I've got a 1959 F-750 Ford fire truck with a 332 c.i. V-8. I've been looking for what timing mark I should use to time the engine. I just replaced the old Holley 4-barrel with an Edelbrock 4-barrel. It runs great at idle but back fires and bogs down under a load.

 

Welcome to FTE.

Did it run with the old carb?

Timing is probably 6 degrees BTDC. You can start there, and advance it as far as you can without pinging.

This engine was probably--almost certainly--governed as OEM. There are two governors--one is ignition, the other carb. Someone here described how they work, but I'll have to search for that. Some of your trouble might be due to the distributor governor.

What RPM are you having the troubles with? Anything over the OEM governed speed is very risky.

Some discussion here. It's a later model but the governors operate the same way prior to electronics afaik.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...0-w-391-a.html

And again:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...rottle-up.html

 

85e150six4mtod,

Thanks for responding. It ran poorly with the old carb. It has not been run much for the past 5 years, and had sat for the past 3 years with never having been started.

I started having fuel leaks when I cranked her up and started replacing fuel lines, filters, and the NAPA electric fuel pump a prior owner had installed. Then the accelator pump on the 4 barrel Holley "blew"...turned out that the 2 of the 4 screws holding the pump cover were stripped. I decided to get another carb instead of horsing around with the tempermental Holley.

Long story short...the reason for the rough running under a load was due to water in the gas! I'm fighting my way through that now by draining the tank, blowing out the fuel lines and filters, and using Berryman's B-12 fuel system cleaner to "dry up" my water problem. Apparently there was enough condensation over the years that resulted in a water build-up. It's getting stronger all the time!

On the timing, I ended up at about 6 degrees BTDC by tuning it by ear so thanks for the confirmation.

Thanks for mentioning the governor. That got me to thinking that I've "mis-read" one of the lines coming off the base of the distributor as a PCV line and hooked it to the PVC outlet on the base of my new carb. I'll bet that it was a governor line that hooked into the old Holley. On each end of that line there are brass swivel fittings. As I mentioned, one end attached real low-down on the distributor "stalk" and the other to what looks like a diaphram on the carb. If that's what it is I should be able to plug the old govenor line coming from the distributor and cap the PCV fitting on the new carb without any ill effects. I'll be the only driver and used to drive old trucks back on the farm in the 60's so know how to drive them without blowing them up.

Thanks again.

Mike Lechner

 

No PCV until 1961, and then in sold new in CA vehicles only. By 1966, all states required PCV

 

NumberDummy,

Thanks for the information. Then I guess that the one rubber line coming from the "base" of my distributor to the old Holley carb must be a vacuum line that ran a governor.

Do you think there's any down side to plugging the vaccuum line since I don't have a governor on my new Edelbrock? I'll just plug the PCV outlet at the base of my new carb.

Thanks,
Mike Lechner