I recently purchased a 1985 ramcharger 4x4 318 2bbl. The 318 lacks power thats for sure. Its starts great even at -4 degrees. When driving it has a slight hesitation when you touch the throttle. I decided to check the timing and found it to be a 8. I raised it to 12 (factory spec) with the expectation of going more but any more and the engine seemed to labor. Test drive at 12 and it seemed to stumble under load even light acceleration. I'm thinking lean miss? I did notice that when i reved it to 3600 i only had 25 total timing. Are these factory engines and carbs that lean or do i have an issue somewhere else?

New toy

Are those 33's on there? Looks nice too. I would crawl up there and pull dist cap and make sure the rotor springs back when you give it a twist (assuming it's not a lean burn etc). You can try some more advance and see if that will help but watch for detonation then under load. I had a couple 85's and they were not powerhouses, but that stumble is not right.

Yep 33's. I pulled it in the shop last night. Pulled a plug and it looks good but the plan is a basic tune up and check for vacuum leaks tonight.
Maybe take a look at the carburetor.

They're VERY lean, tended to burn exhaust valves. 120 hp doesn't move two tons very well.

Robert

33's and a 3.21 gear doesn't help much either.

A thorough tune-up will help a lot. New plug wires will help a bunch. My '87 D100 has a 318 and after I ditched the LeanBurn and put on a E-Brock #2176 and an old , dirty 625 cfm AFB it really came to life.
When I finally pull the 8.25" 3.21 rear and put the Dana 60-2 in place with the 4.10 gear, it will really wake it up

I have a performer intake laying around and a spread bore holley. Would take some figuring out on the throttle and kick down linkage. Future plans include an engine change thinking maybe 318 stroked to 390 but i do want mileage in the teens so nothing crazy. The way it is i don't think it will like pulling the boat and that's a big problem for me. Gotta kick it into 2nd for the hills as is with no trailer.

The reason I posted the picture of the tire on my D100 is because they are P245/75R16s all around and while it almost looks like a 4x4 it is really only 2wd. The real issue here is the gearing...with the 3.21 gears and the tall tires at cruise it pulls the engine way down in the power band. The truck loafs at highway speed and I want to be able to pull a tilt bed trailer with the Ramcharger aboard (about 7,000# altogether). That is why I did the 4 barrel swap and built the Dana 60-2. I want it to think it is a big block 3/4 ton truck. And if that is not the answer, I have a LA318 core and a LA360 core that I can build into 390" or 408" with the 4" cranks that are available. I am lucky in that I have only one axle to change

It almost makes me wish I still had the Cummins

Here's mine & we're pretty close . 318/2wd/3.23 (3.21?) sure grip. 10-12 MPG, starts/runs good. Bad: gas gauge non op/rad leak/oil leaks. You have a timing (total/curve) issue but that ain't what is causing the hesitation. #1 check AP squirt/duration, should be immediate on tip in. Nor is the carb lean but you might have a vac leak. Check into the std tune up items incl rotor phasing. You wouldn't happen to have a wiring diagram would you , i wanna get after that gas gage prob.

I don't have a tac in the ramcharger but my math says right at 2000 rpm at 60 mph with the gearing and tire size. I don't plan on changing my gearing because i would like some mileage from the truck and the only thing i plan on towing is my little jon boat. 390 is more then i need but its nice to have a little extra in reserve. If i have to hook onto the car trailer my 408 powered '98 ram comes outta the shed. That 4" crank will surprise you and roll smoke off the 285-75-r16's. The 408 pulls 16 mpg if you don't act like a teenager. The only thing i really miss about my cummins is the 22 mpg.

Nice rig. I just may have a wiring diagram but will have to look tonight. I drove mine threw Lincoln just a couple weeks ago. The miss in mine isn't accelerator pump. You can be on a steady cruise and as you start a hill it will surge. Pretty sure its lean but why is the question and a vacuum leak is possible but i don't hear one. I'll dig into it tonight. By the way are you still involved in circle track? This picture is a former life for me.

yes I am hoping to race again next April. you might check rotor phasing/reluctor gap both of which are changed by the amt of vac adv which is changed somewhat by throttle position. Cap the can & retry it & it'd be real easy to do. Either of the two might be borderline & getting pushed just over the edge. Holler how it turns out & what it ends up being & it may very well be lean. A guy sent some of the gas gauge wiring but there were at least 2 pairs of wires there & I couldn't make sense of it all without additional schematics to go along with it. EDIT Mine is all original & if it ain't lean I would assume yours ain't (jetted) lean either

Well sometime in the shop proves worthwhile. Pulled all the plugs and they where showing some miles and clean burn. Installed new any way. Pulled distributor cap and it obvious that something isn't right. Coil post on the inside of the cap was all messed up. The little tab on the top of the rotor was all messed up so on with the new cap and rotor. Ok now the plug wires all off so lets check vacuum lines. Yep couple that had small holes and where leaking. So repaired that installed the new plug wires and its test drive time. Happy to say the little 318 runs much better. Now tonight maybe i can tackle the heater and see if it will blow some warm air.


Robert the wiring diagram i have is for a 77 or 78. Think that would help you?

Success! yeah I saw that once & it was from not setting the cap straight down. Good possibility your diagrams would help even tho they are a year or so later. There is a vacuum valve on one of the heater hoses between firewall and eng. Mine was leaking so I just replaced it with a regular on/off shutoff valve with a hose barb on each end & I open it in cold weather & shut it in warm/hot weather so the AC will be right when I need it. Works perfect! I do wanna trade the truck for a 63-66 2dr A body daily driver with good floors/sheetmetal/glass & drivetrain can need work. A guy I built an eng for bought it from the original owner & when my 65 dart was Tboned he sold it to me so I would have something to drive. it is all oiginal (ex for that valve & tune up items/fuel pump & has never been hit. Holler when you can

I will try to get it scanned for you.