Having just crawled back from regionals, thought I'd post some of things I've done and what I "think" I found out.

If you've read the regional posts you know I had problems coming back. Decided to follow John G to Grants Pass and visit my mother for a day and it started to run crappy on the first mountain pass I climbed... as John disappeared into the distance and I slowed to about 40MPH. I found I could go fine on the flats and going downhill, but could only climb hills as long as I didn't accelerate. Caught up to John finally (I'm sure he looked back to see me nowhere in his rear-view mirror and slowed down for me) and he followed me to Grants Pass at my rate of speed. Thanks again John.

Instead of visiting Mom I spent most of Monday just doing a shot-gun attempt to solve my problem. Had no tools to speak of so I replaced fuel filter first. Nothing. Then tried a new fuel pump and hose to pump. When I was removing the hose it was seeping fuel. Ah-ha -- suction leak! That'll be it! Nothing.

On a side note... the more I dig into this car the more I'm convinced the 40,000 mile odometer reading is original. It had the original inlet hose to the pump still on there. I suppose this would have made it 140, 000 miles too, but there's other things I've noticed too that don't add up to a high-mileage car.

Anyway... I then decided it might maybe be the Pertronix unit failing. I had one on my '56 Panel fail with similar symptoms once. So after spending another $70 on all replacment parts - points to coil - I decided not to put them in and just see if it would clear up on the return trip. BIG Mistake. I found myself in the first rest area swapping out all these parts. Well, let me tell you how "good" a Pertronix system is. It ran like crap with points. But with so very few tools on hand I would not know what my dwell or timing was. So back to the Pertronix. I'd convinced myself by now it was fuel related.

I made it home slowly, but surely, and proceeded to (over the next few days) to check everything else out. I jacked up the car and found the hose coming out of the fuel tank was so loose it could not have helped but to suck air. I decided to check the tank strainer anyway -- it was pristene. New tight hose and I was sure everything would be fine again. Right? Nope. No difference! I know I was fixing things, but they didn't seem to have caused any problem I noticed before. Weird.

All that was left was the carb. So off with its head! Inside I found a little bit of crud, nothing much, but there is a part in there that is about 2" long and brass and has about 8 or 10 holes drilled around it. I think it's where the main jet feeds fuel up to the venturi. I'd say that about 6 of the 8 or 10 holes were blocked. That couldn't be a good thing.

So I now have a kit to rebuild this little 1-barrel Holley Model 1940 carb and if that doesn't fix it -- anybody want to buy a '65 tudor wagon cheap? Or maybe I'll shoot for a best V-8 reward next year.