I've only had three ram cars in recent years - none have had these issues - once sorted and tuned. I have stock 2903 carbs on my G with manifold vacuum, not ported, only mod was Edelbrock electric chokes - which solve the problem of factory chokes not opening fast enough. Carbs recently rebuilt properly by club expert, proper lower psi mechanical fuel pump (no more flooding), car starts easily and runs great - perfect actually, for a ram car. I just follow the FSM, with a few changes based on experience. (see below).
But first I would say, and to John's later msgs, later J/ramK design much better. NONE of the standard engine models were intended to be race cars, although J a great compromise. F and G were high torque cruisers, long rams and restrictive exhaust and 1.60" valves limited hp, no question about that. Short ram F, G, and '62 dealer OTC short ram 405hp H or Sport (a beast!!) were the race cars - NO low end torque, aggressive cams, etc. J was amazing compromise - with same 268 cam duration as F/G but solid cam with less overlap! But - short ram and headers with 2.5" exhausts, no heat risers, no anti stall needed, manual chokes, 1.74" exhaust valves, solid cam and lighter car, can rev to 6k!. HUGE impact on performance. Again, per Burt Bouwkamp in an email to me back in 2011 or so - J was designed as 140+ mph car off the showroom - 10 mph faster than F/G - yet better driveability. You could putz to the grocery store in comfort, or do 0-100 in a quarter mile. Still loads of torque, just a little higher in rpm range. In the full size personal luxury car space, almost nothing could keep up with a J - maybe a 421 Grand Prix, maybe a dual quad 64 Riviera or Wildcat, but not at the top end. And remember, ram K went back to 1.60 exhaust valves. I found that out from Ralph and Rockey at their meet. J was the bomb!
So, back to the F/G dilemma. I don't think F/G long rams like a lot of initial timing, stick with 5 degrees BTDC like the manual says. J totally different - much greater initial timing (12.5 to 15 degrees if you have high enough octane) and less additional mechanical advance. Tune with vac advance disconnected and plugged - or you will have a mess. As John said, manifold vacuum - all in at idle. Agree that idle bypass screws will usually need to be 1.5 to 2 turns out (lean) and maybe more! But set final idle with vac advance connected - should be 750 rpm or so, maybe a little higher with A/C or today's gas. Setting lower may cause the car to stall when in gear. Re. the fast idle, I think that 1300 or 1400 rpm is ridiculous. All you need is enough to keep it running ok until it starts warming up. You only actually need one carb to work on fast idle but try to set both - they won't be exactly the same - who cares - you want to get off fast idle as soon as practical anyway, avoid engaging trans on fast idle imo unless you like to send your iron T-flite to Don for rebuilding. I set the fast idle around 1100 rpm, and even less with the factory chokes on my recently acquired F. You should be able to blip the throttle and get the fast idle to the end of the cam for a littlle less rpm. Should not whack to reverse too bad at 750 rpm. Even on my single 4 bbl cars I have always set fast idle much lower than spec. And I don't like the anti-stall, not sure it is really needed on well tuned car, many times non-functional anyway due to age or overuse of "golden screwdriver" in the car's past. Make sure it is not interfering with setting the bellcrank, and that throttle plates actually close and you are on the idle circuits! Also, remember the anti stall should be set in gear; so you will need a helper. On my F and G I have found it isn't really needed, and it does work on the F at least. On J and ram K it was eliminated!
I don't even have a vacuum gauge at the moment, I just set per FSM directions. BTW, make sure your linkage is all set per FSM as well. I make sure both carbs are set identical on the bypass screws. I have found best results with all mixture screws set the same as well, usually around 1.0 turns out (rich) and yes, a small change can make a difference. This assumes CORRECTLY functioning carbs with same size jets, same size accelerator pumps etc. Remember, turning mixture screws out will richen the mixture, turning bypass screws out will increase idle but lean the mixture some. So, you double check after each reset and then recheck timing when all done as well. An F or G should leap just off idle with instant throttle response once fully warmed up. Don't be surprised at tire chirp even with normal acceleration from standing start, especially without sure grip. 1 to 2 shift with chirp at part throttle is typical as well. J is a whole other animal. My J (now enjoyed by its new owner Kurt B.) had so much torque (and no sure grip!) that a standing start at maybe 1/3 to 1/2 throttle or so would just spin the right rear tire so bad that it would just upshift to 3rd gear and go nowhere.
Carl B. ------ Original Message ------
To "chrysler 300 club" <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>From "John Grady" <jkg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date 9/17/2026 7:37:40 AM
Subject {Chrysler 300} Ram tuning
This is an old subject but years have gone by and those interested in this , some pretty smart guys have gotten in pretty deep ..... I have " tuned " a lot of rams over the years and surprised by variability in final outcome . Despite a lot of effort, some cars kind of fight, you a few settle in. This is not about obvious stuff we all know , it is about things rams do at times. Maybe all times , more or less . And some on site have really gained significant knowledge over past 20-30 years I have one fighting me now , the constant fight between stable rpm at idle and slamming into gear and then stalling. As if idle has no torque if " loaded up" They even mention this " rough engaging" in user guide on F . Part of it is due to unported vacuum to ignition , always full advance at idle . If vacuum drops ,at trans engage, ( it does) ignition retards = stall . I mean this is real and anti stall thing grew out of it, but opening throttle more just off idle drops vacuum more . Thin line there . And I think design is flat out wrong we have to tune around it .. I was thinking ??? add a small vacuum can and orifice to slow down advance action , or buy carbs with ported vacuum like every single other car the world has . Carl did that his car runs great . AVS calls to me .. The second thing is the tendency to stall off a stop sign depending how much you feather pedal . It feels like it goes lean momentarily ( remember this is some cars not all) So seems like carb squirt is either late to the party with small thrittle motion startup off idle , not enough gas , or idle mixture wants to be richer than optimal ( as set by vacuum gauge) to cover this transition It us really bad puling into traffic and car suddenly stalls, adds stress to driving . This is tangled around issue 1 I am ignoring warm up issues , another whole thing , but gets into this in first 15 minutes Lets call it ole ram guys , philosophy etc . Can be made to be acceptable , yes, but really optimal -- no, not easy to get to . And how about ignition timing ? they say "no spec for that idle timing with vacuum on , just set with off" .but it IS on st idle . And high , ? leading to above sensitivity to stalling slamming all that Deep thinkers on this , insights gained welcome .. J -- For archives go to http://www.forwardlook.net/300-archive/search.htm#querylang --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Chrysler 300 Club International" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to chrysler-300-club-international+unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/chrysler-300-club-international/4B6D8450-04D5-4AED-9465-F7E7BDD49EA4%40gradyresearch.com.
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