So she's been on the road for a month now. I've learned a few things.
After your last check to make sure all the bolts are tight, check them again.
I needed a place to put my coffee cup for the ride to work in the morning and some tunes to drown out the 50's truck noise. I built a really nice center console and found out real quick that I've now blocked all heat from reaching the driver's side of the truck. For now a piece of dryer vent and some duct tape works. I'll fix it up more permanently next summer.
Having the original seat redone ended up with a very comfortable, but 4" taller ride. This means the new visors were pretty much a waste of money, I can't see much out of the side mirrors and I can't build the gun rack behind the seat I really wanted to because it doesn't fold forward very far at all. Oh well, it is a comfortable ride. I'll live.
I really should have kept the fuel injection on the 302. I was thinking a 4bbl carb would be simpler. That was a dumb thought. you hear that a women's body produces some chemical during childbirth that makes them forget the pain afterward. Not sure if it's true or not but I think Holley Carbs produce the same chemical. Once I sell one and don't have to deal with them for awhile I seem to forget what a pain in the *** they are. I hate holleys. I've finally got it running nice with good vacuum, acceleration, no stumbles and the aod shifts fine. It's also sucking down gas to the tune of 12 mpg. I understand it's not broken in yet, but the whole truck weighs only 3800 lbs and I don't drive it over 2200 rpms. There's no reason I shouldn't be getting at least 14-15 mpg.
I needed a place for the shotguns, so I built a toolbox out of wood. It'll hold two guns, puppy dog's stuff, four bags of groceries and a case of beer. All at the same time.
Lastly, I absolutely hate my column shifter. It won't go soon, but it will go away.
Mike

 

Nice bit of insights.
I think you should get better MPG also. Heck, in my 49 with the big Caddy 500ci I'm getting 17-18 on the highway, a bit less in town (if I can keep my foot out of it).
What rear gears are you running? I swapped in some 2.75:1 gears and I love them. Its nice to be able to run down the highway.
I'm with you, I hate Holley carbs. Sure, they look good but they are a pain. In a drag racing application where you are always messing with settings they are OK, but for everyday use....not for me. I've had good luck with the new Edelbrock carbs. They work pretty well right out of the box, and with a little fine tuning they can really be dialed in nice.


Right now I'm running a B&M Truck Megashifter. I think I might have paid about $125 new. Its not bad, not ideal, but not bad. I'd sure like to put in one of those Lokar swan neck shifters that look like the original but I have a hard time forking out that kind of cash.


Nice job on the box!
enjoy the ride
Bobby

 

Sure would like to see some more pictures of this truck. Looking good, what I see.

 

That Holley undoubtedly came with lowland jets and power valves, and would probably be fat (rich) down in Mississippi. For having an AOD, that is really bad mileage. You'll wash all the oil off the cylinders. Drop down a jet size all around for starters, and replace the PV with one set for 4.5. Bump your timing up a few degrees, too.

 

I'm running 3.89s in the rear with 235/85R16 (32") tires. I should be turning around 1800-1900 rpm at 60 mph. It rides pretty good for having all those leaf springs, but I'm not going over 60 very often.
Here's a couple more shots. The one with me in it was taken at the junkyard I bought it from. Ole Jim Hines got a real kick out of seeing her on the road. He owns Vintage Auto, in Mt. Home, ID. I think he has a website.
The mudflaps took forever to figure out how to mount!
Mike

 

It's a Truck Avenger 470. My engine is a 1990 5.0 with the fuel injection removed for the carb. I'm running a ford aluminum dual plane intake off a mid-80s mercury capri. The camshaft is out of an explorer 5.0. It has stock 302 exhaust manifolds off of two different years 80s broncos. Took awhile to find a driver's side that fit. I have a pertronix, hei style distributor. I'm running an electric fan.
The carb came with 57 jets front and back, a 2.5 power valve and number 35 squirter. You couldn't even touch the gas pedal as it came. A 28 squirter solved all the stumbling issues. I used a vacuum gauge to adjust the idle mixture screws and timing. The best readings have it set at about 12 degrees. I pull a solid 18 inches of vacuum at idle. All this got me about 10 1/2 mpg.
I have replaced the jets with 54s and am waiting to get a couple hundred miles on them to see how they do. The first fill up at 106 miles gave me an immediate jump to 12 mpg, so I'm headed in the right direction. If I'm still not happy with it come spring, I have a carter 9000 series, that i'll have to rebuild. that'll be my next step. I really should have kept the fuel injection.
The holley tech folks would only tell me that the 470 was not meant for v8s. They told me to trade it in for the 670. When I told them that wasn't an option just now and I really needed some help in tuning this one they just said trade it in and have a nice day.

 

That's a fine looking truck.

There's nothing like hands-on experience to create real knowledge. I'm sure there are more lessons to be had - just add miles.

Thanks for sharing.

 

What distributor and advance curve do you have in it? Vacuum advance? if so, which port on the Holley are you using?

PV's on those must be rated differently than on the 94's. A 470 should be about right for you, not sure why Holley thinks you need to dump more gas down it.

Edit: The PV's are numbered the same as on 94's, in which case I would expect that you had a huge stumble with the 2.5. Read about it here: http://documents.holley.com/techlibr...wer_valves.pdf

 

It's a pertronix ignitor III w/vacuum advance. I have the vacuum line on the right port. It's the timed one.
I had no idea where to set the timing due to the camshaft/ignition/carb/trans combo I have was no way ever offered by ford. I set it with the vacuum gauge and then checked with the timing light. 12 degrees gives me the best vacuum and there is no knocking anywhere in the rpm range.
I've dealt with holleys before so I have no one to blame but myself for buying the thing. I can say that the best carb I have ever run on a stock small block is a holley 390. I'll get it working. Just don't know how long it will take to get there.
Mike

 

There is always a debate but I run full time vacuum for the timing advance. I always got better throttle response and mileage using it so you may want to give it a try. I never ran anything smaller than a 600 CFM carb on my V8s and they worked fine, I think the smallest jet I ever ran on the primary was a 62.
The only carbed engine I have now is a 305 in my 37 Buick, I run a 750CFM edelbrock made quadrajet with full time advance and average around 20mpg. I have 4:10 gears with a 700r4 and spin around 2000RPM at 60mph.

 

Ditto, that was why I asked which port. Timed port is for emission-equipped vehicles. BUT it may need an adjustable vacuum can on the dizzy set up that way.

 

Can't hurt to try. I'll let you know how that works out. If you know of anyone that makes a ford aod tv linkage for a q-jet I'll bolt one on tomorrow. Love q-jets, but I'm not about to make my own linkage for an aod. To easy to mess one of them up.
Mike