stumped

[keepthejeep]

Hello all jeeps.
Put a reman 258 and reman tranny replacements in my 1980 jeep honch.
runs pretty good except idles rough when in gear. Idles smooth (or seems so) when in neutral and park. Lots of suggestions from friends, but nothing seems to smooth it out. Any help from members would be greatly appreciated.

[Davisrats]

go for the easy stuff, redo the tune up. check timing, vacuum leaks. egr hooked up wrong....

[Highdesertjim]

I agree with Davisrats as a first set of steps.
Next I would double check torque on the Intake/ exhaust bolts. After a couple of thermal cycles on a newly installed motor, they get loose. Loose manifolds blow out the gaskets and vacuum leaks occur when it gets warmed up.
The next place I'd go with the 258 would be the carb.
There are some great resources on the web for that. Just search for jeep 258 carb trouble.

[keepthejeep]

Thanks a lot for the info guys (Davisrats & highdesertjim). Am going over the tune-up process again. Hadn't thought of the manifold bolts.

[Bachman]

Once you find your idle problem, put a fuel injection kit on that baby and it will start/ run better than new!

[keepthejeep]

Been thinking about the fuel infection. Have read a lot of complaints about the carb that is on it now (original). Haven't finished with the tune-up, etc. yet. Keep gettin pulled away for other things. Seems the warmer it gets the worse the idle is now.

[Bachman]

The stock Carter carb seems to wear out around the butterfly shaft at the bottom, the warmer it gets the carb body expands and makes the leak worse. I have heard of having the shaft sleaved but seems like to much work.

[keithb]

i tend to agree with bachman get away from the carter carb i had one on my 84 cj7 and it was junk i wound up getn a new webber carb out of the quadratec book it runs great have not had the first problem with it just a thought

[jeeper89]

i would go for a howell TBI kit. they work great and make it work great on inclines or at high altitude. i have it on my 89 wrangler. pretty easy to install.