I have a fully restored 1949 F-1 that I bought about 5 years ago. I previously had a mechanic come to the house and service the truck but he moved away. Now I guess that I must be the mechanic and I know very little.

In any event when I start her up (still has the original flathead 6 cylinder) I usually let her warm up for about 10 minutes. I start her up every 2 weeks in winter but do not drive her so this was the first ride since the fall. I keep her on a trickle charger.

I took her down the block for about 1/2 mile. When it came time to return when I needed some torque to move forward she started to backfire badly. The engine would idle fine but when I tried to ease out the clutch she would not go forward. I finally got her home by riding the clutch about halfway in 1st and she would go about 5 mph sputtering the whole time.

Tune-up?, timing? carburetor? What do you think.

 

try new gas.

 

Could be carb flooding ,needle and seat leaking , float sinking . Probably not timing if it was ok last fall .
If your the mechanic now then I would suggest you read your manual cover to cover a few times to become more familiar with how everything works .

 

And for troubleshooting, getting everyone on the same page, backfire is thru the carburetor or induction system and afterfire is thru the exhaust. I would start with plugs and fresh gasoline. Plugs tend to foul in these old engines when they are just started and run without doing work.
Welcome to the forum. Pictures hosted to an account and linked here are fine.

 

Back fire is usually caused by a lean condition. Can also be a sticking intake valve, very possible seeing as how it has been sitting all winter. A sticking valve will usually be accompanied by a ticking sound.

 

Howdy,

What you're doing every two weeks in the winter might also be part of your problem since you are not allowing the engine to completely warm up enough to remove water vapor in the crankcase, oil and exhaust system...... (you can only do that by driving it long enough to bring the engine [AND OIL] fully up to operating temp)

Only running it for several minutes at idle (unloaded) just introduces water vapor into the crankcase and oil which will just increase the chances of sticky valves etc.

Running at idle will not warm the exhaust system sufficiently in freezing weather to remove water vapor at all, which will corrode the exhaust system and reduce the service life of it.

In the winter time, if you're going to start it, you NEED to drive it long enough to fully warm the oil........OR don't start it at all.

Just fog the engine with any good marine fogging oil, remove the battery and place it on a [pulsing-type] charger in the garage (unless you park it in the garage) Then just disconnect the NEG cable and connect the charger

Also, if you're worried about the gasoline, drain most of it out and refill in the "Spring". If you want to leave the gas in there use a good Marine type stabilizer (STABIL or similar)


Cheers,


Rick