OK Blair,
I'll check back either later this evening or in the morning. Kinda got the flu bug or something. But I will live.
Jimmy

 

J, sorry to hear you are feeling low, sucks on a Friday. Got a break in the rain last night, pulled the light out, and the timing was out a good bit. The damper is marked at 12 I believe, but it was way back when I shot it. I didn't get a chance to test the advance with the light hooked up, my wife wasn't around to help and the rain got ridiculous again. Beautiful today hope to get a new light and try to iron this out, maybe road test up to the landfill and post something. Hope you're feeling better, to pretty over here to be ill, later, Blair



P.S. - Need a new light cause' I twinkie-fingered my old one onto the rocks, it was a cheapo, broke into three big pieces.

 

Thanks, I hope to feel better soon myself. What a way to spend a sunny weekend. Good luck on the timing. Hopefully that will fix her right up. I'll check back later to see how things are going.
Jimmy

 

Hey J, I still haven't gotten a new light. Been really busy working this week. The timing was way out, I have guessed it in by ear, hope to borrow light to check it. I guess that was prolly the problem, I'm still to much of beginner to diagnose quickly. Hope you're over the bug and feeling better. Thanks for your help, later, Blair

 

Hi Blair, I'm feeling much better, it's almost gone. I'm glad to here that she is running better. I hate to hear of a Ford running bad, That just ain't right!! I guess too much work is better than not having any work at all. Keep me posted on what you find. Jimmy

 

Well, this evening, I got a borrowed light, shot the timing, have it set at 12 BTDC. I tried my best to adjust the carb back to where it should be, I don't think it was far off, but the idle was a little too high. Needless to say, thinking that was the cure-all, I fired her up and went to tear-*** up to the dump, and she said um, no. Still acting like she's being held back so to speak. Doesnt' seem to have power, stumbles a little. I think I'm going to try and double check the carb best I can, make sure that's all good, I know the accel pump shoots strong. I don't believe there to be a vac leak anywhere. Can't figure it out. Neighbor said do another compression test, did one a couple months back and had a couple weak cylinders. I hope to post tomorrow. Later, Blair


P.S. - At least the 65' Galaxie runs now. Not great, but pretty good. But that's another story for another board I guess. My truck is more important to me.

 

Have you tested the ignition module and the distributor pickup?

 

Have you done a vacuum check lately? Is it smooth? could have a cam going flat.
Just curious.
Jimmy

 

T1st, I had the ignition mod tested 2 months back at AZ, it came up good then, but I don't know if I should trust those kids or not. What would be the best way to test dissy pickup? Is this where I need the light as a helper accels in nuetral to see if the mark moves? Jimmy, I hooked my vac gauge up to a port under the carb, I had a 14-15 inHg reading, but in was bumping around a lot. The needle didn't make big jumps, but small back and forth movements. Hovered lower the longer it ran. Was bottoming out at 14 or so, maybe 13.5 at one point. A local friend who is experienced offered to help me run a leak-down a ways back, but would this tell me if my cam is going bad? A cam running flat, does that mean the lobes are wearing poorly? I am almost to the point of getting with a few guys and doing a rebuild to try and get all this sorted out. Here is my gameplan for tomorrow night God-willing I don't have to be out surveying in the dark like the last few days. RE-run my compression test, hook the vac gauge back up, tripple check the ignition timing, and double check carb settings, and take notes on all. What do you think about this? As always, your guys input is very welcome. Thanks and until tomorrow, Blair

 

It does not cost you anything but 20 min of your time to test the module again, they can go at any time and can exhibit symptoms just like you describe. The distributor pickup module can be tested on the same machines. What happens many times with them is the wires break from constant flexing, so when your advance mechanism moves the advance plate the wires break contact. When you are testing the module at the store move the wires around. There are some simple electrical tests you can perform listed in the manual. Again, test while moving the wires.

 

These sound like some good tests to start with. As far as adjusting the carb, Use your vacuum gauge, With the engine idling, start turning the mixture screws in until the idle starts to slow down. Then slowly back each one out until you get the highest vacuum reading, then readjust the idle speed as needed. This will get your idle mixture where it needs to be. I don't know if this will help your power loss under a load though. Check your vacuum advance by looking at the timing marks and slowly opening the throttle, as the throttle starts to open, the timing marks should move. If so, the advance is working. Yes a cam going flat is the wearing off of the cam lobes. A leakdown test will not really show this. All that does is check the sealing of the cylinder(valves, rings, headgasket, etc) You can run the engine with the valve covers off and look to see if all of the rockerarms are moving about the same amount. This does make kind of an oily mess though.
Check these things and let me know what you find. Jimmy

 

J, I got home actually before 5 today, am heading out to start poking around. Will make notes for later discussion. Eric, please forgive my part name ignorance, but what from the dis to I need to take to get tested, or should I be pulling the whole thing to take in? Honestly, I don't think I actually pick out the dist. pickup module if I had to do it solely on name, what am I looking for? Sorry for the lameness, but I lack alot in the area of raw knowledge. Back later, Blair

 

The only thing I got done, was another compression test. I guess I could list the cylinders, but the results were all within what the Haynes manuel calls acceptable. High cyl being at 150 almost, low cyl aropund 125. The battery was dying as I cranked it, si I didn't get a chance to hook up the vac gauge and tinker with the carb some more. T1st, I will take the ignition module in to be tested tomorrow. Later, Blair

 

Your manual should have a picture of the distributor pickup somewhere.

 

the pick-up is under the rotor. It has 3 wires going into the dizzy. 1 is a ground that goes to a screw going to the wire grommet where the wires go into the dizzy. The other 2 wires go to the pick-up coil. It would be easiest to take the whole dizzy in, but if it is not shutting off the engine while running, I'd doubt that it is bad. You could replace the whole dizzy for about $50 I think. That way the advance, pick-up and all of the bushings would be new and tight. This would eliminate the dizzy of being a problem. If you pull it, mark where the rotor is pointing and where the advance is pointing. This way when you reinstall it, the timing should be close enough to get it started, then you can fine tune the timing.. Let me know what you find out. Jimmy