ok guys, im bout at my wits end here....lil background info...78 460, police interceptor heads, ford motorsport cam, edelbrock performer rpm intake and 750 carb, roller rockers, msd billet distributor, blaster coil and 6al box. it died on me a while back, ran for about 2 miles fine...stalled, ran bout a mile, stalled kept goin about half as far as the last time till it wouldnt even move. changed the plugs, fuel filter, timing marks seem to be ok, no rockers loose on either side...fuel pressure sits at 6 psi. but last time i worked on it i noticed that several of the intake bolts had backed completely out, and more were loose enough to take out by hand. now i know this could cause a vacuum leak, but could this be my culprit for why it wont run? this week im goin to replace the intake gaskets and make sure i torque down everything correctly....but if anyone has any other ideas or insights they would be greatly appreciated. hopefully i can get this thing up and runnin before fun ford...i can haul quite a few folks and stuff up to commerce in my 4 door dually......sorry, just ramblin now...thanks again
mike

 

A vacuum leak if it is bad enough can make an engine stop running. Does it run at all now? If so the vacuum might be the problem otherwise we get into spark and fuel issues.

Other things to check... are you getting spark to the plugs? Use one of those tester lights. Is fuel getting thru the carb?

One thing that gave me all kind of gremlins was aftermarket points. Do you have a mechanical distributor(ie has points) or is it electronic. The aftermarket points would arc under the mounting plate when the engine warmed up, and stop once it cooled down by the side of the road. Could also be a bad ignition coil of controller if it is electronic. Maybe bad plug wires?

The above all come down to spark and fuel. Wouldn't hurt to replace the intake gaskets etc. and then see if it runs.

Good Luck,

Jim henderson

 

If the intake wasn't torqued down, that's enough vacuum loss to keep it from running. Also check and see if the loose intake allowed coolant to get into the oil. Were the heads properly torqued?

 

well, yeah i know the heads are torqued right, the only thing i didnt torque was the intake manifold...i was gettin real excited about gettin it runnin. ran great on the test stand, ran great in the beast(89 f350 four door dually) for bout 2 months. went and got the intake gaskets tonight and i gonna get to workin on it tomorrow night. ill keep yall posted.
mike