I had not yet posted on this annoying problem, but the solution finally presented itself in an odd place. Here's the whole situation in case it helps anyone.

Since last week, I've noticed some weird running behavior in my HIF carburated B18. Despire being tuned to recommended and published mix setting (surprisingly rich) I've had some engine trouble on four separate ocassions since monday last week. Initially the car started acting like it was dying on the highway. Flooring the pedal only gave me about 55mph. This was a fun experience in high-speed st. louis rush hour. Pulling the choke made no difference at all. Strangely, the problem vanished in the morning.

Next time I drove her, something similar happened. Car started acting like it was being reigned in, a full accelerator barely pushed it forward, very weird. So, I didn't drive the car again until last night. It was fine for most of my short trip, but coming home, it began to act like it was almost out of gas. I got her home and parked it until this morning. First thing AM I filled it up, Ran fine for the morning commute, and for my afternoon errand.

Btw: my errand was trip out to one of the inner-ring cities to visit a potential new car - a 1973 P1800ES. The visit to the car was good. I think I'm going to buy it as soon as I can get the cash together (especially since the 122S has been funky).

Well, the 1800ES was located back in a rather hilly area. Getting in was fine, getting back out became very tricky. The Amazon suddenly lost power clumbing a steep ridge. I had to roll back and go back part of the way I came from. However, I was in a valley of sorts, and every attempt to get out was foiled by a moderate incline. I felt trapped in an unfamiliar part of st. louis at the end of the day.

It appeared that the Amazon would no longer climb hills. Funny though... the engine wasn't dying, just no power... I pulled off near the top of the last hill that I had failed on and took a look at my carbs. They idled barely. Full throttle barely gave me 2000 rpms. I removed the air filter and found no change. But, on a whim, I dialed down my recently switched Fuel Pressure Regulator (inline between my newer pump and my carbs). The car immediately began to idle well. This was odd, because the FPR was set for 3PSI... I jumped in a revelled in the sudden return of power. I quickly climbed out of the valley and headed for home.

Was it just set incorrectly...?
It was not that simple. I made it about 2 miles before the problem came back (in an open area where I pulled into a grocery store lot). A quicky check showed me that no change had ocurred in the FPR setting, but the symptoms were the same. So I dialed it down some more and gradually, the engine roared back.
This got me home.

The FPR is clearly bad. I've switched back to the old fpr and things have so far been fine. The old unit has been on the car for years, but all problems appeared with the newer unit.

A faulty after-market unit may be a fluke, but I've also been warned that the newer fuel pumps (like mine) push way too much fuel into the carbs, so an FPR is a near necessity. These dang things are $25.00 too..

So, what sort of options exist to regulate the flow of gasoline from the pump to the carbs?



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1967 P220 (My every-other-daily driver...), 1971 P1800 (The Parts Car), 1972 145S (1993-1997), 1977 245 DL (1993-1999), 1983 245 (1998-2001), 1986 745 GLE (1997-2005), 1990 740 GL (2003-4), 1995 945 (2005-Present)....