<VV> no hot idle

[NicolCS at aol.com]

One thing I look for when car won't idle hot is what I call the "death 
spiral" - that's where the engine is idling with a little advance to the distributor 
weights. If something happens to drag the rpm down a little, the timing 
advance diminishes a bit, retarding the spark and lowering the rpm even more thus 
further diminishing the advance and so-on down into the pit of death...  
(sounds like a very bad thing, eh?) The death sprial is especially common in 
automatics where the idle is set a little too high and in cars with inconsistent 
carburetor closing.  Check base timing (at a very low rpm), check for a worn 
distributor, and check for things that might be disturbing the hot-idle. 
(compression, carb linkage, vacuum leaks, carburetor settings, blow-by)
Keep us posted! Craig N.