Well slept in a little this morning since I had mistakenly thought I just needed to tweak the carb today. Was running rougher when I started it, and I went up to O'Reillys to get the hoses I needed. By the time I got up there the vacuum advance and slipped off again, so while I was parked I walked in and out and got all the vacuum lines replaced. Driving home though it was still running rough, so I figured I still might have a leak at the intake manifold. Pulled the carb, cleaned the adapters for the weber and reinstalled everything, and also cleaned out the mixture screw on the carb which is something I forgot last week when I was rebuilding it.
Started it up and it was still backfiring through the carb like nuts when I gave it gas, and it was running rough. Pulled out the Jeep Bible and first thing they said was check the Vacuum lines (check), check for an intake leak (check) and verify the timing....
Now I hadn't looked at the timing because nothing major had changed since I had driven it, but running out of things to check I decided to go ahead and pull out my timing light and verify it for peace of mind.
HOLY COW, it was 25 degrees AHEAD of TDC, no wonder it wasn't running right. Out came the wrench, little twist on the distributor, and it's back to where it should be 5 degrees BTDC, and it IMMEDIATELY smoothed out and started running beautifully. Went through the best lean mixture adjustment by ear and drove it and it was back to the way it was supposed to be YAY!!!
Then I checked my A/F gauge and it was showing it was just a bit rich, so back to the carb and with 1/8 turns leaning it out slightly until it is just a hair on the rich side. Drives beatifully now, and I can't wait to go to work with it tomorrow!
In between the gasket sealer drying on the intake manifold (it had three pieces at an hour each) I went ahead and installed the rest of the new seatbelts, and switched sides for where the buckle goes because I had a long piece flapping in the wind earlier. Also went to install the side mirror, but couldn't find my new one, so I went ahead and installed the old silver one for now so I have something to see behind me and to the side with.
Once again it's so satisfying to work on the Jeep, especially when you figure out a problem and get it fixed!!!