I know this might be a stretch but, I've seen it countless times. Here's the scenario. Motor is warm....ya wash it or ya run in the rain and park it. Next time you jump in the motor sputters and it sputters no matter what or how many times you cold or hot start it in the future. The culprit is the moister back when either the motor was washed (perhaps after the tune-up) or a splash thru some puddles during a drive in the rain. The moister condensates into a vapor and collects under the distributor cap as the motor cools down when parked. Then a restart, before the moisture has a chance to evaporate, causes carbon arc trails under the cap. This causes the rotor to arc to other cylinders besides the ones intended to fire. The result can be anything from what you described to a motor that's does nothin but back fire and fart all over itself. The cure is a simple pencil eraser. Pop your dist. Cap...tilt in the daylight until you can see the reflection of the carbon arc trails. They generally look like a really faint reflection going from the coil lead tower to one or more of the spark plug towers under your cap. Like I said....it's a stretch but, these damn have dumb founded more than one good mechanic over the years.
Good luck!
Capt.

 

You still have wires under the points plate, tho. My inclination is to assume that if I rebuild or replace a part, and it doesn't change the situation, then that was not the problem. What are the chances that the carb rebuilder would be so inept he wouldn't improve the situation at all?

If you really think it's a carb issue, send it to "1952" on this forum,

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ml#post9811346

 

I will check all of these points out. Thanks for your ideas. This is the only issue with my truck. At higher rpm it runs fine. I drove it over 50 miles Sunday to a couple shows on the highway at 65 mph, and it had plenty more to give.

 

Point of clarification; someone told me this is not a sputter, as it's popping at the carb, not the tail pipe.

Mine is popping at the carb on low rpm. I checked the pump, and it's at the highest setting.

 

Disconnect and plug the vacuum line to the distributor, see if it still does it.

 

Oh....then forget the whole long winded carbon arc trail thingy.
Ross is on to something I think. Over advanced timing at low speed would give you a pop thru the carb and so will an exhaust valve that is not opening all the way. All that compressed air then escapes out thru the intake valve when it opens and also creates a pop thru the carburetor each time that cylinder fires. Hope one of these cures your ills.

 

Ross, Pertronics do not have any wires that run under the point plate.

FP, like I said the setting or hole or what ever you want to call it has no bearing on whether or not the acc. pump is discharging fuel at the slightest movement. But now that you mention popping through the carb it makes two things come to mind (1) lean condition on tip in (acc. pump circuit), or timing issue (typically to far advanced) is you vac. advance hooked to ported or manifold vacuum, should be on ported.

 

Dave, how do the wires get out of the dizzy??

Keeping in mind that this is a LoadAMatic system, when you add throttle off-idle, it drops advance rapidly until RPM picks up significantly. There's only one vacuum connection on a 2110, assuming it's the stock carb, but it's worth throwing a gauge on the line to see if it's getting vacuum.

This situation should be easy for a mechanic to troubleshoot, can you take it to the guy who did the carb? Can you post some pictures of the carb, close-up?

 

Ross,
Maybe I am not familiar with that particular dist but on the ones I am familiar with the wires stay above the point plate. And I agree we need more to diagnose his problem.

 

I don't have a Y-block either, but from what I've read they are virtually the same as the flathead type Load-A-Crapic... You can tell I have a high regard for them!

 

I'll post a close-up of the carb.

 

Well, we have checked the carb settings, and the points you have made regarding the distributor. It all checks fine. My mechanic is leaning towards a sticky valve that might not be opening all the way.

 

It might not be closing all the way, but there's no way it isn't opening all the way, unless the pushrod is bent, in which case it would be clacking away very noticeably. I can't think how that would make it pop anyway. A valve that wasn't closing all the way would pop almost continuously.

Have you verified that the accelerator pump is actually spraying forcefully when the carb is opened?

 

Sticky valves fail to close, not open. Unless, he is talking about a float valve or power valve. If he thinks it is an engine valve, throw Seafoam in it, change oil to a good detergent oil and run it.
Why not write a detailed explanation of what it is actually doing. Is it always around a right hand turn, a left hand turn, either turn, hard turn, easy turn? If you "feather" the throttle when it 'sputters' does it come out of the 'sputter'? And if you don't change throttle position, does it die?
At this point, I would want a vacuum gauge on the truck where I could read it.

 

Believe it or not, I had this very thing happen to me on a motorcycle engine. The exhaust valve wasn't opening completely due to a collapsed hydraulic lifter. The pipes on the bike were so loud I couldn't hear the tick of the tappet when running. It too popped thru the carb as I noted in my last response. However, if you have solid lifters properly adjusted, I would scratch this notion of my list.