'82 Dodge van, 360 V8, Edelbrock Quadrajet carbueretor. Electronic ignition, MSD ignition (distributor, coil).

When I startup, drive around..no pinging at acceleration from stop sign. After being on highway, coming into city..I get lots of pinging at acceleration from stop sign. Today was 94 deg here.

??

I noticed the air-cleaner has a bracket for a air-hose..which gets air from the front grille. I disconnected it. So, the engine is getting hot-air from within the engine-compartment. Is this contributing/causing the problem?

 

I bet you have a mechanical fuel pump? or a metal fuel line running up to the carb? if so wrap them with an insulating sleeve or tape from thermo tec. had a similar issue with a bmw that I had running an agressive chip. you could be heating up the fuel line (if it's metal) as it runs up to the carb. had this problem with a 454 chevy I had years back, took me a long time to figure it out. the motor would vapor lock on me on hot days under heavy load. moved the fuel line off the motor 1/2 an inch and never had the problem again. was suprised when the problem went away as I didnt think that much of a gap would make a difference. if i had known about insulating it back then, I would have.

 

Yes, mechanical fuel-pump. Also, I have headers..more heat.

I will try some insulating material.

 

I would wrap it anywhere it gets close to heat, actually, from the frame to the pump, then from the pump to the carb would be ideal. its probably getting hot as it comes up to the pump. thermo tec makes some sleeving that would work over just about all of it. check summit racing for it.

 

I re-checked the fuel path, & the fuel-filter was sitting FLUSH against the lower radiator hose!! I think that might be the culprit.

I went ahead & ordered the Thermo-Tec insulation wrap anyway, the headers do throw a lot of heat around in the engine compartment.

 

cool, let me know how it works... should solve the problem and you may get a tad bit more on fuel economy. I did a fuel cooler mod on my 2000 ram and ended up with a 6% jump in mileage on the hiway.

 

I put that heat-shield around the rubber fuel hose (near the header)..didn't solve the problem. Even changed fuel-filters (I goto Baja Mexico, where the fuel isn't that clean).

I ended up backing off the timing, & it seemed to fix it.

What I don't get is why I would have to change the timing.. This implies the distributor "moved" on me over time. Does this happen?

 

well, sorry the fuel line wrap didnt do it... I assumed the timing was right so it didnt occur to me to mention it.

glad to hear it's fixed.