My 1978 Dodge Monaco 4 door sedan.

[Gary P]

OK just want to make sure your not buying and installing a bunch of parts you don't need.

Good eyes - and I sure do appreciate you looking out for me! Thanks Don!

 

[Gary P]

It arrived! Along with a wiring loom, ballast resistor and some plug wires, this glorious looking distributor and ECU, packaged quite wonderfully by Mancini Racing, with their very in depth instructions. I am both nervous and excited to get moving on the switch-out.

Wish me luck guys, I'm going to need it.

 

[Don Frelier]

One thing you might do is install the ECU first find the correct places to pick up the wiring at the ballast resistor.
You can make the wiring connections temporary at first leave everything long and then clean up the connections after everything is tested and working well.
Before you install the new distributor you can plug it in and key the ignition on and spin the shaft checking for spark with the coil wire 1/4" away from a gound point.
Next with a helper disconnect the starter relay and do the same test with a helper holding the key in the start position.
Then plug the existing lean burn distributor into it and start it. It should start and idle.
But it wont have ANY advance so anything above idle will be crap.

Next put the rotor on #1 or wherever a convenient locatable spot is (take a picture).
Then swap out the distributor note you want to locate the vacuum advance so you can rotate it a bit without hitting anything.
Maybe time it to 10 degrees BTDC as a starting point.

After it does a few burnouts clean up the wiring.

Take your time and get it right.

 

[Gary P]

Thank you Don for your detailed input that's awesome!

So, in 98F last night I began, using the very detailed Mancini instructions.

Old distributor came out, and sure enough the seal was broken, so maybe just maybe that's been the source of my stupendous oil leak.

Most of the wiring and the coil went in as did the new distributor (I took Don's advice above and made sure I could adjust the Distributor without the vacuum advance cannister hitting anything)

And there were two factory holes (by a complete coincidence) that allowed me to mount the new ECU to the recommended spot on the firewall.

This evening, I'll finish up the remaining wiring, and get into timing and other assorted stuff and things.

Very much enjoyed this. Except for the heat. And the squirrel trying to come in the garage and shred up my stuff.

More updates later! Cheers fella's!

 

[HawkRod]

Thank you Don for your detailed input that's awesome!

So, in 98F last night I began, using the very detailed Mancini instructions.
View attachment 1312322
Old distributor came out, and sure enough the seal was broken, so maybe just maybe that's been the source of my stupendous oil leak.
View attachment 1312321

Most of the wiring and the coil went in as did the new distributor (I took Don's advice above and made sure I could adjust the Distributor without the vacuum advance cannister hitting anything)
View attachment 1312320

And there were two factory holes (by a complete coincidence) that allowed me to mount the new ECU to the recommended spot on the firewall.

View attachment 1312319

This evening, I'll finish up the remaining wiring, and get into timing and other assorted stuff and things.
View attachment 1312318

Very much enjoyed this. Except for the heat. And the squirrel trying to come in the garage and shred up my stuff.

More updates later! Cheers fella's!

Great progress.

MAKE SURE the ECU is well grounded. If it is not grounded you will have no spark. A toothed washer will help assure this.

 

[71Beeper]

Gary, do yourself a favour and get that coil off of the engine and mount it vertically somewhere on the firewall.
I know the firewall looks pretty busy with everything on it but you should be able to find a place for it.
Or what about mounting it on the passenger side inner fender? you'll have to get a longer coil wire for the distributor cap tho.

Ignition coils should be mounted vertically.

 

[Gary P]

Thanks Hawk and Beeper - I was coincidentally thinking about remounting the coil last night, now you’ve mentioned it I’ll take a good look this evening and see what I can do. Good advice from you guys as always.

Speaking of last night, I had an hour of complete panic. The Mancini instructions, although very complete, and very easy to follow, suddenly on the final three stages of the wiring, became almost impossible for me to comprehend. Cut the BAL wire from the starter relay, add wire…… ummm…… what do I do with the remaining bit of wire? Blank it off? And the positive wire from the coil…. The instructions kinda left me to figure that out for myself

Quoting Jackie Gleason in Smokey and the Bandit “I’m as confused as a baby raccoon”.

Well, BAL wire from starter relay joins to positive wire from coil and both go to the ballast resistor - at least that’s what I’ve worked out. We’ll see if I’m right later.

I now have everything I need to put it all back together, including the only OE plugs I could find

…so now comes the final reassembly and initial start-up.

Again, wish me luck fella’s and thanks in advance for all your inputs.

 

[Gary P]

Well……

 

[Don Frelier]

So better idle and performance?

 

[Kern Dog]

Ignition coils should be mounted vertically.

Not always. The factory mounted them horizontally in many cases.

 

[Nxcoupe]

Well……

Congrats!

 

[Gary P]

So better idle and performance?

Yes and no Don. Here are my bullet points thus far:

*Started up very quickly - on the second crank over (used to wirrr the starter for 3-5 seconds depending on weather conditions) Good!

*Idled higher for a minute or so, the revs dropped to normal idle as before. Good!

*Has a few lumps as it's idling, much like before. Okaaaayyy...

*Idles less well when in Drive, but not worryingly so - kinda like before. Hmmmm.

*On initial acceleration, it stumbles for a fraction of a second, then goes. Exactly like before. Oh...

*Definitely revs for longer before downshift. Good.

*Does it have more power? Nope. It still won't break the rear tires loose. It doesn't feel faster, or torquier.

*For now, I have the original Lean Burn carb, air cleaner box and vacuum hoses installed - except the Lean Burn computer loom is now disconnected of course. I'd like a nice air cleaner but that'll come soon.

This level of almost identical performance pre and post Lean Burn has been achieved through luck. I've not timed this. I installed the new distributor in EXACTLY the same rotational position as the old one.

So my questions to you guys are many -

What can I now do to achieve that little bit more from this 318? Rid the idle of lumps. Rid the acceleration of initial stumble etc.

School me fella's.

Yours slightly-proudly-that-I-did-it-but-a-little-dissapointed-if-I'm-honest

Gary.

 

[Don Frelier]

Has the carburetor ever been rebuilt?
I think you have fuel delivery starvation.

 

[Gary P]

Has the carburetor ever been rebuilt?
I think you have fuel delivery starvation.

Not to my knowledge. You think the fuel pump might be going south? Or something else? I should find out where the fuel filters are on this car and change those as a matter of course.

 

[Greg Ducato]

I would think a slight timing advance may be in order, that could clear up the off idle stumble and lumpy idle and could potentially improve performance and MPG.

 

[Gary P]

I would think a slight timing advance may be in order, that could clear up the off idle stumble and lumpy idle and could potentially improve performance and MPG.

Excellent! Thanks mate!

 

[Gary P]

Well, I finished work early today, and rushed home with excitement to try and get this V8 running smoother.

I don't have a timing light at this stage. I turned the distributor slowly bit by bit in BOTH directions but after maybe 5degrees+/- it wants to stall, so I'm in the sweet spot clearly.

I just don't know what I'm doing fella's.

There's vacuum lines hanging around but nothing from the Vacuum Advance on the new distributor which to me is odd. I changed some of them around, and back again and it made no difference. It's pretty lumpy as you can hear in this video.



Like I said, I just don't know what I'm doing now. I feel kinda dumb. Feeling defeated.

 

[Kern Dog]

The 318 is pretty tolerant of many things. You can run low or high octane gas in most of them and you can have the timing far off the mark or right on and they will usually still run. To get the timing where the engine runs best will require a timing light. Some will use a vacuum gauge connected to a port that shows a number at idle, AKA "manifold" vacuum. The distributor is then rotated until the vacuum gauge registers the highest number.
The distributor you have should have the vacuum advance line attached to a port on the carburetor that gets no vacuum at idle. Inside the vacuum advance can where the hose attaches, there is an allen screw that can be turned clockwise to reduce vacuum advance or CCW to add vacuum advance. This will not affect performance in terms of power but will affect mileage and maybe even how smooth it runs when out on the road.
Keep in mind though that while the 318 can be a long lasting engine, in stock form it is not a performance engine. Most were built with 2 barrel carburetors, single exhaust systems and small valve heads and a low lift cam. All of these things can be changed to make a 318 a real screamer but in stock form, their intended application was to be a reliable people mover.

 

[Nxcoupe]

The 318 is pretty tolerant of many things. You can run low or high octane gas in most of them and you can have the timing far off the mark or right on and they will usually still run. To get the timing where the engine runs best will require a timing light. Some will use a vacuum gauge connected to a port that shows a number at idle, AKA "ported" vacuum. The distributor is then rotated until the vacuum gauge registers the highest number.
The distributor you have should have the vacuum advance line attached to a port on the carburetor that gets no vacuum at idle. Inside the vacuum advance can where the hose attaches, there is an allen screw that can be turned clockwise to reduce vacuum advance or CCW to add vacuum advance. This will not affect performance in terms of power but will affect mileage and maybe even how smooth it runs when out on the road.
Keep in mind though that while the 318 can be a long lasting engine, in stock form it is not a performance engine. Most were built with 2 barrel carburetors, single exhaust systems and small valve heads and a low lift cam. All of these things can be changed to make a 318 a real screamer but in stock form, their intended application was to be a reliable people mover.

Ported vacuum is zero at idle. Manifold vacuum is what you are referring to. Ported vacuum should be connected to the vacuum advance.

OP, get a timing light and mark your balancer, then look at your timing pointer to see where 10 deg is. Start by setting it there.
You disconnected the lean burn computer and retained the lean burn carb?

 

[Gary P]

Correct. As per Mancini's advice.