Just finished the restoration of a 52 F! with the 8BA flathead engine. It does not run very well so I went to Harbor Freight and purchased a timing light and a vacuum gauge test kit. I already had a break bleeder kit that I had purchased earlier. It has a vacuum pump as part of the kit. I removed the vacuum fitting from an old engine and screwed it into the intake where the wiper fitting on older models would be.
First I hooked my vacuum pump to the distributor advance and pumped it and the distributor plate advanced. (The vacuum advance is OK)
I then checked the vacuum coming from the carburetor through the vacuum line to the carburetor. Had very little. (just off Zero)
I then placed the vacuum gauge on the vacuum fitting I had installed in the intake. When I cranked the truck and brought it up to about 2,000 RPM, all it did was fearlessly jump back and forth.

I checked the timing and with the timing light pointing to the flywheel damper, the timing mark constantly moves back and forth on the timing pointer on the block.

Can anyone out there tell me what I need to do to get this engine to run right?
Also the engine sound like to me it is skipping. Like one cylinder. How can I test the plugs without physically pulling the wires off one at a time? I don't like to get shocked!

Any help will be appreciated.

 

Did the restoration include an engine rebuild? If so, what detail and was the rebuild professionally done? In any situation, I would do a compression test.

 

yes it was professionally rebuild with adjustable lifters,bored and all new parts

 

I would start with a compression test and a valve adjustment, in that order.

 

The erratic vacuum readings sounds like valves sticking, not uncommon with new guides. May loosen up after some miles are put on it. Does it have electronic ignition? or still points?

Small vacuum readings in the advance circuit are normal for Load-a-Matic's.

 

Agree with checking compression and possible sticky valve. If it sounds like one cylinder is not firing, it's possible that you have a bad plug wire. If you don't have a volt-ohm meter, you should consider purchasing one. They are very useful for all sorts of automotive diagnostics and are affordable. Check the resistace of each wire. The maximum resistance in a plug wire is about 10,000 ohms per foot, and if the wire has a break in it the meter will read 0.L for open cicuit.

 

 

52 Merc is right. I checked the compression yesterday and all cylinders are 110 to 130 PSI. Except number 3 which is zero.

what is the procedure for freeing a stuck valve like this. I poured some marvel mystery in the spark plug hole before I left to let it soak.. Anything else beside removing the head and intake manifold?

my damn arthritis is so bad, i hate to tackle it with the hood and fenders on it and I don’t want to take them off.

 

As some said, since this is a fresh rebuild, you can run the engine and let the engine temps free it up and then break it in. Avoids engine surgery. You can also contact your rebuilder and see if they have any advice or warranty (not saying anything is wrong here, but you don't want to do anything to void their warranty) that can help you out.

 

Bmoran, your gauges are very helpful but i found a 0 compression on 1 cylinder so i am going to address this first but a couple questions. Are you connected to the main vacuum line that the wiper motor runs off on those trucks that have vacuum wipers (mine are electric) but i installed a fitting in the manifold and capped it. Or do u use the line coming out of the carb going to distributor.

 

Main vacuum is where you get the reading.

Since you found a sticky valve with your compression test, there is no point in doing the vacuum gauge test until that is resolved.

 

Given the location of the spark plug hole to the valves in that V8, you can make a small tool to reach into the cylinder thru the spark plug hole and possibly push the valve down. Unless some serious moisture and rust got into the cylinder, it should not take much to free the stuck valve. A bore scope would be your friend at this time.

 

Before you do as Ray says, first identify which of the valves is stuck/sticking by rotating the engine (by hand) and watching thru the plug hole. With adjustable lifters, it is possible that a valve was simply adjusted at the wrong time or incorrectly. If both valves are moving, I don't know that I'd try forcing anything onto its seat. No alternative at that point to pulling the manifold (which I'd ask your rebuilder to do).

If you see one that's not moving at all and is up off the seat, see if you can spray some penetrating oil thru the plug hole at the stem of that valve. Make sure the cylinder is at TDC before trying to push the valve down.