for about a year and a half. The last time I drove it was several months ago, when I shuffled it around to a different parking space. Now I can't get the engine started. I'm trying to sell it locally due to lack of space, but it's somewhat difficult to do without the engine running.

The main complication aside from the general disuse is likely the non-standard carburetor, as it wasn't running particularly well even when it was parked for good. The last thing I did to this car was to replace the stock 1bbl intake manifold with a 2bbl aluminum intake from the great and powerful eBay. My plan was to mount a Weber DGEV, which was sitting around the parents' house from another abandoned project. After woefully discovering that the Weber bolt pattern did not match that of the stock /6 2bbl manifold, my stepdad and I engineered one of the greatest feats of redneck engineering ever recorded by science: a two-piece adapter plate made from 1/4" aluminum that happened to be hanging around the garage. I'm actually still pretty proud of this and will post pictures of it if anyone is interested.

After mounting the carburetor via the adapter plate and a similarly engineered throttle linkage (using the Dart's original throttle lever), we found that the engine would sputter and choke when the throttle was depressed any more than required for mild acceleration. To us, it sounded like the mix was lean, as if there were a massive air leak. This seemed to be confirmed by accident when the choke was manually closed with the engine hot: the engine suddenly sounded great! Replacing all the gaskets had no effect. Wiring the choke valves shut made the car drivable, but it would still sputter if I gave it enough throttle.

Considering that the Weber had come off a 4-cylinder MGB, we figured it probably needed new jets, but this was never investigated before I had to return to school in my new(er) car. Fast-forward about a year to mid-2009, when I picked the car up to tow it away from the parents' yard. I drove it onto the trailer, and off again at my new place. I last drove it (at low speed) some time earlier this year. There is clean fuel in the inline filter, and I've tried using starting fluid. The engine will turn over and even cough, but will not stay running. Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to the original 1bbl intake, or else I would swap it back out, throw a rebuilt Carter BBS on it, and resell the other parts separately.

Any ideas?

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Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing

SpaceFrank,

You may have two or more problems.
First off, I would say there is a vacuum leak somewhere. Where you recently changed the carburetor, and a drivability problem surfaced, I suspect it to be at the base & manifold meeting surfaces. Check for true, or flatness of the bottom of the carburetor. After you get it running, spray carburetor cleaner around all mating surfaces & throttle plate shafts.

Second, where the car has been sitting for some time the carburetor may need to be cleaned out. Today’s gas has a very short half life, and causes all manor of problems with fuel systems from rust in lines & tank, gum, degraded soft parts in fuel pumps & lines, and pitting of internal carburetor surfaces. A good cleaning & rebuild most likely is needed.
Thirdly, you say the engine sputters while trying to start, but won’t run once off the help of the starter. This is a classic symptom of a bad ballast resistor, you know, that white ceramic thing about three inches long on the fire wall. Check its continuity, and resistance of 0.5 to 0.6 ohms. A high resistance will indicate a broken resistor coil.

If your car has points, check for pitted, burnt contacts, and or closed up gap. Temporary fix is to clean up contacts with a point file or small bit of fine sand paper, reset the gap, and lube the cam that opens & closes the points. Or, purchase a new set.

Also a bad coil will cause symptoms you listed, it to can be tested. Primary resistance will be around 1.4 to 1.7 ohms ( + to – terminals), and secondary resistance around 9200 to 11700 ohms ( + or – terminal to center high voltage wire feeding distributor cap).

I would first check out the ballast resistor, points, and coil. If all checks out good, move on to the fuel system.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

We went over all the mating surfaces pretty well originally. Is there any way to test the integrity of that seal without the engine running? I also wonder if the manifold bolts to the head need to be re-torqued. I'm almost certain we did this at least once after the manifold change, but it's been a while.

There are no points, thankfully; I converted to electronic ignition a while back. The coil and ballast resistor have both been replaced, but that sounds easy to check. Thanks for giving me those resistances.

_________________
Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing

Not really
If you had the mating surfaces of the head & manifolds dressed during the rebuild, used a good gasket, never seize on studs, and torqued nuts to proper rate, I should think it would be ok.

Check the base of the carburetor with a true stright edge, and a bright light. One will see any whoop if it is present.

Once you get her running, it is easy to check for vacuum leaks… But you knew that...

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC