Hello all. First post, hope I'm not doing anything untoward. Have searched the forum and Internet, but can't quite get the answer I'm looking for.

Ugly Rusty:
1980 F150 Ranger XLT, 302, standard carb (2150 - TPS not active) and C6. The "XLT" part is long gone... A/C is ripped out, as is the cruise control. (Wasn't working when I got the truck several years ago and it was just "in the way". Sorry, purists...)

Anyway - it's never been a powerful truck for me. And I'm trying to change that to be at least a decent work truck. I've been - amateurishly - trying to figure out what's all wrong.
Symptoms:
- hard to stay idling nicely at the recommended 650 rpm
- hard to keep running when putting in gear
- stalling out when slowing down (2-footing this truck is pretty much a given)
- kick-down when cruzing... well.. "what" kick-down?
- yanking spark plug wires from the dizzy doesn't really impact the idling for most cylinders... I could yank 3 wires from the driver's bank without really affecting idling in a VERY serious way - Ouch. (I'd expect it to stall out by that time, or not?)

Testing for visible spark in half-dark shows some serious problems quite a few wires; sorry, don't have details on which ones. Forgot and didn't write it down. Pulling the boot off the plug, holding against a grounded bolt gives strong, regular spark on some wires, while others spark weaker and itermittently. Yeah... can I ohm-out wires, or just bite the bullet and buy new wires this time, along with plugs. (I emphasize "new" because the last "new" set came from the junk yard that looked pretty new... Cheap, much? Hey... I'm Dutch)

I "think" I fixed vacuum leak(s) by re-wrenching down the carb-hold down bolts and replacing a few vacuum lines. That did make a difference.

However... I just learned that really, I should be starting at the beginning with troubleshooting: compression testing the cylinders. Not done yet, but rented a compression tester. Have experience doing that, so that should reveal some interesting facts before the weekend, hopefully. (I have to go to work during the day instead of playing backyard mechanic. Go figure. Geez)

Next up is the timing, correct? So, I've taken some pics that hopefully can be seen. My method of determining TDC for cyl 1: thin light dowel in plug hole and carefully watching the up and down motion while wrenching the alternator in the proper direction. Spent 5-10 minutes carefully determining what I think is the top position of the piston, and then checking the timing marks on the balancer:
IMG_20180917_205736_resized ? Marcel Van Eerd

The rotator at that position is pointing at:
IMG_20180917_205801_resized ? Marcel Van Eerd

(That was the position of the rotor after I strobe-light set timing at 6 degrees BTDC - the left side of the red line in the pic)

So - what can you tell me? Does the position of the rotor look correct? Any other observations? I look forward to responses. Critical, encouraging, scathing or otherwise. I have thick skin and big shoulders. Let me have it.

If I can get the basics fixed, I'll be back for more punishment. And hopefully, in the end, the reward of a nice toolbox on wheels.

 

I wouldn't go off of a specific timing specification but I would use it as a starting point.
i would move the distributor at idle then lock it down in the sweet spot.
Check that your vacuum advance is functioning.
Then I would would work with the idle speed and idle mixture adjustment screws. I would probably take them out and blast carb cleaner and air through them first.

You said that you have already chased down some vacuum leaks. if there are still some present then they obviously need to be eliminated as they are severely detrimental to idle and driving quality (and gas mileage )
If your plug wires are arcing then yes that situation needs to be corrected. They don't have to be anything special.

 

Ok, thanks. So - for the timing to hit the sweet spot, RPM's need to be running smooth/solid at idle. In order for that to happen, anything carb-related needs to be set up properly and ignition hardware (wires, plugs) need to be in good shape.
Seems to be a back-and-forth between different aspects of tuning before it's all as it's supposed to be. I'm okay with that as long it gets me to the correct result.
Vacuum - yeah, gotta do some specific vac leak troubleshooting. Looks like there's 2 ways of going about that; sucking "something" in (carb cleaner, propane) or blowing smoke out under pressure with a (DIY) smoke tester. I'll try propane first as it seems the simplest method.
Thanks. I'll be back when I've had more time to work on the truck.

 

You can try tracking down vacuum leaks by smoking cigars (I wish I could I quit when I was fifty.....) or spraying carb cleaner but I've never done it.
im not smokey yunick or anything so I'm not claiming to be able to tell where a vacuum leak is I go by "wow my truck runs like crap" and start looking at the usual suspects like intake manifold gaskets which for Chevy are notorious I don't know if the ford v8 ones are.
if you want a reference for your vacuum hook up a gauge to manifold vacuum and see what you have and then if you are making any progress.

Also it's not going to be one thing....you'll have to go around doing stuff all over here and there and the sum of individual improvements should help each other collectively.... although in my experience a vacuum leak has the most negative impact on performance.

 

Got it, thanks. I can't help but think that's pretty much just like me. If something sucks the life out of me, my performance goes down too. ;-)