Over the weekend my 3.0 conversion started running like crap. Almost instantly it went from running good to crap. Seems like it is not running on all cylinders. On Sunday I installed new spark plugs but that made no difference and the old plugs ( less than 3 months old ) looked fine. When I restarted after the new plugs the car would not turn off when I turned the ignition off ? She finally died on her own from the poor running. So I decided to put my battery tender on as the battery seemed low ( less than 1 month old ). Today when I got home from work I noticed the alternator light on the dash was lit with the key off.....wtf ??? So the battery is new,spark plugs new along with ignition wires,coil. The ignition box is a Mallory digital being driven by a recurved Jerry Woods distributor. And the alternator was rebuilt by a local shop. Any ideas what's going on ?

wiring / junk in carbs

I'm thinking you have lost electrical ground to the engine and or chassis. The circuits are backfeeding searching for ground. My best guess if everything did work good before.

You may want to put an inline one way diode on the wire that runs to the Alt light. blue wire i think, voltage is leaking and supplying the electric ignition causing the run on.
I would check to see if your dizzy is loose maybe the hold down nut has backed off.
Also recheck the condition of your plug wires, i have had wires that looked fine from the outside but were bad.
Read up on run on and causes
http://www.msdignition.com/page.aspx?id=3296

A lot of notoriously bad ignition switches out there now, and the fact your car wouldn't shut down after turning the key off is symptomatic of a defective switch although it doesn't explain the poor running. You may have two separate problems.

When you say it wouldn't shut down after turning the key off, was it was it running or was it 'dieseling'?
Dieseling or 'run on' is caused by a number of different things, usually bad ignition timing, overheating, or even poor fuel among many others.

Good luck and let us know when you get it figured out.

Scott....

I think that the voltage regulator went waco, overcharged the battery (accounting for the poor running, too much voltage) then crapped out frying the alternator. That is why the light is on and the battery low. Please check for a battery acid spill with baking soda and water around the base of the battery as the acid may have boiled out!!!

First like George said you might want to check the battery out. Then find the drain, if you've got a clock or a radio that is always on pull the fuses for those devices to get them off line. Put a meter inbetween the positive battery cable and the battery in the sw off position. Is there any voltage showing on the meter? If there is unplug the voltage regulator and see if it goes away if it does plug it back in and disconnect the generator or alt from the reg and see what the meter says. The voltage regulator could be stuck or if it's a alt a diode may be shorted. If the alt is easy to unhook do it first, if the regulator is easier to get to do it first. To do the alt the reg will need to be plugged in. If neither of these devices is the culprit that is draining the battery you can start pulling fuse one at a time to find which circuit is the problem.

One problem at a time. Always try to fix the obvious problems first, the hard ones might get easier or dissappear as you go along.

Don't throw parts that you don't need at it you may put another problem on it.

As someone said before is it really running or dieseling?

Isn't the 3.0 alternator internaly regulated??

Try cleaning out your idle jets first! Make sure your running good fuel filters, I have one at the tank and one before going into each carb. Also cleaning the tank can do wonders...

an easy way to tell if its the idle jets is to get in and drive, the motor will kick in over 3k rpms...

When you shut the engine off, was it run-on or running? Bad ign switch maybe?

Did you do anything to the car (particularly anything electrical) shortly before the problem started?

Check through all of the stuff you messed with when you did the plug replacement, and look at all of the wires that you might have accidentally bumped or touched.

--DD

Rick, since you were having some electrical problems while the car was at Zotz I would get with your guy there. He may have done some creative wiring. Also I have had an MSD box go bad, sorry so experience with the Mallory, though I would think they are similar.

BTW, I know 2 Gremlins in Winter Park I want to strangle

T.C.

I called Donnie at Zotz yesterday and he thinks two issues going on. Might be clogged idle jets and a bad ignition switch. I'm swamped at work but I need to find time to put her on the trailer and get her over to Zotz. I do have a spare Mallory ignition box. TC I assume your gremlins are running behind on schedule ?

Idle Jets will take you 10 minutes to take out clean & reinstall. And put a better fuel filter in line. I use a BMW cannister ( about the size of a Fosters Beer Can)

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And damn, if I had the keys to your house and 4 beers, I could have fixed you up yesterday. I saw my Gremlins yesterday - I think I'm a pretty laid-back guy until pushed to a point - that point was yesterday. I went Hiroshima on them . The parts for my Trailing Ear reinforcement & my chassis stiffing kit that have been there for more than 6 months were not installed.
Bottom Line = my car will be done by the end of the month.

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TC I assume # 4 in your diagram is the idle jets that need cleaning ? I have a new filter screen in the tank. A new filter ( metal cannister ) before the fuel pump and another metal cannister filter in the engine bay before the carbs. I thought that was enough but maybe not ? Should I add two smaller filters on the PMO fuel rails ?

Yes, #4. Unscrew it, Don't drop the tiny rubber grommet/washer. You can take the stem out of the base, take some carb cleaner (Away from the cars), spray the base and up into the stem. It will spray outside the tip. Put the stem back on the base, push rubber grommet/washer over stem to the base. Shoot some carb cleaner into the whole in carb where the jet came out and screw the jet back in. Next one. It will go real quick.

Sounds like you have enough filters, the crap that will clog an idle jet is way small. Also with the gas out there now, sometimes it's just turning to varnish quicker & clogging. Do some searching to see if you can find ethanal-free gas in your area. Our cars don't like ethanal

UPDATE- Well I tried chasing my issues but could not find anything wrong. I cleaned all the idle jets but that wasn't it. I changed the plugs that wasn't it. I checked the battery full charge as it's only 2 months old. Visually checked all wiring and did lots of pulling,tugging on wires and connections with zero results. On top of this I am swamped at work so I decided to put her on the trailer and take her to the shop that services my Porsches when I can't. First problem was diagnosed in about 20 minutes, of all things two connections on the hazard light switch the shrink sleeving had split/cracked/fallen off allowing an electrical short. Two new pieces of shrink sleeving and she was running great...........for about 30 minutes. Then a random " runs like crap " reared its ugly head. Would run good and then start running like crap. Not as bad as before as now it sounded like it was running on 5 cylinders vs. 1 before. Long story short one of my brand new spark plug wires was arcing to the head !!! I had brought to the shop 2 sets of old OEM wires off of previous SC engines. They pulled my " new " wires and installed the old and life is good again. I guess I learned my lesson of using inexpensive plug wires . I picked her up today and she's running good and I'm a happy camper. I never would have thought to look at the hazard switch wiring !!! And I probably wouldn't have suspected the ignition wires as they were new. I hope this helps someone else in the future. Happy motoring.

I guess I have some drama to look forward to...

quickest short cut in electrical trouble shooting is to start pulling fuses till your draw or short is eliminated. then you can start looking at the circuit.