I bought this van over 5 years ago, drove it home 100+ miles and parked it just to have around for when my 1977 Dodge van finally bites the dust. That day has arrived, the Dodge is dead. It was neglected and abused for many paint-seasons, and died decently. It will RIP as dry storage.
So the Ford is a 1984 E250 with a 300ci straight 6 which started right up after all this time, but boy the 2gals. of gas still in it was some stinky brown stuff! I took it out for a run and it just kept bogging down when applying accelerator. I knew when I parked it that it would need a carb. rebuild if I ever put it into service, so I rebuilt the carb. (Carter 1 bbl.) I decided to drain the nasty gas before a second run. (Installed new fuel filter at the carb.) Wanted to change the fuel filter that runs along the frame....got under it to discover that someone eliminated the filter, and just had hose running form the hard line all the way to the fuel pump unfiltered. God knows how long it was run like that. I installed a new filter in the line just before the fuel pump....one of those clear ones...(I like those). Put some fresh gas in the tank and went for run #2. Did alot better, but the thing just doesn't have much power....like starving for fuel, I thought. Got home and noticed the new filter had hardly a trickle of gas in it....even at idle the filter looks empty! It has always been my experience that those filters fill right up...(maybe a dime-sized air bubble). Yadda-Yadda, $20 and installed a new fuel pump just in case. 3rd run had same result...just no power. By the way, the thing idles beautifully, and really doesn't 'run' that bad....but bad enough to know something aint right.
I took the carb. off again, and re-checked my float level, and my Metering Rod Setting....run #4, and it ran the best so far, but having to floor the thing to get to 45MPH and keep it floored to stay there.
I found a tiny exhaust leak in the Smog-Rail...right under where the (I assume #6 cyl) port meets the Main Smog Rail Tube. I JB Welded that up, found another exhaust leak where the main pipe goe's into the muffler...it was just jammed in there, no clamp or weld....took the thing down the road to the muffler shop, run #5 got that welded up for $15 bucks. By the time I got home the JB Weld fix was burned away. (yes, I let the JB fix set for 3 days)....friend thinks it blew off...I say it burned off. ( anyone got any ideas what to do about that?) Again, I had to have the thing floored to maintain 45 MPH all the way home. I checked that I am getting good fuel delivery at carb, and now I am turning my attention to all this SMOG stuff. The smog pump is pumping air, hooked up, everything stock OEM according to vacuum map under hood. All these vacuum lines are the little molded color-coded hard-lines...all brittle, all loose, some broke....and I discovered one for vacuum advance EGR Valve not hooked up at all. Started it up and have no draw at the vacuum advance EGR Valve at all, so it aint working. I got a vacuum advance EGR Valve coming I ordered on ebay, & I have 20' of new vacuum hose, and a 80 piece connectors kit. I am going to follow the vacuum map and re-do the entire vacuum line system, and that's where we sit right now.....after that, I am going to be out of ideas.
Well, the weather is nasty, and I don't have a shop, so in the meantime here I am, looking to you folks who may have more experience than I do with such matters. Suggestions, Ideas, Facts, or Guesses will all be appreciated.

Additional:
-Getting good spark, installed new cap,rotor,plugs.
-Converted to Manual Choke.



On Edit: I meant to say EGR Valve, not Vacuum Advance.

 

pickup foot in tank got debreeor varnish clogging it?

 

without the vacuum advance working and all the vacuum leaks it will be a total dog,
the vacuum advance line should not have vacuum on it at idle there is a separate port on the carburetor for it.
are you sure there is not a leak in your fuel line to the tank and your sucking air along with the gas?
i would also check the timing also to see if it is in spec.

 

I dumped in a bottle of injector cleaner, and a bottle of Rislone Fuel System Cleaner in it with only 7 gallons of gas, thinking it would dissolve any varnish buildup.
Also blew the fuel line backwards to blow debris off the pickup sock....no change.

 

My apologies....I mis-spoke...when I said Vacuum Advance, I meant to say EGR Valve, The Vacuum Advance has two ports (I assume one is Advance and one is Retard). Both of those ports seem to be working. I checked all the fuel line at the tank, it is all fresh hose,fresh clamps.....it would seem that the person I got the van from was trying to chase down the same problem. Evidence would show that he twisted the forward facing fuel hard-line when trying to remove the original frame-rail filter and abandoned it and ran fuel hose instead of fixing it...and replaced the hoses at the tank. I don't know why that filter is not filling up, but I believe were getting plenty of fuel.
Yeah, I was thinking Timing, but I will have to take it to someone to have that checked....I don't have a timing light anymore.

Thanks for your suggestions....any thoughts or experience with the EGR?

 

Is the carb tightened down good on the intake? It's a pretty long lever arm with that intake design and engine vibration is magnified. I had to do it several times when I had an '81 straight 6 300.

The fuel pump sounds like a likely culprit, but you said you've replaced it. I've seen lots of fuel filters that don't fill up with fuel (even with a vertical hose mount) and everything is fine.

 

I will re-check the tightness of the carb. - I quit worrying about the fullness of the fuel filter when I confirmed good fuel delivery to the carb. ...it is supposed to 'spurt-spurt-spurt' - I mean, it's not a constant flow, right?

 

Get a vacuum gauge and check what idle vacuum is and what vacuum at 2000-2500 is. If the vacuum steadily drops at high rpms, you may have a clogged cat. What is happening has all the symptoms of a stopped up cat.

That could be what happened to your JB Weld. Too much back pressure blew it off. I've seen EGR valves blow the bottom of themselves apart because of back pressure from a clogged cat.

 

Not a constant flow since the pump is a diaphragm pump working off a lobe on the camshaft. When you rebuilt the carb, was the fuel bowl full of muck? Fuel float height not adjusted right? Did the rebuild kit have a new float?

 

Good thought, but there is no Catalytic Converter on it. - If it weren't for the stupid 'smog rail' I would abandon the entire smog system, (I am in non smog regulations area) - but I am scared to death of those 34 year-old rusted-in-there exhaust port fittings...breaking off, stripping, or otherwise becoming a can of worms I don't want to open....yeah, I would like to block them all off with brass plugs, but I foresee a giant potential headache there. - Thanks for your thoughts.

 

Check the vacuum anyway. Could be a timing gear worn and jumped a tooth. The originals are fiber, and wear out. Also, the muffler could be stopped up with rust or rats nest. Also could be severely retarded timing.

 

There was some sediment in the fuel bowl, (and I made the classic mistake of dumping it outside in the gravel and losing my check-ball and weight - I found them, & kit had new ones anyways). Float was perfect on the 'Level', but I had to adjust the Drop' ...but only 3/32". No, no new float.....the float wasn't full of gas when I disassembled for rebuild.

 

Where do I check the Vacuum at? - There are a million ports on this thing. - Good flow out of the tailpipe - or at least what seems like good flow. - Oh God, facing a timing gear replacement would probably mean the end for me on this project....
there are other $500 vans out there. LOL. - I reckon if the new EGR Valve, and the Vacuum System Rebuild doesn't make any difference, I will run it to town and have the timing checked.

 

squirrel make a nest in muffler?

 

I reckon that's possible, but how the hell do I know? - seems like good flow coming out tailpipe. - oh, & no smoke. Thing sure runs good at idle....smooth, quiet. Got to keep kicking it down into 2nd to get it up and moving, and floored to keep it there. On a side-note, Temperature is beautiful. - other side-note, the fuel gauge worked when I bought it, now it doesn't, which is what made me suspect varnish in tank.
Thanks everybody for your continued help.