Howdy guys, one of my projects this summer besides taking another long walk through Europe, was to change my 66 Beaumont 283 2 barrel to a slightly peppier 283 4 barrel setup as was optional in the early years of Beaumont. (Not 66 though.) That is to say, the 4GC carb on the small intake that would have been called the L77 option, I think.

I could have used a new intake and an Edelbrock to get more power etc, but I like the period correct factory stuff as it was engineered to fit and to last plus it looks right so I tried to round up an aircleaner (found at swap meet) an intake (found at Ivan Perrys in Gibbons) and a few 4GC's. I managed to accumulate three of them including one kindly sent to me but Beaumont Guru, if I remember correctly (Correct me if I'm wrong.)  Even though the one I got in the mail had sat on a shelf for about 30 years it looked to be the most rebuildable and seemed to be correct even though I had no tag on it.

This all seemed to be going according to plan, so I cleaned the carb as best as I could and threw a kit in it like I used in the old days.

I then stripped the old distributor and intake off and screwed down the one I got from Ivan. I didn't want to paint it as it would look weird on my otherwise slightly weathered engine so I left it as it was. 

Now here is where I made my first rookie mistake. (Little old for that you would think, but no!) Looking at the distributor (which worked just fine when I shut the car off) it seemed a bit cruddy to me and had a rotor and cap that looked like crap so I thought I might as well change everything while I've got it off. So on goes new spark plugs, cap and rotor and I even remembered the Pertronix I picked up really cheap at a swap meet that was in an opened but complete box.

So put this all back together along with my swap meet chrome 327 style valve covers and decals. Looked great! But it ran like crap! However, since I changed so many things it as hard to figure what was making it run so poorly.

So I went to Europe and didn't think about it for a few months but since I'm back I wanted to drive it. Figured the problem was mostly a poorly cleaned and poorly adjusted carb so brought it to an old carb guy (in both senses of the word) and got it back looking brand new. A bit more money had to change hands

Still didn't run right and wouldn't idle very well so I tracked down a few small vacuum leaks and got it run a bit better but still had a rough idle, Driving it seemed sluggish and it kind of bucked getting rolling so it still wasn't right.

I thought I'd better finally check the ignition system and to my mystification, number 8 cylinder was just dead. Switched the plugs around to no result. Tried a new wire, no better, changed the cap and rotor again, still the same. Thought I would bypass the resister wire and feed the Pertronix 12 full volts as the instruction said, and that I had neglected to do, just the same. Finally put in a new coil to absolutely no change. Head scratcher as I figured the Pertronix would either work on all eight or not at all so that couldn't be it?

However, as Hercule Poirot says once you have eliminated all the suspects but one, that last one has to be guilty, so I pulled the distributor and took a close look at the setup. Clearances looked ok so finally decided to pull the unit apart.

Finally the AHA Moment! A few realizations came to my mind right then as I saw the Pertronix ring up close as the picture shows.

First of all: If you get a really really good buy at a swap meet you should treat it with a bit of suspicion.

Second: Take a good look at the parts you are putting it and stop being in such a big fat hurry to drive it!

Third: Don't swap everything out at the same time as it makes diagnosing problems a lot harder once you get it all together. Best to make one change at a time to so you can see the effects of what you have done.

And Fourth: the lesson I have learned so many times over the years and still have to keep relearning" "DON'T TRY TOFIX SOMETHING UNLESS IT'S ACTUALLY BROKEN!"

At least now it runs reasonably well and it is more or less drivable. Still some tweaking with the choke setting etc, but is actually now approximately as good to drive as it was before I started and it now has the passing power I wanted along with the satisfying roar of the four barrels opening up so almost all is good!

Take this for what it is worth. I'm sure most of you guys are way better mechanics and less impetuous than I am so have never had this problem.