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If Charlotte is anything like Raleigh... You'll find out that not too many mechanics will volunteer to tackle a carbureted vehicle anymore. Much less if it don't even have a computer to plug into.
As for vacuum plugs, I'm not one of the "too proud" types and would rather have a piece of vacuum hose with a small fitted bolt stuck in the end with silicone rather than the plugs. Plugs will crack and you won't know it til you start seeing metal underneath. And they are super thin... Hose with bolts never seem to ever fail? Ran them for decades.
I'm not a fan of Edelbrock 4160's due to I have a pile of them that I can't get right. Even after rebuilds but that's mostly cause I'm unfamiliar. I've wasted many hours with no luck. Weird that all of mine that don't run right run rich? I think I have one that runs good and the rest are in a pile. Now a Holley I can tune blindfolded...
I have a really good tuning article for Edelbrocks that someone wrote up if you want me to post a link? I've read it over and over and it's still a tad over my head for there's so many moving factors while tuning them.
Bottom line, I'll bet you can sell the Edelbrock on ebay for a quick $50 and go towards a new 570 cfm Holley Street Avenger that is guaranteed to be tuned right out of the box. Along with a new bottom gasket (specifically for a Holley) evenly torqued down and you'll be set for years. You would have to determine which intake manifold you had for "most" Edelbrocks have a spread bore where as Holley is square bore underneath. So an adapter may be necessary?
Sorry for no help here and for being all "doom and gloom". LOL Just telling it like it is for my experiences.
Oh and your "mystery" hose may be for the ac / heater system if yours is equipped with ac? If so, you'll need it hooked to some sort of vacuum for your heater controls to work. That one on the front right would be fine. Make sure ALL vacuum ports are either sealed or connected. Make sure your tranny (if auto) is hooked up. Your distributor goes to the front left of an edelbrock. And then yout brake booster hooks to either the intake or the plug in the back.
I dropped on a new edelbrock once and heard a "whistling" sound. so I pulled it and replaced it about 3 times before I saw the plug hole open in the back. They come without the plug from factory.
I hear edelbrocks need to be upgraded with spring needle and seats to work. They come stock in the offroad series and the parts can be bought separately as a kit.
One good thing I do have to say about edelbrocks is that they were bought out by weber being one of the better carb manufacturers out there especially for single barrel. And that the housings are one piece and don't ever give threat of leaking from the float bowl like a Holley over long periods of use is surely to do.
One more thing... Your kickdown rod is not hooked up properly and will likely cause some shifting issues. It goes to the lever on the inside, not the throttle linkage on the outside. I don't see a kickdown lever on yours? Think someone has removed it? It's better to not have it hooked up at all rather than on the throttle.
And I see you have an adapter for the spread bore. That would have to be removed to fit a Holley. And with an aftermarket distributor (in which I think you have / hard to tell from the pics) you would need a spacer to replace the adapter or a raised base for the air filter so the price of swapping to a Holley is going up. :-(
I can strongly recommend Archer Automotive in Lake Wylie SC, south of Charlotte. Ted the owner is a Ford guy, and he's dug in and done some great work on our truck -
I can strongly recommend Archer Automotive in Lake Wylie SC, south of Charlotte. Ted the owner is a Ford guy, and he's dug in and done some great work on our truck -
Hi Josh,
Thanks for checking - I have been super tied up and have not made any progress on the carb. I'm pretty sure I just need to tow it to a mechanic. One of the reasons is that I need to get the automatic transmission looked at too. Back when I started this thread about the carb, when I originally got it fired up, I attempted to move the truck from one part of my driveway to another - which I did successfully. However, the transmission wasn't functioning correctly and felt really weak on torque. When I shifted to reverse, nothing happened - but when I shifted to Neutral (one slot over) it engaged in reverse. When I shifted to Drive it was actually in Neutral. And, as you guessed, when I shifted to "2", it was actually in "Drive" -- basically, the indicators are all shifted over by 1 space. This problem was likely caused when I received the truck from the shipper back in Feb and we attempted to pull the truck up the driveway (since it wasn't running)--basically I screwed up - a bunch of things were going on at the same time, I released the parking brake but *cringe* forgot to put it in Neutral - and obviously noticed as soon as he started pull me, and I frantically shifted the transmission into Neutral as fast as I could, but it took a good tug to force it since we were already "jerkily" moving forward (and there was no way he could've heard me holler at him to stop). Back when that happened, I looked at the transmission underneath the next morning, there was a little fluid coming out of the drive shaft (from the horrible pressure created), but it wasn't leaking and is still not leaking today, months later. Also, back when it happened, someone on another thread told me that I might be ok, and might only need a new seal, but I'm not so sure since recently when I was able to move it on its own power (when I first got it to fire up after cleaning the carb), the transmission seemed really "weak", meaning when I pressed the pedal, there wasn't much torque - very sluggish.
So, that was a long story, but all that to say, I will probably be better off towing it to a mechanic since I need more than the carb fixed. Oof!
But I'll keep you guys posted on how things turn out. Thanks for checking in!
Haven't seen any updates in a few weeks. Hope your are still working on your truck
08-04-2016, 11:11 AM
