Hey guys, I have an 83 pickup with a stock 22r. I was having an issue with it backfiring everytime I shifted at higher RPM's.. like getting on the highway when I'd have to push it a bit to get up to speed. Trying to diesel when I shut it off and not wanting to idle down. I went to mechanic and had them set the freshly rebuilt carb up for me. I tried adjusting the timing as I thought it was too far advanced. And still no luck. Also I was (may still be) getting worse gas mileage than I should be.

I found that my choke wasnt working and was barely opening on the primary and completely closed on the secondary. Today I just decided to take the choke butterflies off the carb. The truck is idling down as it should now. It doesn't backfire near as easy now but it still does.

The biggest problems I'm having now are its running like crap at low RPM's. I dont have a tach but I think its probably idling around 700 rpm and it will run like crap under load (in gear goin down the road) all the way up to about 2000-2500 rpm... spits and sputters... Unless I really open it up and go then its not as bad. Basically if I'm just trying to cruise really slow like 15 to 20 mph in 1st or 2nd... it just spits and sputters like crazy the entire time.

Also after removing the choke butterflies the first thing I noticed was that the truck had lost quite a bit of bottom end torque.. probably half of what it was before removing them. It would set you back in the seat a little bit before.. now while taking off someone could easily take a drink out of an open top glass without getting a drop on them. It sounds like its doing a whole lot... but feels like I'm taking off from a stop light normally in an automatic hyundai lol. What gives?

Were the chokes not opening actually giving me more power, by flooding it with gas?

Also I should add that the truck ran like crap at low RPM's before removing the butterflies.

According to the guy I bought the truck from (last friday) he rebuilt the engine 12000 miles ago. Which I do believe to be true as the truck runs really good, other than the sputtering at low RPM's. And doesn't smoke a bit. The truck has 249k miles on it.. I dont believe the 22r has near that many as it is too clean, no leaks, and did have impressive power for a 4 banger... before removing the butterflies. I was leaving my fiance in the dust on the way home with it everytime we were getting on the highway. She has an 01 V6 Toyota Solara.

 

I went out and tinkered with it after reading some troubleshooting from the factory service manual. I checked out the EGR system... it all seems good according to the manual...

However this was the first time I started it on a cold start since removing the choke butterflies. It has a very inconsistent idle while its cold. It idles up and goes way down til almost dying then it will idle itself immediately back up and the repeat... held my hand over the carb to choke it and it idled really high and stayed as long as my hand was here.. the idle gradually got better as it got warmer. The temp needle moved up about a 1/4 inch before I shut it off... it was still doing it but was very gradually smoothing out... I imagine it would have stopped by the time it was fully warmed up.

I have a 76 Celica gt with a 20r... but its been desmogged and has mastercraft 2 bbl carb on it now(I didnt do all this, guy I bought it from did).. I removed the choke butterflies from it as the choke had never been hooked up... its nothing like this on a cold start though... worst case scenario I got a baby sit the gas pedal for a few minutes to keep it running but it smooths out pretty quick. I've also got a 68 coronet with a 440 running a 750 holley double pumper.. no choke on it either and of course no smog BS either.. pretty much same story as the celica and every other carb engine without a choke I've messed with. Worst case scenario gotta baby sit the gas pedal for a minute or two and it smooths out. My 73 challenger has a 318 in need of a rebuild REALLY bad doesn't have a choke either and it will do the same as the celica and coronet on a cold start. Just gotta babysit the gas for a minute or two and it smooths out.

This is the first R engine I've had that is pretty much unmolested under the hood... Is this normal after removing the choke?

 

Anyone on this forum anymore?

 

There are lots of people on here, probably all out playing with their toys since it is the weekend.
also do a vacuum leak check around that carb. If you don't know how look it up.

 

Playing hah, I split and hauled 6 loads of firewood. I like using the compound low gear in 4WD so I can back very slowly up my skid road.

But I never tried to run my pickup with no choke.

Double check that your timing vacuum advance is working. I've had two advance units go bad and start leaking, and not advance the timing like they're supposed to. I don't know why they go bad.

 

good news