Inconsistent curb idle and low power at RPMs

Watched your videos. Reminded me of stuff I watched in high school to first figure out what's actually happening under the hood. The advance videos where very helpful. I have a much better understanding of what's going on down there.

I completely forgot to tell you, but I have a Carter BBD from a 79' or earlier! The guy I bought the jeep from threw in the old carb and the intakes/exhaust (one of the exhaust ports is busted). Pics below. Granted, it probably needs to be rebuilt too, and of course, there's no warranty. But we might as well give that a shot before buying a third one. Also rebuilding carbs is kind of like playing with legos for me. I love it. Practice makes perfect.

About to plug vacuum lines and such to see how she does. Also, I was messing around with the headlight switch. The inside of the adapter that clips to the switch was melted out pretty bad. The line to the headlights was rubbing against the dome lights/ground and shorting out. Burned up the whole thing. I wrapped the headlight wire with fancy stretchy electrical tape, no more short, plugged in the switch, but still no good. The lead on the switch that clips to the headlight wire is black and loose. Trying to do a continuity test. Where's a good ground under the dashboard?

Update. Followed your instructions. All vacuum lines removed except to the PCV and vacuum advance. I removed a decent amount of the hoses but not all of them. Set the idle at 680 and timed it to 9* advanced. Runs great. Wonderful power at all RPMs. However, when I pull to a stop, the idle will still shift up. At first it settles to 680 and then bumps up around 900. Better than before, but still not ideal. Are there more emissions control stuff I should remove? See pics.

1st pic - Vacuum lines on top of valve cover. Remove?
2nd pic - Vacuum lines on air filter cover. Remove?
3rd pic - Vacuum line goes from here directly to advance on distributor.
4th pic - Big vacuum thingy on passenger side firewall. Remove?
5th pic - More vacuum lines. This ones connected to a diaphragm at the intake manifold. I think you said you cut yours off and welded it, right? I don't have those capabilities but at least I can plug this line.
6th pic - EGR valve with two of the vacuum ports plugged (it was a line that went into the left side of the carb if you're looking from the front of the jeep to the back). Remove the valve and/or hoses?

Heard about rewiring distributor directly to ignition module instead of through whatever's hanging off the catalytic converter.

Ready to check the mechanical and vacuum advance when you are, sir. Thanks a ton.

You probably want to see the pics I'm talking about.

Got the albums. I get bored/tired sitting at a computer all day at work, so it'll be nice to flip through the pics. I'll make the gasket and tweak the screws tomorrow after work hopefully.

While I had the steering column dismantled (by the way, couldn't find the right screw at walmart. I'll go to a legit hardware store tomorrow), I figured I'd get down to the bottom of why the horn wasn't working either. I shorted the horn circuit with a screw driver and, sure enough, horn works great. Something in the push button isn't working right. I think I'm missing a cylindrical connecter that fits into a piece of white plastic that sits beneath the lockplate.

1st pic - steering wheel with plastic adapter behind it (missing wire)
2nd pic - plastic adapter. Again, no wire.

Know what that little connector wire looks like? Think I could fab one? Maybe just a skinny screw or bolt with a nut to hold the spring down?

I'll keep you posted about the idle. No stickage in the throttle by the way.

And like the teeth under your CJ's hood. Nice touch.

Well, after three trips to the hardware store, I finally found a screw that fit my turn signal lever and my blinkers are working great. So are hazards. And so are headlights. Haven't pulled up the dimmer switch yet, but I will soon. These summer showers really ruin my afternoon repair time. Still having a little trouble making the horn cooperate but I think after I clean the diaphragm it'll be working like a charm.

So the home made gasket idea - the stepper motor has two prongs that stick out and go through the holes in the gasket (see pic, part 32A). I might be able to yank them out or maybe figure out a way to dismantle the motor and remove them. Anyway, I'll pull the motor off as soon as the rain stops.

OK here's the update.

Lights work. Blinkers work. Horn works. All I had to do was sand off the diaphragm that you compress to make the electrical contacts and stick a little bolt into the plastic hole in above pictures to finish the connection. Doesn't work perfectly, but works well enough. I think I'll pass the safety inspection now!

So the stepper motor. I removed those two pins that slide into the carb. It was really easy. All you have to do is just slide them off the edges of the motor plate. The mixture is a little messed up though now. I pulled the mixture screws to about 5 turns out to even get a decent idle. The power of the engine while driving was a little low, but it was ok. Was able to get the idle nice and low and NO CHANGE! IT'S A MIRACLE! MY IDLE STAYS THE SAME!

So on my way home after the bar tonight (of course I drove my CJ), the power was great! But the idle was high. It didn't bump around like it used too, but it was high. My dadgum carburetor won't stay the same. I'm going to rebuild the old '79 carb I have on me and see how that works. Also I want to convert the choke to manual instead of electric. Is that an easy job? Do they have the parts for that at Advance?

To do list: change universal joint on rear drive shaft. Change ALL fluids. Replace rusted studs on wheels and get an alignment/balance. If I get all that done by July 4th I can drive her out to the mountains for family time (200 miles away). Ready? GO!

Also I loved the albums Medic. Really enjoyed the one about your Willys rebuild. That was quite a project! Gives me some motivation for mine. Even though it's no where near as difficult.

She's running like a charm! Well. Like a well aged kind of disgruntled charm, but a charm non the less.

Here's what I think is happening. If I let her sit for 3 or 4 hours before starting her up, she does great right at start. One or two pumps of the pedal while turning the ignition and she fires right up at a nice fast idle. However, it takes a solid 7-10 minutes for the electronic choke to finally pull the plate open. Once it's open, she runs great. Solid idle at 680. Plenty of power throughout all RPMs. Now let's say she's only been sitting for about 40-60 minutes since I last drove her. The choke stays wide open and doesn't do a thing. For the first three or four minutes, she runs terribly! Won't idle. Terrible engine power. Finally, she'll warm up and do great after a couple of minutes though.

The moral of the story, I need a manual choke. Have you done the conversion, medic? Does it cost much money? Other than the choke issue, though, she runs wonderfully. Even got her up to 65 mph without a hitch (that might be slow, but baby steps for us).

Before I switch the choke out though, I need to replace that universal joint on the rear drive shaft. Do you have pictures? Other links? Feel free to drop a line tomorrow afternoon.

Just saw the manual choke installation album. I'll take a look at that tomorrow. Thanks.

Never mind. I don't think it's the U-joints. I crawled under my CJ and had a good look around. The U-joints are tight. Rock solid and no play. Also I was able to rotate the front drive shaft freely with hubs unlocked and the transfer case in 2H. Not much resistance either.

Found a few things while I was snooping around down there. Pic one shows the front side of the clutch housing. It's open! Is this supposed to be open like this? I know a clutch is a friction-based mechanism so you probably don't ever want to lube it. But just making sure this is right. Took pics of the bottoms of the rear diff and the tranny (2nd and 3rd pic). Pretty wet and shiny, like maybe it's been slowly leaking.

Again, I put the transfer case in neutral and cold shifted through the four gears. No whining. Think the bearings are going bad in the differential? Maybe something grinding in the transfer case? What should I do next to investigate the whining?

Also something down there is definitely leaking fuel. It smelled STRONGLY of gas. What should I do to go hunting for a gas leak. I remember reading something about soapy water?

Gonna put in a half day of work. Feel free to call anytime after five.

PS - the pics are upside down for some reason.