Hey all, first time posting so i'd like to introduce myself. My name's Max, I live in Louisville KY and I've got a 1973 ford e100 I bought about 6 months ago. It was close to being reliable but not quite there. Looked like the motor was in good shape, and that someone had been through it mechanically. The gas tank had fresh junkyard marks on it, as did the rear axle, it had very fresh carpet inside, so it looked like someone tried to do a quick flip on a gal that had probably sat for quite a while. In the engine compartment I found lots of poorly maintained regular service items. I replaced : the entire distributor, with a HEI model to update it off the coil and points, plugs, wires, fuel pump, fuel filters, carburetor, (with a rebuilt motorcraft 2100 i bought off amazon for $100 - more on that later) air filter, and I got to work trying to start it up (for the first time) right out of the gate I had problems. Scratched my head why it wouldn't start for a while, then thought I bet its got a stretched out timing chain, so i popped the cover and saw that it was indeed stretched way out.
*This is the part my mechanic thinks is the problem now *
To replace the timing set, i thought, well I've always wanted one of those obnoxious noisy gear drives, makes the car sound like its got a blower in it, lets go for it! Yeah, yeah, I'm that guy. Installed the summit "noisy gear drive" - Still wont start. Ok lets dummy check the firing order. A-HA! we had it wired as a standard ford 302, lets try the ford 302 HO firing order, and eureka, it fires right up and starts driving me all over town.
I drive mostly to and from work, less than 2 miles, about 5-6 times a week. Everything seems great for weeks and weeks, until i decide to take the van on its first long distance trip. At least 30 minutes into the drive I'm feeling confident in my noisy v8 going 70 mph down the highway, and the engine starts to stall. I push in the gas and its unresponsive, like the spark cut out, or possibly the fuel. It lowers in speed until I'm going about 20 mph and I'm standing on the gas. You can feel the kickdown when I open up the throttle push it into a lower gear, but rev the engine with out any power behind it, it slowly reduces down to that 20mph and holds for a second. I'm swearing, pumping the gas, and once its down to 20 mph and has sat there for a spell you can hear it start to catch again and slowly increase rpm, its starting to come back! It'll raise speed at this point up to about 30-35, sometimes even up to 45 50, before it starts bogging down again, and you have to pull off. I pull off, let the van idle in a parking space, and start to tinker with the carb. My first thought is the choke - maybe its not opening up all the way and it took a warm up before it became a problem. Knowing the van is good and warmed up now I bypass the choke by way of my gal's hair tie- the choke plate is fully propped open now. Back on the road and it happens again within 15 minutes. Mind you - the first 15 minutes everything felt perfect. Engine has power, I'm passing folks, feeling like i dodged a bullet. It starts again this time as soon as i start to go uphill at 70 mph. The uphill scenario is one that will follow this problem to where we are now. That uphill struggle starts me thinking this is a classic fuel pressure issue. I stumble the van back home and start tinkering again.
Low fuel pressure - ok I replaced the pump already, the filters, and the carb, whats left? I pull the lines all the way back to the tank and blow em out. Next up, the sending unit, its clogged to hell, of course heres the problem. Replace the sending unit, and give the tank a little spray out, not in bad shape for a junkyard tank. After all this the problem is still there, AND POSSIBLY WORSE. Its starting to lose power just getting to the grocery store.
The float was improperly set by the chinese sweat shop that rebuilt it? Ok looked in there - its all right where it should be, bowl is full of gas. During test drives I want to mention, after it dies (occasionally it will just die rather than just drastically reduce speed) it will start right back up. So the idea the float bowl is running dry seems improbable. while its dying at speed I can watch the motor operate while I'm driving inside the van, and I can see that the accelerator pump is still squirting gas into the carb as its dying. Does this mean its a spark issue? With what? Every component of the ignition system is brand new and timing is set perfectly.
Maybe the fuel tank isn't venting! Of course, the hoses are corroded and nasty, this has to be it. I replace the big hose and the little vent hose, take the whole filler neck out and clean it out for good measure, haven't tried it with a different gas cap yet, but I've tried it with no gas cap and neither of those things made a lick of difference, non did the replaced fuel tank hoses.
This carburetor is just junk - ok its time to admit that maybe the $100 carburetor from amazon could be a piece of crap. I buy a Holley 2bbl 2300 universal fit and install it. Runs great! Probably faster! Dies just going around the block with the exact same issue. Strong start, warms up good, drives around fine, push it for too long and the power falls right out to the point of dying on the side of the road. Choke operates beautifully, i converted it to the holley electric set up. Still having the problem. My mechanic thinks its the gear drive, (he hates it) Could that be it? I read online as many forums as I could and people say it has problems - "spark scattering" being one of them, but could that really be it? Most people say there are only issue with how GD annoying it is.
I'm at a complete loss, i don't know what else to replace, or what could possibly be causing this problem. Any help would be much appreciated!!!!
Cheers

 

I had a similar problem with a mid 70's IH Scout. I changed out distributor, coil, plugs, carb, timing gears & chain, etc. Fuel flow was good and it would start and run fine till about the time the thermostat started to open. Then spit and sputter and no power. I asked everyone I could think of if they had any ideas.I was at a loss until another guy mentioned that he had had a Chevy that ran like that until he replaced the engine ground cable. I did that and the problem disappeared. The old cable looked ok, but was definitely the problem. So I took my angle grinder and cut the crimp sleeve at the terminal eye. One end of the ground cable had nothing but green corroded powder inside the sleeve. Looking back I believe that the Amps when starting were able to push thru the corrosion, and that as long as the alt. was recharging the battery there was flow thru, but after the alt. caught the batt. back up and dropped out of the circuit (no ground from the alt.) the corrosion was building enough resistance that the engine firing circuit couldn't get enough ground. When I restarted and the battery was recharging it ran fine, till the battery was charged. Don't know if this will help you or not. Post back and let us know how you make out.

 

Thanks bold1, I will check that and get post my findings, hadn't thought that direction at all!

 

Fuel line's plugged.

 

Dying to know if you figured out what the problem is. Please post and let us know your outcome. Thanks

 

Baddad457 suggested plugged fuel lines. Take the fuel line loose at the carb and add a piece of hose to it then follow the tests listed below.

 

Gonna guess you went with the HEI on your stock ignition wire, that wire has a resistor built into it, the HEI requires 12 volts, not the 7 you will be supplying it, BTW if you bought a cheap knock off HEI distributor, the module in it generates a lot of heat, if its not got a sufficient heat sink, its gonna cook itself.

 

He is right about the HEI, I used to work at a Chevy dealer ( I know better now) those modules cooked frequently and worse if it's a knock off, some Ford modules used to do weird things on certain models that overheated. An old mechanic told me " you got air, fuel and spark, she'll run maybe not great but it's a start... If your van runs, something is failing at temperature..new or not, something is bad. I used a Mopar ignition box, easy to diagnose and fix (sold anywhere) with an american made billet distributor, all my issues were solved! Also, even new coils can be bad! Ask me how I know...3 coils later, MSD offroad blaster baby! End of coil problem. Fuel problem is easy to diagnose, take engine cover off, drive with air cleaner and cover off, bring starting fluid, drive till it stumbles and spray alittle start fluid in carb, if it takes off...trace all fuel components, if it floods and dies..not enough spark energy. Old trick but it works.