ignition woes.., another dist ????

hi all, a while back I upgraded my ignition from points to electronic on the 68 dart.

I used a re-man dist
new cap and wires
borg warner ecu
and i upgraded the charging system also.

it ran great not one hick up for about 3000 miles
then it dies, i get it started and get it home and it hasnt ran right since.

so I ended up replaceing everything, and still the same problem,,
it starts great but right off idle it sputters misses, back fires.
So i got fustrated and installed the points system back on, and it ran great.(left it that way the rest of the summer and fall)

So I ordered a new dist from A-1 cardone and I thought i would try it again.
Yesturday I re-install the system, even pulling off the wiring.

Once i got it all back together and same darn thing.

But i did notice when i disconect the Vac advance it does change for the better.(but that doenst explain why the first ran great then crapped out)

reluctor gap it ok, within the factory specs..

I set the timming at 0, and i have tried it up to 5 degrees.
no change.

If the timming chain is wore, could it cause this?
how about masive arching inside the cap?
i have tried other caps with the same effect.

what about the alt, could it cause this?

I even ran a hot wire over to the ignition box.

I am getting 13.4 V at idle, when i rev it up it goes up to about 14.5, when i check the power feed going to the ecu my V-meter goes crazy, so thats when I used a jumper from the batt to the ecu power feed.

I have taken the alt to have tested, and changed the VR.. could the alt be interfering with the electronic system?



I just cant beleive it ran great, and now i cant figure out whats going on.

Are you 100% SURE you have both a good engine ground and especially a GOOD ground to the ECU box on the firewall? very critical.

Also, what is the voltage at the ignition coil+ when the key is turned to the "ON" position, not start position? Then check the voltage at the + terminal on the coil when it is running?
Also make sure yu dont have an ECU power wire running near a spark plug wire etc. Your "crazy" erratic readings may be some some of voltage spikes from other sources etc.

i have checked all that..even ran extra grn wires. But i think i have it figured out.. (vacume advance) i adjusted it and it finally got better. I just dont know why it ran good, then all of a sudden it acted up..

so now whats the proper way to adjust the total timing on a stock 68 318. Do i do it the same way as a performance engine? if so what should the total advance be?

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so now whats the proper way to adjust the total timing on a stock 68 318. Do i do it the same way as a performance engine? if so what should the total advance be?

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. plug vac adv, run it up to ~3000 rpm, set total at 35, let it idle & tell us what your initial falls at, reconnect your vac adv(ported I'm assuming) go out for a spin & see if it doesn't ping.