YESSS... the day is close upon me. I am finally taking ownership of my grandfathers truck.


Red, was my grandpa's pride and joy. When he passed away in 2005 my father took her and started a restoration. All the work was done for free( so its not the best) and now im getting her..

Now to the problem.
When i started getting her ready to get on the road she had been sitting for about 18 months. I pulled the plugs and they were corroded like crazy. replaced them, wires, D cap and button, ignition coil, and starter solenoid.
She starts right up now. but i have to sit there and keep revving her up or she dies out... after 5 minutes or so she idles fine. However when i release the clutch and go to drive, she sputters, back fires and tries to die out. but if i push the clutch in she revs right up... it only happen evry so often. sometimes it will sometimes it wont.... while driving when I engage the clutch when coming to a stop her idle drops too low and dies sometimes... I will list everything we have done to her and see if maybe its a back pressure issue or not. oil has been changed but im not sure about transmission. I know the shift linkage came off and sat open for a few months.... ??? gas has had 93 dumped into it and some high end octane booster as well.

1971 Ford f100,
360, 4 on the floor, 157k on original drivetrain
new bed, paint changed from candy apple red to white
all new brakes system(lines, cylinder, drums)
new radiator suports, floorpans,
new gas tank, roll pan instead of a rear bumper
carb rebuilt 18 months ago
dual exhaust turned down in front of rear axle(no mufflers, straight pipes)


any ideas?

 

TheHarrWay,

If you're sure your ignition timing and vacuum advance are correct and working, I'd be looking at your carb. Best to check for vacuum leaks before proceeding. Then check for a good spray of gas when you pump the throttle(engine off). If that's good, then your choke is probably out of adjustment, especially if the problem goes away after the engine is up to operating temp.

If that doesn't help, you may need to rebuild the carb again.

Cheers,

John

 

no idea what those are or how to check them... lol i know there is a device on the left front between radiator battery and engine that has what appears to have some kind of line, but it just stops after 12" or so. it doesnt go to anything... i will take a picture of it tonight and post it. as for the ignition timing and vaccum advance, how would i check this?

i can also take pictures and video of anything that would help, just let me know.. thanks

 

The HarrWay,

First thing to do is get yourself a manual. Here's what I use:


Amazon.com: Ford Pick-Ups 1965-86 (Chilton's Total Car Care Repair Manual) (0035675069137): The Nichols/Chilton Editors: Books

This will explain how to do trouble-shooting, tune ups, etc. You will also need some basic tune up tools, like a timing light, and a tach/dwell meter. You don't have to buy these if you have friends you can borrow from. A vacuum gauge will also prove useful for setting up your carb - it does a host of other useful things as well. If you've never set your timing before, you will want someone with you who has, to guide you along the first time you do it. Once you have the tools and the manual, it's just a matter of following the steps till your done.

If you need it fixed right now, you can always take to your local mechanic and have him look at it.

Cheers,

John

 

Thanks, no money right now, but I will definately get it when I get paid... Will is hurt anything to continue driving it like it is now?

 

sounds to me like a vacuum leak, my truck was sitting for about that long, and when they sit sometimes(depending on conditions) the lines will dry rot and will hold no vacuum. so i would hook up a vaccum guage and see what its at.

 

btw, this will not hurt anything if you continue driving it, if its a vacuum leak the worst thing it owuld do is dump too much fuel in the cylinders and turn your plugs black. but thats about it

 

Has it sat for a long time with fuel in the carb? Unfotrunately gas will turn into crap if it sits for only a few months. If it sits inside a carburetor it will plug up the little passages inside and make it not run correctly.

The cure is to take it apart and clean everything out, using carb cleaner and compressed air to clean all the little passages out.

 

The truck had been sitting for 18 months as i previously stated. The weather here is absolutely nasty so i will check out the carb as soon as it clears. Any idea about the transmission? if the linkage sat undone, could it have dried out? how do i check the fluid in the trans?

 

I'm guessing you mean the trans is an original style with the shift mechanism going into the top of the trans? I don't think we understand what you mean saying it came off. If it's an original setup it probably has either a spring loaded retainer or a screw on cap that holds the shifter in place.

If it sat open the oil wouldn't necessarily evaporate, but I'd be more worried about it being contaminated by dirt & dust. There are two plugs in the side of the trans, one at the bottom to drain the oil out of and another one about half way up; you fill it with oil to the bottom of the threads. If it sat open I'd drain it and put fresh oil in it, and while it's empty I'd look down inside before you put the shifter back in to see how things look; hopefully no rust but also thinking about why the shifter is out in the first place; they don't usually just fall out...

 

<<< TAKE NOTE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ah you have listed the condition of a Vacuum leak wrong. More air into the cylinders leans it out making the plugs white/gray color which can cause it to ping and run hotter. And in warm weather can burn a hole through the top of the piston at is worse. May melt spark plug tip or crack porcelain. A lean condition can cost you a motor..Look for little bits of spluttered metal on the spark plug white center porcelain. If you ever happen to find this on you plugs it's coming from the piston top melting. The Carbon on top of your piston turn red hot like little cinders and starts melting the piston when you here the motor pinging form 1. to low of octane gas 2. Vacuum. leak 3. Timing is off mostly to far advanced at the Dissy. Just to list a few. So my 2cents is if any of this is happening don't drive it..my 2 cents orich

 

Well i havent had the tools or the book yet to address possible timing, vaccum, or other problems... I started her up sunday and of course had to throttle her a bit to not die out. After about a minute or so she idled fine and i let her run about 5 mintues. got her out on the street (finally) and drove about 2 miles and stopped somewhere. She ran AMAZING. no backfires, no lag, no power loss. However, when i went to crank her back up the battery had died out. I just had it recharged 2 weeks ago. Through a jump on and she cranked right up. maybe im going at this wrong. could a bad alternator constantly draining the battery cause these problems? i will be putting my own insurance on this weekend and plan to drive her more next week ( maybe to work). i dont know about a/f ratio, i know a friend moved the idle up for me, but that was it.

as far as the trans goes. it is an original transmission, as with everything else on the truck. My father was driving a while back and went to shift and when he did the whole shifter came out in his hands.. My friend put the shifter and the plate with the forks( linkage?) back in a month or so ago.... i will look underneath for those bolts you referred to, i can find the oil drain just fine. but i will check again for the trans plugs. Anyone know where i could find an orginal radio for the truck? i would like to put an OEM back in and possibly mount an aftermarket somewhere else. Also how would i go about adding the "signature" like many of you have, like orich..??

Orich, what is this you refer to as "dissy"? and btw, Thank You for your service.

 

Dissy well 4 short =distributor The timing changes as you turn the dissy..
Timing at the crankshaft pulley their is timing marks listed like......
0= TDC which means (Top Dead Center) this means the #1 piston is all the way up at the top of the head. Then anything pass (0) the piston is on it's way down and the spark plug will fire when the rotor lines up in the dissy when it points at #1 plug wire on the dissy cap at the setting you put the dissy at, this fires pushing the piston down ward..Like ATDC 2,4,6,8,10 20,30 all pass zero means=ATDC (After Top Dead Center)..This all being pass the )
Timing pointer on the pulley as your timing light flashes.. To learn more do a search on Utube, there's some good Demo on how to do's when it comes to fixing motors..
orich

 

TheHarrWay,

To add a signature, go to the top left of the page and you'll see a blue bar with "user cp". That's the user control panel. Make sure you've signed in, then click on it. On your left, scroll down till you see "edit signature". Click on that, and make (or edit) your signature.

Hope that helps,

John

 

OK, its not there, but then again im on the basic(free) membership... maybe i can get that when i upgrade...