Guys, please bear with me here as I'm new to the truck scene. I'm familiar with engines and mechanically inclined, but the shop manual is not helping me out at all with any of my issues.

I'm driving an '84 F250 manufactured in Canada - Carb, 2bbl - 5.0L

1) I'm assuming I have an Engine Computer but where would it be if I do, and how can I confirm if I do. There doesn't seem to be any major electrical components such as IAC, MAP, or electric EGR solenoid/position sensor which leads me to believe there isn't an EEC. If there isn't, does everything go through the ignition module on the wheel well?

2) I want to get rid of all of this emission stuff - there are vacuum lines everywhere, some are broken (the colored hard emissions lines), multiple lines are capped off, I don't know what half of this stuff is used to control, or if it's even working right to begin with. What has been anyone's experience in just going "old school" - single wire distributor, no module, no emissions. I've converted cars before and I know this is the same, basically, and what it involves to do it, but is it advisable?

3) About how many CFM is the carburetor? I'd like to get a Holley aftermarket. It's been my experience that these factory carbs are not that great. I should mention that this has a reman carb on it. I used to sell auto parts- and reman carbs had a bad track record.

Thanks for any insight!

 

Yours may not have a computer. Others will know where the cutoff was in time and GVWR, as well as where it was manufactured, but at one point the cutoff was 8000 lb GVWR. Above that and no computer. But the easy way to tell on yours is the color of the grommet on the DuraSpark box on the fender. If the grommet where the wires come out is blue then you don't have a computer. If that's the case you have a DS-II system and there is no reason to change it. Spark is spark, and that system sparks well.

Regarding the other things like vacuum lines, you can pare the system down to vacuum advance, brake booster, automatic tranny, and HVAC as the only vacuum lines necessary.

The carb will be an Autolite/Motorcraft 2150. I don't remember the CFM rating, but it isn't very high. However, it is a good carb. On the other hand, an Eddy manifold and carb will let you wind that 302 up to get more power out of it.

 

Another way to tell if it's computer controlled is look at the distributor. When they started using these old computer controlled systems, one of the first things they took over was the timing. It will not have a vacuum advance unit on the distributor if it has some sort of computer.

Gary runs the edelbrocks, I have had good luck with the #1850 600 cfm holley carb on several 302's. I just run them right out of the box, factory jets and all. These carbs have a manual choke and they run well.

There is one problem I have had with all them though; During cold weather the carb will freeze up. When it's cold and rainy and you start the engine, it will run ok for about a minute with the choke on, and then it starts to "flood out" or run rich. Opening the manual choke doesn't help it either. If I take off and make it to the first stop sign it will die in the middle of the road as soon as I take my foot off the gas.

When I do go down the road, one of them did it so bad that the throttle would stick and it was like I had cruise control. All of this would go away when I finally made it to were I was going and stopped the engine. When I came back out after about 15 minutes everything would be fine.

I finally figured out it was the carb freezing up, and keeping the stock aircleaner with it's temperature controlled air door in the snorkel cured it on every vehicle. On most of my vehicles the metal shroud or stove around the exhaust had rusted off or had been taken off. On the truck I had, it had headers on it. So in each case I had to rig up a homemade stove around the exhaust so the aircleaner would pull warm air up from it. It works well, the exhaust manifold is pretty much instant heat.

On the old mustang I have I was in a hurry, and I simply went to the parts store and got a new aluminum flexible pipe they make to hook to the aircleaner, and split about 6 inches of it on the end. I spread this out and tied it around the exhaust manifold on the front, and hooked the other end to the aircleaner. It worked well enough to keep the carb from freezing, with the engine idling from a cold start you can hold your hand on the aluminum flex pipe and feel it start getting warm.

 

My '85 F-250 (manufactured in St. Paul MN), with a GVWR of 8,600 lbs did not have a computer or catalytic converter, so I'm sure an '84 was early enough for that.

I don't know if "mfg in Canada" would make any difference.

But, I think the 302 only came in the lighter duty F-250s (GVWR ~7,600 lbs?). So likely you are under the magic GVWR limit and you do have all of the emission control fun on your truck.

For what it's worth, I'm remembering the magic GVWR number was 8,400 lbs rather than 8,000. But the difference is insignificant. Bottom line is there were light- and heavy-duty F-250s then. The light duty had catalytic converters etc, the heavy duty did not.

 

So simply disconnect these "items" and plug off the original source? Can I remove EGR position sensor behind carb too and block off with a plate?

I actually took apart the 2150 tonight and I am shocked at how remarkably simple it is. I'm used to tearing down Holley 4bbl and this was a treat! I actually don't want to go too crazy as I plan on building a 302 I have on the stand for next year. I just need to get it running good now; went to take it to body shop yesterday and it just would not accelerate.

You should have seen the load of dirt lining the bottom of the fuel bowl... at least 1/4" deep. Insane.

 

Thanks for all the great info guys. This is really going to help!

 

Glad to help. Yes, you can remove the EGR stuff, but then you may need to re-jet the carb.

As for the dirt, the accelerator nozzles tend to clog on the 2150's pretty easily, so check that they are clear.

 

Very good! Last two things, If I have to re-jet, would I be jetting up or down, and are different size jets available for a 2150?

Can I eliminate the TPS sensor mounted to the carb. I know what it does, but is it necessary to absolutely have, or will it screw up the ignition module by it not being there?

 

Does this carb have a mixture solenoid? Some of them did, that had computer control on them.

If you are going to leave it as is, I would leave the EGR working. Of course it's not going to work if it has a computer controlled solenoid firing it. If it's just vacuum operated with no computer control, I would leave it. It's too hard to tune out the pinging without it.

 

The EGR puts extra non-volatile gas in the mix so the carb has to compensate by adding extra fuel. So, if you do away with the extra gas you'll have to lean the mix. And, Holley jets work in the 2150.